Hoengseong butcher shop: hanu beef grilled at our lodging with kids

Going to Hoengseong means eating Hoengseong hanu, right?

When you travel to Hoengseong, you can't help but think of Hoengseong hanu (Korean beef). This time, instead of eating at a restaurant, we decided to buy Hoengseong hanu ourselves and grill it comfortably at our accommodation.

Where is Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom, and what are its hours?

Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom is located at 10 Munhwacheyuk-ro, Hoengseong-eup, Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do, and is open daily from 07:00 to 20:00. We stopped by during our Hoengseong trip, picked out the meat ourselves, and grilled it at our lodging — here's an honest record of which cuts we bought and how the kids reacted.

They received an excellence award in the Gangwon-do butcher shop category at the 2023 Korea Consumer Industry Evaluation, so my expectations were already up as we walked in.

A Hoengseong butcher shop running since 1979

Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom started as a butcher shop in 1979 and has been run across two generations. It's also the oldest butcher shop in Hoengseong, which stood out to me — for travelers like us, it felt like a place we could trust to buy from.

It's a butcher shop, but the wood interior gives it a touch of class. The space is fairly spacious too, so we could browse at leisure and pick up what we needed.

Hanu sorted by grade: choosing beef to fit your budget

What I liked most about buying meat here was that the beef is sorted by grade. Instead of just one price range, there's a wide selection so you can choose according to your budget. If you're traveling and want to eat hanu but are worried about the price, this practical setup will really come in handy.

They also have a Smart Store, so you can have fresh Hoengseong hanu delivered to your door.

Again, what I liked most about buying meat here was that the beef is sorted by grade. Instead of just one price range, there's a wide selection so you can choose according to your budget.

If you're traveling and want to eat hanu but are worried about the price, this practical setup will really come in handy.

Beyond beef: pork, hanu gopchang and gomtang packs

Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom, a well-known Hoengseong beef spot, stocks all kinds of meat — it's not just beef. They also have good-quality pork, haha.

The hanu gopchang (beef intestine) really caught this gopchang lover's eye — 500g for ₩19,000. My hand went straight for it, but since it's frozen and needs thawing time, I sadly passed on it today, sigh.

There's also a wide range of beef cuts sorted by grade, so it was easy to choose according to family size or budget.

We also bought with an eye on how much we'd eat at our stay. Personally, I liked that instead of always going for the highest grade, you can choose the cut you want within the price range you have in mind.

The butcher shop's fridge was arranged so neatly it looked like a display window, so I really agonized over which meat to pick, haha.

They also had hanu beef bones and ox feet, and gomtang (bone soup) sold in packs — great for making gomtang for the kids at home. There's boiled beef ready to go with it too.

Why we chose hanu sirloin and skirt steak

The cuts we bought that day were Hoengseong hanu sirloin and skirt steak. Since we planned to eat with the kids, we chose meat that would be soft and easy to eat. It comes in skin packaging to keep it fresh.

While traveling, you often can't bring your own sauces, but they gave us salt, wasabi and chamsauce that go well with beef, so we could enjoy it deliciously wherever we ate.

How the kids reacted to hanu grilled at our lodging

Let's start with grilling the sirloin from Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom, a great Hoengseong hanu spot. Lightly sear the bright red sirloin on a heated grill and dip it in salt, and you get a rich burst of juices too, haha.

"It melts in your mouth."

That's the exclamation that came out of the kids' mouths!! They ate so fast — the moment a piece landed on the plate, they'd grab it right away. Especially since the meat was so tender, they ate it all up without a single complaint about it being tough.

The instant the pink faded from the meat, the chopsticks never stopped moving. Since the kids were eating so happily, mom and dad kept busy grilling more.

Beef pairs best with wasabi, no question. Add a bit of that sharp wasabi and dip in salt, and it's absolutely amazing!! Thanks to the beef from Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom, a great Hoengseong hanu spot, our Hoengseong trip felt even richer.

Is Hoengseong Hanu Jeongyukjeom worth it? Final verdict

If you're planning a Hoengseong trip and wondering where to eat hanu, consider not just restaurants but also buying straight from a butcher shop and grilling it at your accommodation. For our family, this will stay in our memory for a long time as a delicious meal from the trip. If the timing had worked out, I would have wanted to pack some to take home — I'll have to order from the Smart Store instead, haha.