Welcome to your K-local food trip! Up next on our K-local food trip is "Hanu"—Korean beef so tender and flavorful, it practically melts on your tongue.

"Hanu" is premium Korean beef, known for its fresh quality, soft texture, and juicy, rich flavor. It’s graded based on several factors—like marbling, texture, maturity, meat color, and fat color. You can choose from the highest grade, 1++, which has lots of marbling, or grade 3, which is leaner and more affordable. Each one has its own appeal.

"Hoengseong Hanu" is especially known for its fine marbling and nutty flavor. It earns some of the highest quality ratings in Korea. That’s because Hoengseong’s mountains and rice farms provide great feed, like rice straw. With clean water and fresh air, too, you get the deep, signature taste that makes this beef so special.

To really enjoy "Hanu," head to the "Hoengseong Traditional Market." Many butcher shops there also run restaurants, so you can pick your cut and have it grilled on the spot. The meat is fresh, the prices are fair, and both locals and visitors love the experience.

This way of grilling meat at the table shows just how much Koreans have loved barbecue for a long time. In the past, people held winter gatherings called "Nallohoe," or "stove meetings." They’d sit around a charcoal fire and grill marinated meat on a flat pan called a "beoncheol"—it looked like an upside-down pot lid. Of all the meats, "Hanu"—with its soft texture and deep flavor—was always the favorite. Even today, it’s still a big part of Korean food culture.

So why not try "Hanu" grilled over warm charcoal in Hoengseong—the hometown of Korean beef?