[Soongsil University] 889

889 is a personal brazier grilling place located near Soongsil University station.

889 is close to exit number 4.

When it was still under construction, I thought this place was going to be a sushi place.

Doesn't it kind of look like sushi place from the outside? (black exterior aside)

 Meat dishes plus some skewers.

Initially, I thought they were going to serve beef, but it's all pork.

 Nice clean interior,

Bar's mainly for people who are eating alone, or for couples.

 Dae Jang Boo.

Soju of my choice these days.

It's a distilled soju so it has nice fragrance, pleasant finish.

And only place that I've seen so far that serves with its own glass.

It's slightly smaller than your average soju glasses

 They serve their banchan's in personalized tray.

The brazier's actually quite small.

889 uses two different types of coal.

 Two servings of assorted pork (25,000KRW per serving)

About 600 grams of meat.

From L to R: 

Jeonji (전지살), which is right above front leg, Cheek (뽈살), Gabri(가브리살) which is a part between neck and sirloin, and Hangjung (항정살) which is a part right above the neck.

Jeonji is very lean.

If you overcook it, it will become pretty dry.

I'm not sure if they still do this, but 889 gave you a complimentary sausage when they opened up.

 Cheek has nice texture. Juicier than jeonji.

There used to be quite a few places that sold pork cheeks in Hongdae, but I think most of them are gone now.

 If you ask for more banchan, they give them in a bowl like these.

 Gabri has more fat content.

Nice chewy texture and quite juicy.

 I think this was the best of the night.

 Hangjung has the most fat content so it's pretty difficult for hangjungsal to not taste good.

These also cooks down quite a bit as the fat melts.

The quality of the meat is quite good, and from what I heard, the owner buys the meat from Majang meat market every morning.

One thing that I did not like about 889 is that they use two different types of charcoals in their brazier and one of them is synthetic charcoal. I'm guessing it's to keep the cost down as the neighborhood is full of college students, but these types of coal just does not belong in these type of grills. As the fat melts down and evaporates. the smoke from these coals leave what I would describe as an unclean taste in the meat. 

Considering how nice the quality of these meats are, this is something that 889 should definitely address in the future.

(My visit was back in February so they may have dealt with it?)

889

500-1 Sangdo-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 010-4638-5203, 010-3320-4882

(서울시 동작구 상도동 500-1)

Business Hours: 17:00 - 01:00