Weekday lunch special for two at a Sangam eel restaurant, Seoul: Ryeok

I was out on a work errand in Sangam-dong! A friend works nearby, so we grabbed lunch together. Sangam-dong is always crowded whenever I go, but this eel restaurant actually takes reservations even during peak weekday lunch hours! So I booked ahead and had hitsumabushi (eel rice bowl) and abalone-eel hot pot rice — the table setting came out neat and the food was great, so here's my review. It's Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom, near DMC Station!

Where is Ryeok, and how far is it from Digital Media City Station?

Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom is near Exit 9 of DMC Station on the Airport Railroad. It's less than a minute from the exit — great location if you're a Sangam office worker and want to go straight home after a work dinner here!

What the Ryeok storefront looks like from the street

Come out of Exit 9, and once you spot the Twosome... I mean, a coffee shop at the fork, go up to the left and turn right — that's where Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom is! Super easy to find, just look for the Superman statue out front.

Inside Ryeok: seating and grills for group meals

Inside, Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom looks like a grilled meat restaurant, with a grill set up at every table. Seating ranges from 4-seaters to group tables, making it perfect for a work dinner or gathering.

Since this is a grilled eel specialty restaurant, the interior really does look like a barbecue joint! Grills were set up at every table, and seating ranged from 4-seaters to group tables, perfect for a work dinner or gathering. By the way, the restroom is right outside the store, and the password is posted above the counter haha. It's in the same building and was clean!

Ryeok lunch special menu and prices

I visited for lunch and had the lunch special — if you want a grilled eel dish at lunch, it's good to call about 30 minutes before you arrive to let them know! (If you can afford a pricier lunch dinner, just go straight for the grilled eel.) The special menu had quite a variety!

• Special hitsumabushi (eel rice bowl) ₩27,000
• Egg eel rice bowl ₩18,000
• Abalone-eel hot pot rice ₩21,000
• Pollock roe natto rice bowl ₩16,000
• Ground pork eggplant rice bowl ₩14,000
• Crab set (soy or seasoned) ₩21,000
• Mackerel set ₩16,000
• Pork bulgogi set ₩15,000

There's a menu lineup for people who can't eat eel or seafood too, and yurinke (Korean-style fried chicken), hairtail stew in a stone pot, and cream shrimp are side dishes in the ₩10,000 range!

As for the grilled eel menu, salt-grilled is ₩27,000, and soy or seasoned grilled is ₩28,000, each 230g per serving. Hagfish (kkomjangeo) is ₩95,000 per kg, with an additional 500g at ₩48,000. On top of that, you can enjoy plenty of affordable side dishes like braised crab, braised hairtail, grilled deodeok, grilled skewered bulgogi, potato pancake, steamed egg, nutrition hot pot rice, banquet noodles, kimchi soup, and hangover ramyeon.

Special hitsumabushi, 27,000 won: how much eel do you get?

Ryeok's special hitsumabushi is ₩27,000, and unlike other places I've tried, the eel was truly loaded on generously. It's meant to be enjoyed by splitting it into four portions and eating it different ways.

You split the special eel rice bowl (hitsumabushi) into four: eat it plain, mix it with pickled mustard leaf, have it as ochazuke, and finish with whichever method you liked best! There was sansho pepper powder at every seat, to sprinkle on according to taste.

What I really liked about Ryeok's lunch special is that it comes as a full table setting with a variety of side dishes! The hitsumabushi came with salad, diced radish kimchi, Japanese-style pickled vegetables, pickled mustard leaf, steamed egg, seaweed soup, pickled tomato, and dessert.

Usually, the hitsumabushi I've had at other restaurants had so little eel that I had to eat it sparingly, but at Ryeok the eel was really, truly generous!!

The steamed egg served alongside had shrimp in it too, soft and bouncy, and it was great for warming up my stomach before the meal. It felt like they put thought into every single side dish, not just serving them for the sake of it — really good value.

My friend, who's on Mounjaro and doesn't have much of an appetite, still scraped her bowl clean saying the eel was too good haha. Her pick was eating it plain, unmixed! She said the eel meat was soft with no fishy smell, and it might just become her go-to spot lol.

Abalone-eel hot pot rice, 21,000 won, down to the scorched rice

The abalone-eel hot pot rice I ordered is ₩21,000, topped with one butter-grilled abalone, and served as a full table setting with side dishes, soup, and dessert. Even the scorched rice at the bottom was savory and delicious till the last bite.

This is the abalone-eel hot pot rice I ordered! It also came with one piece of butter-grilled abalone, and they'd already separated it from the shell, which made it easy to eat haha. The hot pot rice also came as a full table setting with various side dishes, soup, and dessert! They also gave me a soy-based sauce to mix into the abalone hot pot rice.

The eel was so soft it practically melted in my mouth, T_T. There were barely any bones, and even when there were, they were soft enough to chew easily! The rice in the hot pot seemed to be good quality too, with a nice savory flavor. So the scorched rice I ate at the end was just so good!!!

The seaweed soup served with it wasn't just seaweed and water either — they'd minced in garlic too, and it had that made-with-care taste to it. It felt like they'd put thought into every side dish, not just the main dish.

For dessert, they gave us yogurt and chocolate cake, and the cake was fluffy with soft cream — a nice sweet way to finish the meal haha.

Is Ryeok a good Sangam-dong lunch spot for a work group?

There were barely any bones or fishy smell, and there was a good variety of menu options for anyone who can't eat eel or dislikes fish, so it seemed good for a family meal or work dinner too. The lunch special had great value for money, and coming out as a neat full table setting with side dishes and dessert made me think this is a good place to host guests too!!

I didn't have much time today so I just had the lunch special, but next time I want to try the grilled eel menu too! It's also good for a Sangam-dong lunch work dinner — whichever junior on the team got stuck with the job of booking the work dinner spot will get praised for reserving this place lol. Next time I'm coming back with my boyfriend for some proper grilled eel to build up our strength!