Seocho eel restaurant for lunch with parents: Jangsimdo Gangnam

My workplace is in the Gangnam area, so whenever my parents have some free time they come over and we sometimes have a meal together. This time we decided to do lunch, and while looking for a good spot I found Jangsimdo Gangnam, an eel restaurant that opened recently. I wanted to treat them to something restorative, so I booked the day before and went. It seems to have opened about two months ago, and maybe that's why the place felt so clean and the service was so good. Between the meal and the mood, it left me wanting to come back.

Jangsimdo Gangnam location, opening hours and parking

Jangsimdo Gangnam is an eel restaurant right in front of Exit 5 of Gangnam Station, open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on both weekdays and weekends. On weekdays there's a break time from 15:00 to 17:00; weekends have none. It's literally steps from the station, so it's really, truly convenient by public transport.

The exterior even has a boat-shaped interior installation, and before I'd even stepped inside it felt so upscale that I thought, maybe this is a place to bring business guests.

There's a dedicated parking lot right next to the restaurant, and for just ₩3,000 valet you can park for a whole 2 hours. In pricey Gangnam, parking this easy is a real plus, and it looked like a solid pick for year-end gatherings or meetups.

What are the interior, seating and private rooms like at Jangsimdo Gangnam?

Jangsimdo Gangnam is in the basement, so just head down the stairs and today's destination is right there!

In the middle of the restaurant is an area where they do the first round of eel grilling themselves. It's kept very hygienic, and it's open for passing guests to see, so it's a nice bit of eye candy too.

Inside, soft lighting and gentle music play quietly, and the overall calm vibe definitely gave me the impression that this is the level a Gangnam Station lunch for office workers should be.

We came on a weekday at 11:30 with a reservation and it was already packed, so I kept glancing at the seats. The hall is mostly 4- and 6-seat tables, which looks good for office teams coming for lunch.

Best of all, there are rooms with sliding doors, so you can eat privately. Jangsimdo Gangnam has 10 rooms, taking anywhere from a minimum of 2 or 4 people up to 20 in a group, so it's OK for year-end company dinners too!

It's also easy for parents with kids: the restaurant has dedicated baby chairs, so it's a place anyone of any age can come, which I found a real plus.

Jangsimdo Gangnam menu, prices and lunch specials

The signature grilled eel dish is the Ganghwa mudflat eel (350g, ₩85,000), available at lunch or dinner, while from 11:00 to 15:00 you can order lunch specials such as the whole charcoal eel rice bowl (₩37,000) and the Gujeon chicken soup (₩18,000). There were four menu items in total, and each looked like it had been given great care, with impressive quality.

Ordering follows the current trend: each table has a PC touchscreen, you add menu items and press and hold to finish! The three of us, with my parents, each wanted to try something, so we ordered as below.

• Whole charcoal eel rice bowl (₩37,000)
• Gujeon chicken soup (₩18,000)
• Eel soup with organic pot rice (₩18,000)

Tips to know before visiting Jangsimdo Gangnam

Since I was taking my parents, I called ahead and looked into things, and I put it all together here. Too good to keep to myself, so I'm sharing!!

How do you book a table at Jangsimdo Gangnam?

You can book through Naver Place or the Catch Table app.

How close is Jangsimdo Gangnam to Gangnam Station?

Right at your doorstep. Come out of Exit 5 of the Shinbundang Line at Gangnam Station and it's the first building you see!

How many people do the private rooms at Jangsimdo Gangnam hold?

From 2 up to 20 people!

Is Jangsimdo Gangnam good for a meal with parents or older guests?

Totally recommend it. The staff are kind and the modern atmosphere makes you feel well looked after.

Does Jangsimdo Gangnam serve dessert at lunch?

If you order grilled eel, organic kale juice comes out. At dinner, they say, persimmon cheese rolls come too.

What does the Jangsaeng Guseontang soup (₩18,000) taste like?

Two bottles of water sat on the table. Some restaurants just give you whatever water they've been using, so getting unopened bottled water was a small thing but nice~

The Gujeon chicken soup (Gujeontang) is a restorative soup with chicken as the main ingredient. It was the first dish to come out, and my dad had it. The name sounds a bit unfamiliar, but simply put, it's a chicken health soup. The rice is already in the broth, and if you ask, extra rice refills are free! They also give salt on a separate plate, to add if it tastes a little mild or to dip the chicken in.

Three side dishes came out: salted squid, stir-fried anchovies and kimchi. Exactly the three that older folks love!

The "gu" in gujeontang uses the character for nine (九), meaning it's made with nine ingredients. After one bite, my dad said it really warmed his body and that it felt like proper nourishment.

How to eat the charcoal-grilled whole eel rice bowl (₩37,000)

The whole charcoal eel rice bowl comes with one entire charcoal-grilled eel on top, and it's the star of the Jangsimdo Gangnam lunch. A vegetable salad and assorted sides come as an appetizer, and just looking at it was filling.

By the way, an eel rice bowl is even better when you know how to eat it well, rather than just digging in. In short:

• First, eat it plain, with the eel bowl's own flavor
• Next, top it with perilla leaf, seaweed flakes and wasabi
• Then pour in kelp broth, like ochazuke broth, and eat it like soup with rice
• Finally, enjoy your favorite way once more, and you've cleared it~

The sauce isn't strong, so it's great for older folks too, and best of all the eel is plump, so it has a magic effect of looking like more than one eel. Even a sturdy grown man would come away full.

How good is the eel soup with organic pot rice (₩18,000)?

The Mubyeongjangsu soup (Mubyeongjangsutang) is an eel soup simmered for 12 hours, and it's what I ate that day. Maybe because it's cooked so long, it was thick enough that I wondered if it was porridge, and it suited my taste soooo well.

Eating the pot rice, made with premium rice, together with this thick eel soup did its job as a restorative meal for the coming winter.

And if you pour water into the pot at the end to make sungnyung (scorched rice tea), it's easy on digestion and everything is OK~

Dessert and after-meal coffee at Jangsimdo Gangnam

For dessert, I joined an event Jangsimdo Gangnam was running and received one mochi tofu (mochiridofu). It looks as soft as silken tofu, but one bite with a fork felt like eating plain yogurt, so it more than qualifies as a Japanese-style dessert.

You don't even need to go to a café afterward, since both instant coffee and drip coffee are available for any guest on the way out. I wanted to give points for how considerate they are of guests from start to finish.

Eel lunch with parents at Jangsimdo Gangnam: final verdict

At Jangsimdo Gangnam, you can talk comfortably even in the hall under the soft lighting, and if you reserve ahead you can sit in a quiet room, so it's a place to hold the coming year-end gatherings in style, lunch or dinner. I felt I'd finally found my life-changing eel place: the taste, the atmosphere and even the prices all won me over, so this Seocho eel rice bowl spot is one I'm more than ready to revisit.