Salt-before-grilling tip at a Siheung Baegot eel buffet: Songnim Bok

Songnim Bok Jangeo Baegot branch: location, hours and parking

Songnim Bok Jangeo Unlimited Freshwater Eel Siheung Baegot Direct Branch (송림복장어) is at 43-7 Seouldaehak-ro 278beon-gil, Unit 133 on the 1st floor, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It is open daily 11:30 to 23:00, and you park in the building's underground garage. My husband was busy right up to last weekend, so today I decided to give him a proper stamina boost and went hunting for the hot Baegot eel place, Songnim Bok =)

It's on the 1st floor, and the sign is so big that we spotted it right away!!

How much is the Songnim Bok Jangeo eel buffet, and what's on the menu?

The all-you-can-eat freshwater eel is ₩29,900, and the signboard says the eel is prepared fresh at dawn the same day. This price for this quality? My expectations were sky-high! Let's head inside!

The seating was laid out well enough for a big group, and the place was very clean ✨

Here's the menu. Besides eel, there's eel soup and yukgaejang (spicy beef soup), and of course the must-haves, makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles) and ramyeon!

There was also a framed sign explaining how to grill eel well and the benefits of freshwater eel, so I read it carefully, haha. I know it's good for you, but it's even better when you know why, right? ><

Songnim Bok also sells prepared eel at a low price, so it'd be great to buy and cook at home for a housewarming or when guests come. Perfect for a clumsy cook like me..! Hehe

Is a 2-hour eel buffet too short?

The buffet runs for 2 hours. I wondered if the time limit might be a bit short, but we ate until we were stuffed and left after just 1 hour. It's actually a looooong time, so you can eat comfortably and without rushing!

Basic table setup and the self-service bar

The basic side dishes are pickled onion, white kimchi, shredded ginger, scallion kimchi and pickled perilla leaves. And then the ace of Siheung eel buffets!! The eel, pork belly and duck neck all come out beautifully plated.

Good things deserve a bigger look, right? Haha. Even just looking, you could feel how fresh it was!

I got curious and went to the self-bar! All the side dishes we were first given were there, plus eel sauce, chili peppers, garlic and lettuce. I fetched more lettuce, garlic, chili peppers, ssamjang (wrap sauce) and scallion kimchi, and there was scallion kimchi there^^; haha. It was so good I had it twice, shh, our secret!!

Free bokbunja wine, returned because I'm not drinking

Okay~ we were just getting started with the grilling when the owner showed up with a perfect gesture!!

He gave us bokbunja (Korean black raspberry wine) for free!! The wine that goes perfectly with eel!! Totally free! Eel and bokbunja are a match made in heaven, need I say more, you all know, right?? 🍷 But we're not drinking right now, so sadly we couldn't have it. We accepted the kind gesture and tearfully handed it back ㅠ😭😭😭

How do the duck neck and pork belly taste?

Maybe because the strong heat cooks it quickly, the duck neck was juicy and moist with no gamey smell at all. Of the eel, pork belly and duck neck turning golden on the grill, I tried the fully cooked duck neck first, and it was grilled perfectly, right? Haha. Eel is the main event, but it was so good you could honestly call this a duck neck specialist!!

Next, pork belly!! Wrapped with scallion kimchi, pickled onion, chili pepper, garlic and ssamjang, and chomp! The pork belly was really moist and delicious too. The quality was far better than the meat at the usual all-you-can-eat BBQ places, like a proper regular pork belly restaurant. Are sides allowed to be this good? Boss, it's so tasty!!

Songnim Bok Jangeo freshwater eel: sauce or salt?

And now the ace of Baegot eel restaurants!! The eel makes its entrance ✨ See how plump and full the flesh is?? Grilled crispy outside and juicy inside, and one big bite~~!!

You can feel how springy the eel is right through the photo, right? The moment I bit in, the juices burst and a fancy party broke out in my mouth!! There was truly not a single trace of fishy smell, and the eel was super bouncy, specialist-restaurant quality. Hooray for Songnim Bok!! It's a treat dipped in eel sauce, but the eel itself is so good that plain salt alone was delicious too. You know how great food is pure bliss with just salt 🧂, right? Hehe

Our home-kitchen chef grilled everything with such care, searing it just right, that I got hyped and enjoyed it so much. I came to give my husband a stamina boost and made him do the grilling... I'm a bad person ㅜㅜ

Sorry is sorry, but... haha. Before the flow broke, I went and got more refills!! The eel, pork belly and duck neck are all super fresh, right? Going back for yet another refill after all that is our little secret. Truly a Baegot restaurant I recommend ✌️

Tip: salt the eel before grilling

Salting the eel, pork belly and duck neck before grilling made them tastier. Ah haha, our home chef said pre-salting tastes better, so he salted everything before it hit the grill, and it was definitely better when grilled!! (Pro tip) He sprinkled salt very carefully on all three: duck neck, pork belly and eel. He tossed it on even more stylishly than the showy chef Choi Hyun-seok. Hehe, at least in my eyes 🧂✨

Wow~~ it grilled up so deliciously, right?? Even while writing this post, remembering the taste makes my mouth water 🤤 Looking at the photos, I realized we forgot to grill garlic in the eel fat!! Next time I'll grill plenty of garlic. Neighbors, don't forget to grill it too! We ate until we were stuffed again today ;)

Songnim Bok Jangeo: final verdict

• A bargain stamina meal for the summer ahead: Songnim Bok, Siheung's all-you-can-eat eel
• Plump eel plus duck neck and pork belly, a crazy-good Baegot eel restaurant
• Visit whenever you need an energy boost. I strongly recommend this Baegot restaurant 💖
• I'll 5000% come back!