Gwanak eel restaurant with grilled 1kg eel: Jangsuchon

A quick nourishing eel meal in Seoul

I’ve been feeling a little drained lately, so I went out for eel for the first time in a while to recharge 🫶🏻 Whenever my family says we’re having eel, we usually end up going to a good spot out in Uiwang, Namyangju, or Paju near Seoul. But that day, I couldn’t be bothered to go far, so I found this great Seoul eel restaurant where we could have a casual meal right in the city.

The interior was neat, and you can park right in front of the restaurant! Quite a few people were there for family meals, and since it’s an eel direct store, the prices were really reasonable.

1kg of salt-grilled eel and the table spread

We ordered 1kg of salt-grilled eel, and at ₩59,000 per kilogram, the price was so good compared with other eel restaurants. It was just the right amount for two people, so it was an easy, no-pressure way to have a nourishing meal! You get the value you’d expect at an eel place outside Seoul, but can enjoy it right in the city—that’s the point 🖤 Just note that there’s a separate ₩3,000 table setting fee per person in addition to the eel price!

The water that quietly stuck with me

Something that was unexpectedly memorable here was the water! A staff member told us it was good for the body and said to drink plenty, so I just laughed at first—but it really was the kind of water you kept drinking. It had a slightly earthy, comforting taste, like the water your grandma might serve you at her house. I normally only drink filtered water, so somehow this tasted even better, haha.

The table spread came neatly arranged, from side dishes such as seasoned chives and braised lotus root to ssam vegetables (wrap greens)! There were also plenty of sauces for dipping the eel: bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) salt, wasabi, teriyaki sauce, and seasoned sauce. If a sauce wasn’t at the self-service station, we just asked and they brought it to the table!

You can refill the other side dishes and wrap greens at the self-service station, too!

Plump eel grilled right at the table

I also loved that they grill the eel for you once you order, so you can just relax and eat 🖤 At first, the plump eel looked like more than two people could finish, but once it started turning golden on the grill, it disappeared in no time hahaha.

Eel available for takeaway and delivery

Oh, and they also offer delivery and takeaway, so it looked great for enjoying eel comfortably at home! I’d never really thought about ordering eel for delivery, but while we ate, Baemin and Coupang Eats orders kept coming in, so it seems like lots of people order it that way too. You don’t have to go all the way out to the suburbs to have reasonably priced eel in Seoul, so on a day you want a nourishing meal at home, takeaway or delivery would be a good idea haha. Grilling eel is more of a hassle than you’d think, so having it grilled for you makes eating it at home sound pretty great too!

The outside was grilled golden and slightly chewy, while the inside was springy and moist! Its distinctly nutty, clean eel flavor really came through, so I kept reaching for more without it ever feeling heavy. One bite with the seasoned chives was such a good combination—the chive aroma and flavor cut through the eel’s richness perfectly, and I just kept munching away 🤍

Put a piece of eel on lettuce, then add seasoned chives and garlic, and you really feel like this is what a restorative meal is all about! The grilled garaetteok (cylindrical rice cake) they gave us as a service was a special treat too. It felt like we’d come out to the suburbs for a little outing, even though we were in Seoul haha.

Eel soup served with the grilled eel

Another thing I loved at Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel Direct Store (장수촌풍천장어직판장): one bowl of eel soup per person 🖤 I love a hot soup, so I wondered if we’d need to order eel soup separately, but it came with the grilled eel! The broth was rich and full of ingredients, so we added a bowl of rice and finished it right away. After finishing the eel and a whole bowl of eel soup, I truly felt recharged.

At the end, we even made sure to have the eel extract. Eel in Seoul can be pricey, but Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel Direct Store was satisfying because you can enjoy a generous portion by the kilogram, have it grilled for you, and get eel soup as well. I’d especially recommend it if you’re looking for a reasonably priced eel spot in Seoul on a day you don’t want to travel far! It had been a while since I’d had eel, and after clearing both the eel and eel soup, I felt like I could live off that energy for days hahaha.