Gwangsan eel restaurant, 30-minute lunch wait for 3 eels: Yuil Jangeo

If you love eel, you really need to try this place! It's the kind of Gwangju restaurant worth going back to again and again — and today I'm introducing Yuil Jangeo, an eel restaurant in Gwangsan-gu that I've now visited three times.

A place you go back to a third time isn't just somewhere you wanted to try once — it's somewhere so tasty and such good value that you keep coming back. That's the real deal.

• Address: 343 Donggok-ro, 1st floor, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00, last order 20:30
• Naver Reservation available

How ordering works at Yuil Jangeo: pick your eel, pay first

At Yuil Jangeo, you look at the eels at the seafood counter, pick the ones you want, and pay right there. Once paid, the eel gets pre-grilled and brought to your table. You grill it yourself the rest of the way, and the table setting and any extra menu items are paid for when you leave!

We arrived at lunchtime and waited about 30 minutes, getting seated around 1pm.

At Yuil Jangeo you choose the eel yourself — you pick according to your group size and can check the size and condition of the eels with your own eyes before selecting. We picked out our already-cleaned eels and paid directly.

So affordable! We went with a pack of 3 medium-sized eels that day, and once they were on the grill it turned out to be even more than we expected — plenty to fill us up.

They show you to your table, and any additional menu items can be ordered via the kiosk right at your seat.

What comes with the meal, and the two self-serve bars

This is Yuil Jangeo's basic table setting. For anything missing, or for extra side dishes, vegetables and sauces, there are two self-serve bars set up in the restaurant.

The self-serve bar at Yuil Jangeo is so reassuring — this is exactly why I keep coming back. Fancy eel restaurants are nice too, but a Gwangju Gwangsan-gu restaurant this tasty, with this good value and portion size, is just great. Eel can get a little rich after a while and you end up eating a lot of side dishes and wrap vegetables, so it's nice being able to just grab more whenever you need it.

Three pre-grilled eels, five minutes over charcoal

The charcoal really matters at eel restaurants and barbecue places, and Yuil Jangeo's charcoal was excellent.

The eel we'd already paid for came out pre-grilled. You just put it straight on the charcoal grill and cook it about 5 more minutes before eating! Three eels in total!

Grilling the eel golden-brown on that great charcoal makes the outside just slightly crisp while the plump flesh inside stays moist.

Take a bite of a well-grilled piece and the outside is chewy, the inside soft with a nutty richness that hits right away! Best of all, there was no fishy or muddy smell at all — the flesh was so firm and springy it was delicious even eaten plain.

Eat one piece plain, and wrap another with ginger and other sides, and the pieces just keep disappearing.

Nurungji for two to finish the meal

For dessert I was craving nurungji (scorched rice) rather than eel soup — so, nurungji for two! Turns out it's only orderable starting from 2 servings. No matter how full you are, why does rice always sound good after eating meat or eel... Finishing off with warm nurungji settled my stomach and made the meal feel complete.

They've got plenty of private rooms too, so it'd be great for group dinners. The best eel restaurant in Gwangsan-gu — highly recommend!

The full bill: ₩55,820 for three at Yuil Jangeo

Table charge is ₩4,000 for adults, ₩2,000 for elementary schoolers. And if grilling the eel yourself feels like too much, the staff said you can just ask them to do it for you!

• 3 medium freshwater eels: ₩39,820
• Adult table charge x3: ₩12,000
• Nurungji x2: ₩4,000
• Total: ₩55,820

Is this even real 🤩🤩🤩🤩 Three of us ate eel and had nurungji on top, and the whole thing came out in the ₩50,000s... These days even a plain meat dinner racks up a huge bill, so when you think about this amount and quality of food plus the service 👍🏻 you can see why this is my third visit.

Dessert included! If you're in Gwangju's Gwangsan-gu looking for a Korean restaurant, especially if you love eel, I'd say give Yuil Jangeo a try. Eel doesn't have to be something you only eat on special occasions because it's expensive — this is a place you can go grab it fairly affordably whenever the craving hits. Generous portions, good quality, and great charcoal — that's Yuil Jangeo, a favorite restaurant in Gwangsan-gu.