Eel restaurant in Seowon-gu, Cheongju: 2 kg for four at Samhwa Susan

With friends who love hunting down good restaurants, we headed to Samhwa Susan in Cheongju for fresh grade-1 Gochang river eel (풍천장어) at a reasonable price.

Where Samhwa Susan is in Cheongju, plus hours and parking

Today's spot: Samhwa Susan

Address: 269 Daerim-ro, Nam-i-myeon, Seowon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do (145 Seokpan-ri) Phone: 043-235-7141 Hours: Tue–Sun 11:10–21:00, last order 20:00 (closed Sept 28–28) Closed: every Monday Note: reservations and group bookings available, takeout, free wifi, parking, baby chairs

There's a spacious, convenient free parking lot, so it seems like a good spot for gatherings or company dinners too. A lot of families come here in particular. The restroom is outside, through the blue door near the parking lot.

Inside Samhwa Susan and the self-serve corner: ramyeon for 4,000 won

The menu board inside is clean and easy to read. The interior itself is tidy, and the staff greeted us warmly.

There's no break time here, which was great for going when it's not crowded like our group did. We arrived around 4:30pm for an early dinner and there weren't many customers, but by 6pm the place was packed!

Next to the register, they sell eel extract — one box of 50 packets for ₩100,000. They also sell snacks like nurungji (scorched rice) and kkwabaegi (twisted doughnuts).

The self-serve corner has plenty of side dishes too. You take as much as you'd like, and drinks and alcohol are also self-serve.

Interestingly, they also sell self-serve ramyeon for ₩4,000. Doesn't a spicy bowl of Shin Ramyeon sound perfect after eating rich, oily grilled eel? Such a good idea.

Samhwa Susan eel prices and how far 2 kg goes for four people

We made a reservation and arrived on time — they immediately brought out the table setting for four along with eel that had already been pre-grilled.

The basic set at Samhwa Susan is 1kg of eel per 2 people for ₩50,000, plus a ₩4,000 table fee per person.

After trimming, 1kg of eel comes out to about 580g, but the eel itself is so big and plump that the portion feels more generous than expected.

What comes with the meal: fresh kimchi, clam soup and self-serve sushi

The freshly made kimchi that came with the base table setting was genuinely full of savory depth — the kind I hadn't tasted in a while. It looked so fresh and flavorful. I'm getting hungry again just writing this review.

• Basic side dishes: ssamjang (dipping sauce), garlic, ginger
• White kimchi, pickled onion and chili, pickled perilla leaves
• Chive kimchi and lettuce (perilla leaves were brought out later too)

Each person gets their own bowl of clam soup — the broth is refreshing and savory, and the clams themselves are plump and delicious.

Self-serve sushi is included in the basic table fee. Extra orders cost ₩2,000.

Pungcheon eel grilled over charcoal for you

A staff member placed the eel skin-side up on the well-heated grill, then came back after a bit to flip it and finish cooking.

Once golden brown on both sides, the eel is cut into bite-sized pieces and put back on the grill so it cooks evenly all the way through.

The clean interior gets a lot of families, so baby chairs are available too.

Fresh perilla leaves, ssamjang, pickled ginger, aged kimchi — any combination is so good you can't stop reaching for more eel.

It's delicious dipped in teriyaki sauce, and even better wrapped in aged kimchi. Golden, well-grilled eel eaten with fresh lettuce and tasty chive kimchi is just as good.

The leftover eel from the first round of grilling — look how thick and generous those cuts are.

Good eel really seems to call for alcohol. Apparently the somaek (soju-beer mix) just kept flowing endlessly. They say with good side dishes and good company, you never really get drunk — haha. The fresh, thick eel had that distinctive rich flavor and chewy texture.

Garlic roasted in sesame oil, and eel sushi made at the table

Since I can't eat raw garlic, they let it simmer with sesame oil over the charcoal so I could eat it cooked, bubbling away as we grilled. Cooked garlic loses that sharp raw bite and is much easier to eat.

For the self-serve sushi, you put a little rice, add wasabi and roasted garlic, then top it with well-grilled eel — genuinely delicious.

Eating it alongside the spicy sauce, perilla leaves, seasoned chives and other side dishes makes the river eel even better.

Soybean soup made with nothing but cabbage

My sister, who loves mixing rice into doenjang (soybean paste) soup when eating eel or meat, ordered this soybean soup. Made simply with rustic, savory-salty doenjang and sweet cabbage, it was surprisingly delicious — almost like a specialty dish.

2 kg between four, and why Samhwa Susan is worth a second visit

The four of us ate 2kg of river eel at this Cheongju spot — and even though we were already full, we still made ourselves some delicious eel sushi. My sister is skilled at making it, and it was so good. Samhwa Susan is family-run, and every staff member was kind — from the river eel itself to all the side dishes, everything was delicious. I think we'll be back whenever we're craving eel.