Gwangyang eel restaurant, 3 eels with parents: Deokeun Jangeo

Why Deokeun Jangeo is a repeat visit in Gwangyang

Live eel is ₩35,640 per kg, and the table setting fee is ₩4,000. Deokeun Jangeo Gwangyang Branch is one of my favorite go-to spots in Gwangyang! It's one of the eel restaurants with seriously good quality here, so I always bring my parents along, haha. You can buy the eel by the kilo, in whatever amount you want, which I love — and because the quality is always so good, here's another visit review!

Address: 101 Hangman9-ro, Gwangyang-si, Jeollanam-do, South Korea. Hours: Daily 11:00–21:30, break time 14:00–16:00.

Pick your eel at the first-floor showcase, eat upstairs

Once you walk into Deokeun Jangeo, you can pick your eel right away from the showcase you see here! After choosing, you head up to the 2nd floor restaurant to eat :) We picked ours based on condition and weight, haha.

Usually you can check the price per kilo, and the boneless-fillet price is also listed! I liked that everything was so clearly laid out.

Table setting fee: 4,000 won per adult and the self-serve banchan bar

Once you've bought your eel, you head up to the 2nd floor! The table setting fee is ₩4,000 for adults and ₩2,000 for elementary school age and under — and it definitely doesn't feel wasted, because the spread that comes out is so generous, haha.

There's a sign at the entrance about the health benefits of eel! It has higher arginine and calcium content than other fish, which is probably something everyone already knows.

First, the basic table setting! The table itself was huge, which was great, and they arranged different banchan on both sides — such a nice touch.

The interior is really spacious, so there were lots of groups dining, and there's a separate room available too if you want to eat there. There's also a self-serve bar where you can grab whatever side dishes you like! These are the banchan that come as standard.

The eel three adults picked for just under 60,000 won

We picked this eel, and the amount was just right for three adults — the price came to somewhere in the high ₩50,000s to ₩60,000s! Just looking at it, you can tell the quality is great, haha.

With everything laid out so generously, it was time to really dig in!

How to grill eel over charcoal: skin first, then pink salt

They set us up with a charcoal fire! A sturdy grill goes over the charcoal, and the eel goes right on top, haha.

The eel is really, really big and thick, haha. On the plate, it's about the size of an eel folded in half. It's genuinely so large that you have to lay it diagonally across the grill just to fit it.

They grill the skin side first, and you flip it now and then so it doesn't stick. Once the skin turns golden, they sprinkle pink salt on the flesh and cut it up.

After cutting it into bite-sized pieces, you just keep grilling it a bit more to make it even tastier, haha. Once it's just slightly golden, you can eat it right away! It's so good that soju is practically required.

Three eels from one under-60,000-won order

After we finished, they kept grilling more, haha. The portion turns out to be bigger than you'd expect! For just under ₩60,000, we got to eat three eels of genuinely great quality ><

Eel is delicious on its own, but it's even better with ginger, or wrapped in lettuce with myeong-i namul (wild garlic leaf pickle) ><

Flying fish roe rice balls turned into eel sushi

And then the rice ball we ordered as an extra! It's a flying fish roe rice ball, and it came out so generously — time to make a delicious rice ball with disposable gloves!

The rice ball my dad made so well ~

Once the rice ball was neatly made, haha, we grilled the rest of the eel and topped it on there together — completing our own eel sushi ~

Deokeun Jangeo Gwangyang Branch, a Gwangyang eel restaurant where you can eat great-quality eel at a great price! The quality is so good and the price is so good that this is my umpteenth visit to this Gwangyang eel favorite ~ highly recommend it ><