Jeongja eel house: black sesame salt and perilla pickle, Mansuheon

The weather has turned cool, and I was craving some tasty eel to restore my energy. So my husband and I went to Mansuheon Jeongja (만수헌 정자), an eel restaurant in Bundang.

Mansuheon Jeongja location, hours and parking

Mansuheon Jeongja is at 158 Jeongjail-ro, 2nd floor, Bundang-gu, Seongnam. It is open 11:00 - 21:30, with a break from 14:00 to 17:30. It is closed every Sunday, and mechanical parking is available in the building.

• Reservations available via Naver
• Group seating and private rooms available

The restaurant is near Jeongja Station, so it is easy to reach by public transport. I would especially recommend this Bundang eel restaurant if you are taking your parents out or looking for a family meal.

The lunch and dinner menus are different. Lunch features eel stone-pot rice (dolsot-ban), while dinner offers charcoal-grilled eel, Korean beef rib finger and more.

What is the atmosphere like at Mansuheon Jeongja?

The moment you walk in, it doesn't feel like an ordinary eel grill place. It feels like a sleek, clean premium dining restaurant. Wood-tone interiors and soft lighting make it warm yet upscale!

The interior is bigger than I expected and the tables are nicely spaced, so it is a good place to eat while chatting quietly.

There are also separate private rooms toward the back. If you reserve ahead, you can probably enjoy a more private meal.

On one side of the restaurant, they keep the eel fresh in a freezer like this.

And in the middle of the restaurant there is a space for the first round of grilling the eel. Being able to watch the eel being pre-grilled is one of Mansuheon Jeongja's distinctive features.

Two-person premium dinner set at Mansuheon Jeongja: what's included and price

We visited at dinner time and ordered the two-person set, which lets you try both salt-grilled and marinated eel.

• Two-person premium set - ₩99,000
• 1 portion salt-grilled eel
• 1 portion marinated eel
• Seasonal octopus salad

I liked that we didn't have to choose between salt-grilled and marinated eel, since the set lets you taste both.

Side dishes and buckwheat tea at Mansuheon Jeongja

After we ordered, they brought out the side dishes along with warm buckwheat tea.

Personally, I really liked this buckwheat tea. It is warm and nutty, and just right to sip before you start eating.

The side dishes also come out neatly, one by one: shredded ginger, special sauce, black sesame salt, wasabi and other things that go well with eel.

There is also dongchimi (radish water kimchi) that is nice to spoon up when the eel starts to feel a little rich. And a potato salad that I kept reaching for!

Plus scallion salad, kimchi and three kinds of jangajji (pickles)!! Overall nothing was overly strong, just clean flavors, which I liked.

How to eat salt-grilled eel at Mansuheon Jeongja

At Mansuheon Jeongja, the eel is pre-grilled once in the kitchen and then finished at the table. The eel we'd been waiting for finally arrived!

Because it comes already pre-grilled, you don't need to grill it for long. You just warm it briefly on the grill.

Above all, the eel was really plump. The thickness was impressive, golden on the outside and full of juicy moisture inside.

Since it was pre-grilled, we only cooked it briefly on the grill and ate the salt-grilled eel first.

First bite with black sesame salt, then perilla-leaf pickle, house sauce and ginger

For the first bite, I lightly dipped the eel in black sesame salt! The nutty sesame and salt go surprisingly well with eel.

My recommended combo is a perilla-leaf pickle (kkaennip jangajji) topped with a little special sauce and a piece of ginger! This combo is honestly heavenly, haha. The savory depth of the sauce plus the sharp aroma of ginger cuts the eel's richness and brings out its nutty flavor even more. 🤎

Seasonal octopus salad with greens in the premium set

Oh, and the premium set also comes with a seasonal octopus salad. It is springy octopus with fragrant water dropwort (minari) and crunchy cucumber, tossed in a spicy-sour dressing.

When you eat grilled eel, it can get a bit oily, and a bite of this seasonal octopus salad refreshes your mouth.

My favorite was a piece of salt-grilled eel with the octopus and water dropwort salad.

How is marinated eel different from salt-grilled eel at Mansuheon Jeongja?

If salt-grilled eel is good for tasting the eel itself, marinated eel gives you a richer, deeper savory flavor. The marinated eel was also thick, with a great chew, and the flavor of the sauce really came through.

Eating them alternately, each had its own charm. If you can't choose just one, ordering the two-person premium set like we did seems like a good choice.

Would I go back to Mansuheon Jeongja, an eel restaurant in Bundang?

It was a really delicious meal, my first in a while, at this Bundang eel restaurant. The clean, upscale interior, neat side dishes and good-quality eel made it satisfying overall. Next time I'd like to visit at lunch and try the eel stone-pot rice. If you are looking for an eel restaurant with a nice atmosphere in Jeongja, Bundang, I recommend Mansuheon Jeongja! :)