Bucheon eel restaurant for a family birthday: Gochang Pungcheon Eel

A birthday dinner out at an eel restaurant for Dad! There was a time when we ate eel often enough to go to eel restaurants with the family and grill it at home too. Somehow it became less frequent, and Dad said it had been such a long time since he'd had eel..! I thought maybe it had been three years? But Mom and my sibling said our last time was a full five years ago, wow. We visited an eel restaurant for the first time in ages and had a wonderfully filling, satisfying meal 😆

Gochang Pungcheon Eel basics and parking

Gochang Pungcheon Eel is near exits 7 and 8 of Sangdong Station on Line 7, on the roadside in the restaurant alley behind Save Zone. You can use the parking tower on floors 2 through 5 of the same building, with up to two hours of free parking support.

We made a reservation through Naver before visiting, and I noticed several coupons available when booking! We chose the eel soup coupon and made our reservation.

Gochang Pungcheon Eel apparently began in 2003 as a small shop of about 13 pyeong and has now been operating as a grilled-eel specialist for more than 20 years.

Outdoor tables and an eight-person room

There were outdoor tables at the entrance too, so once the weather cools down, it looked like you could eat with a nice breeze for a sort of semi-outdoor dining feel?

The indoor tables were in a quite clean space.

There was also a private room exclusively for eight people. It looked great for family gatherings, group get-togethers, or company dinners. If you reserve in advance, they set the table up like this beforehand.

They serve premium Japanese-style freshwater eel only!!

There was clear country-of-origin labeling, aprons were provided, and parking tickets were also sold. (₩1,000 per hour)

Grilled eel and side dishes

The grilled eel came in three styles: salt, gochujang (Korean red chili paste), and soy sauce. Each serving has an actual weight of 300–310 g. There were side dishes too, including eel soup, eel pot rice, and doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew).

• Salt-grilled eel for 2 people, ₩35,000 × 2
• Gochujang-grilled eel for 2 people, ₩35,000 × 2
• Eel soup, ₩10,000 × 2
• Steamed rice, ₩1,000 × 2
• We used a Naver Reservation eel soup coupon, for 3 eel soups in total

Side dishes before the eel arrived

Before the eel arrived, the banchan (Korean side dishes) were set out first, and there was more variety than I expected. Ginger, which is essential with eel, fried eel bones, aged kimchi, and pickled perilla leaves. The fried eel bones especially! They were savory and crisp, surprisingly easy to chew, and so delicious.

Seasoned scallions, lettuce and perilla leaves for wraps, and sweet eel sauce. There was soft steamed egg and even eel porridge as an appetizer!! Mom is a little sensitive to food smells, and she said the eel porridge had a fairly strong, distinctive eel aroma.

As we worked through the side dishes, the heated charcoal arrived.

Salt-grilled eel cooked by the staff

Finally, the star of the meal: grilled eel! They first showed us the par-cooked eel, then a staff member grilled it right at our table.

First up, two portions of salt-grilled eel! As it cooked over charcoal, the outside turned beautifully golden, and there was a faint charcoal aroma when I tried it.

Once it was done, they moved it to the side without charcoal underneath. Oh, and they grilled shishito peppers with the salt-grilled eel too, and the charcoal-grilled peppers went really well with it. The eel was thick overall, so it had a proper bite to it.

For the first piece, I ate it plain with nothing at all, then topped it with ginger and dipped it in eel sauce.

Wrapped in pickled perilla leaves or eaten with aged kimchi, it cut through the eel's rich flavor so nicely!! The flesh was springy, mild, and nutty! Since the eel was definitely thick, it had a great chew. There was nothing bothersome in my mouth as I ate, so it was easy to enjoy.

While we ate the salt-grilled eel, the par-cooked gochujang eel waited at the next table.. The staff checked our pace and grilled it to match! It was so convenient because all we had to do was focus on eating.

The gochujang-grilled eel we liked even more

This time, gochujang-grilled eel!!

The seasoning was full of savory depth without being spicy or overly salty.

I liked the clean taste of the salt-grilled eel too, but as I kept eating, the gochujang-grilled version was a little tastier to me haha. Mom also said the gochujang-seasoned eel suited her palate better than the salt-grilled one!

Before we went, Dad had said eel restaurants leave you with a big bill without having eaten much.... haha. But even after just the grilled eel here, he said he had eaten well and felt full, so he was pleased. Since the birthday person said he enjoyed it, I felt oddly proud as the person who picked the place haha.

Ending warmly with eel soup

But for Koreans, a meal out really has to end with carbs..! The eel soup was bubbling fiercely when it arrived, it was that hot. It had lots of perilla seed powder, making the broth thick and rich from the start!

By applying the eel soup coupon while booking through Naver, we got one bowl free. We ordered two more, then shared all three bowls among the family.

It was generously filled with ugeoji (outer cabbage leaves) and siraegi (dried radish greens), so even the solids were hearty. The broth was savory without aggressive seasoning, so it was easy to eat even without rice; with warm rice, though, it became much more filling and warmed me right through—the perfect finishing dish!

Eel with my family for Dad's birthday after a full five years! From mild salt-grilled eel to flavorful gochujang-grilled eel and hot eel soup!! We were looking for eel in Bucheon and chose somewhere close to home, so I was glad everyone said they had eaten so well for the first time in ages. It was a wonderfully filling family birthday dinner at Gochang Pungcheon Eel~