Eel restaurant near Jeongja Station: 3 jumbo eels for 3 men, Mansuheon

News came that a new eel place had opened near my office! Super classy atmosphere, and they serve properly plump eel?! I couldn't resist, so the three hopeless brothers headed to Mansuheon Jeongja (만수헌 정자).

Mansuheon Jeongja opening hours and parking

Mansuheon Jeongja is open daily 11:30–21:45, with a break from 14:00 to 17:00 and last order at 21:15. It is closed every Sunday.

You can use the Baekgung Plaza 2 parking lot, which covers 1 hour before 6 pm and 2 hours after 6 pm.

There's also a happy hour corkage-free coupon. Visit between 17:00 and 18:00 and wine corkage is free!

Mansuheon Jeongja menu: how do lunch and dinner differ?

Lunch at Mansuheon Jeongja centers on a special eel dolsotbap (stone pot rice), while dinner centers on charcoal-grilled eel and hanwoo short rib meat. You order by QR code at your seat, which is very convenient.

At lunch you can try the eel dolsotbap as a neat set meal. It comes with eel, stone pot rice, special tare sauce, egg strips, shiitake mushrooms, seaweed and chopped scallion. Like hitsumabushi, it's one bowl but eaten in stages, so you get a variety of flavors.

At dinner the table is built around charcoal-grilled eel and hanwoo short rib meat. The eel is said to be pre-grilled over 1,300-degree charcoal, and at your table you cook it a little more.

We're three sturdy guys, so we started with 2 salt-grilled eels and 1 marinated eel, all in the jumbo size. We also tried the bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) pairing set of 3. After the eel, we ordered spicy octopus and water dropwort salad and black hanwoo yukhoe (seasoned raw beef) as anju (drinking snacks).

How much three men paid for eel at Mansuheon Jeongja

• 2 jumbo salt-grilled eels ₩136,000
• 1 jumbo marinated eel ₩69,000
• Mansuheon bokbunja pairing set of 3, 3 sets ₩27,000
• Spicy octopus and water dropwort salad ₩15,000
• Black hanwoo yukhoe, small ₩20,000
• Alcohol separate
• Total ₩294,000 plus drinks

Where is Mansuheon Jeongja near Jeongja Station?

Mansuheon Jeongja is on the 2nd floor of Baekgung Plaza 2 at Jeongja Station. It's a 5-minute walk from the station, so access is good. There's also underground parking. It covers only 1–2 hours, so if you'll stay longer, paid parking at M-CO Heritz is an option.

Go up to the 2nd floor and you'll find a very upscale entrance. Like a cave, the stone-textured outer wall has a wooden sliding door. You can register for Matchtable (a waitlist app) in front of the restaurant.

Inside Mansuheon Jeongja: good for company dinners and private-room gatherings?

Inside, Mansuheon Jeongja has a dimly lit, wood-toned hall and private rooms at the back, so it looked fine for both big company dinners and small gatherings. Right inside the door is a narrow corridor where you can sit and wait. Even so, you instantly feel you've arrived at premium dining that handles high-end ingredients.

Past the corridor, the space opens up. The wood tones and low lighting give the hall a calm mood. Comfortable yet upscale is its character! Tables are spaced widely, and the hall isn't one fully open space but is slightly divided by seat backs. There seemed to be plenty of table seats, enough for a group dinner.

There are also private rooms at the back. They looked good for small gatherings or dinners where you want to talk comfortably. The pre-grilling is open so you can watch it from the hall.

Mansuheon Jeongja table setting and side dishes

We sat by the window. A charcoal brazier is built into the middle of the table, a center-embedded type.

At the side of each table are a QR code for ordering and a booklet with the head chef's philosophy. Pre-grilled eel takes quite a while to come out, so while waiting you can follow the traces of the effort put into delivering the best taste to customers.

Once seated, you get bottled water and glasses, and the table drawer holds a bottle opener and wet wipes. The chair seat lifts open so you can store your belongings.

After a short wait, they neatly set out basic side dishes, individual sauces and small plates. There are pickled sides that go well with eel, plus geotjeori (fresh kimchi) and seasoned lettuce. The kimchi and seasoned dishes are quite tangy and delicious, so be warned: you'll keep reaching for them.

Each seat gets tongs for picking up eel, a small plate, paper-wrapped utensils and dongchimi (radish water kimchi). Then a tray arrives with wasabi, salt, ginger, tare sauce, garlic and ssamjang (dipping paste) neatly arranged. The tare sauce is topped with dried ginseng sliced into threads. Once the hot charcoal is placed in the middle of the table, you're ready to eat eel!

What does the Mansuheon bokbunja pairing set of 3 taste like?

Mansuheon's bokbunja pairing set of 3 costs ₩9,000 per person and serves bokbunja in regular, sparkling and makgeolli (rice wine) styles. Eel and bokbunja are soulmates, aren't they?! There was a unique pairing service, so we ordered it to try.

Overall the base is a similar bokbunja flavor, with one tasting sparkling and one like makgeolli. It was a not-bad combination to sip lightly alongside eel.

Personally, I liked the Suntory draft beer better. Writing a review for their event got me one more glass, which made me even happier haha;

Is the jumbo salt-grilled eel at Mansuheon worth the price?

Mansuheon Jeongja's jumbo salt-grilled eel is ₩136,000 for 2 eels, about 1.5 times pricier than ordinary grilled eel. I think a Japonica eel this size used to run ₩70,000–80,000, and since these were quite thick, it didn't feel that expensive.

It's fully pre-grilled and arrives about 90% cooked. You only add a light fire aroma to the last 10% or so?! Each person gets long tongs, so grilling on the center brazier is quite convenient.

The rich, oily flavor of the eel was very melt-in-your-mouth, and you could really feel the plump texture. It's light yet the eel's true flavor is wonderfully alive, a great salt-grilled eel. My companions picked up a piece and split it in half to savor it, haha. That's how substantial these guys were.

Even dipped in just salt, you can fully taste the eel's flavor. The wasabi was fairly spicy, but even a generous amount went well with the eel. It also pairs great with sweet tare sauce and ginger, and wrapped in a perilla leaf it's refreshing.

Jumbo marinated eel vs. salt-grilled eel at Mansuheon

Mansuheon Jeongja's jumbo marinated eel is ₩69,000 for 1 eel. It isn't grilled with marinade; at the finish they brush on a special sauce. A subtle sweet-spicy sauce lingers slightly, but overall the texture of the flavor is similar to the salt-grilled.

Since it's already sauced, just wasabi, salt and ginger make a decent match. Personally, I felt the light salt-grilled one let me taste the eel properly.

After the eel: octopus salad and Hanwoo Yukhoe Black

Octopus and water dropwort salad, ₩15,000

Mansuheon Jeongja's spicy octopus and water dropwort salad is ₩15,000, and we ordered it as a snack for the leftover drinks after the happy eel time. Crunchy water dropwort and octopus tossed in a tangy sauce really perks up the appetite! It was a fine finishing dish after enjoying eel.

Hanwoo Yukhoe Black (small), ₩20,000

Mansuheon Jeongja's black hanwoo yukhoe in the small size is ₩20,000, a side we ordered as one more finishing dish. Black hanwoo yukhoe? I was curious, so I ordered it haha. Two stone-like lumps arrive, and the look makes you wonder, what is this?

Break it with chopsticks and fresh hanwoo yukhoe is inside. Wrap it in the seaweed served with it and there's no better drinking snack. It's fun to look at too, so I felt glad I ordered it haha.

We ate really, really well and are heading out!

Mansuheon Jeongja at a glance

• Mansuheon Jeongja, an eel grill 5 minutes on foot from Jeongja Station in Bundang
• Parking available (Baekgung Plaza 2)
• Neat, upscale mood and friendly staff
• Eel is served pre-grilled
• Plump, flavorful eel, and the salt-grilled was truly delicious
• Good lineup of side dishes to order as snacks after the eel
• Address: 203, 2nd floor, 158 Jeongjail-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea