Gwangsan eel restaurant, 1.3 kg salt-grilled for four: Yuil Jangeo

I went out for the ultimate body-boosting meal: eel. This is Yuil Jangeo, a freshwater eel restaurant on Donggok-ro in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju.

• ⏰ Daily 11:00 – 21:00 (last order 20:30)
• 📌 343 Donggok-ro, 1st floor, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju
• 🚘 Free parking available

What kind of place is Yuil Jangeo?

Yuil Jangeo, the freshwater eel specialist in Gwangsan-gu, runs its own eel farm directly. That minimizes middleman distribution margins, making it the only place where you can taste freshwater eel at the lowest price in the country.

Outside the restaurant: parking lot and private rooms

Yuil Jangeo is a well-loved eel restaurant located in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. It sits in a three-story building right on the main road, so it's easy to spot even while driving.

One of Yuil Jangeo's perks is its huge parking lot. To the right of the store there's plenty of room — roughly 20 cars can park with ease. You never have to worry about driving here.

Yuil Jangeo uses the entire 1st floor as one space. I visited around lunchtime and every table was already full. I wondered why it's so loved by the people of Gwangsan-gu — and I found out soon enough once I started eating.

If you'd rather enjoy a cozy meal with just your family, private rooms can also be reserved. There are 7 rooms in total, so booking is easy.

Set meal or grilled eel: how do you order at Yuil Jangeo?

At Yuil Jangeo, the popular eel restaurant in Gwangsan-gu, staff ask when you walk in whether you want a set meal or grilled eel. Tables are divided depending on which you choose. My family went with grilled eel that day! To the right of the entrance, you pick out the pack of neatly trimmed eel you want and pay for it.

On the left is a self-serve bar. It's stocked with wrap vegetables like lettuce and perilla leaves, aromatics like chili, garlic, and ginger that taste even better with eel, and sauces like soy sauce and salt to bring out the eel's flavor even more.

Chuseok is coming up right next week. If you're wondering what to give as a Chuseok gift, I'd like to recommend Yuil Jangeo's holiday gift set. You can enjoy plenty of delicious eel at a reasonable price.

Based on 100g of boneless eel, one serving comes out to about ₩15,000. Wait, where else can you get eel at this price...? Is this price for real?

Yuil Jangeo, the popular eel restaurant in Gwangsan-gu, offers eel at a reasonable price, which is why there's a separate table setting fee. But even paying that fee, there's nothing to be disappointed about — at this price you get unlimited wrap vegetables and charcoal grilling. Isn't that a total steal?

Staff asked how many people were dining and showed us to our table. The basic setup included ssamjang (dipping sauce), garlic, ginger, cold cucumber soup, green onion kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, pickled perilla leaves, wrap greens, and wrap radish.

And pickled onions to cut through the eel's richness! A perfect table setting was complete.

Yuil Jangeo menu and prices

Yuil Jangeo has a tablet at every table. You can order easily right from your seat without calling a staff member over. From eel soup to eel tteokgalbi (eel patties) to naengmyeon (cold noodles), you can enjoy everything eel has to offer. The dessert eel soup in particular is fantastic for a taste.

If you write a receipt review, you can get eel tteokgalbi for free. Join the receipt review event and be sure to try the eel tteokgalbi.

Salt-grilling 1.3 kg of freshwater eel for 66,000 won, four people

What we ordered was freshwater eel 3-4 servings, 1.3kg for ₩66,000, plus eel soup for ₩9,900.

Shortly after we sat down, a staff member brought over red-hot charcoal. I could really feel the heat coming off it.

Then a staff member pre-grilled our ordered eel and placed it on the grill with impressive skill.

The eel our family of four ordered was the 3-4 serving size — about 1.3kg total, priced around ₩66,000. We got 3 eels in total. The price seems to vary a bit depending on the size of the eels.

Now, time to grill the eel diligently over the blazing charcoal. The well-trimmed eel is laid on its side and grilled edge-first.

Can you see the eel turning golden brown? Watching the fat sizzle away on the charcoal, how could your mouth not water?

They grilled the sides as well as the front and back evenly, all golden brown.

Well-grilled eel is best eaten with the basic seasoning first. We dipped it in coarse salt and eel sauce. Add salty coarse salt to the rich, fatty eel and it's an explosion of umami!!

You know eel and green onion kimchi go well together, right? Eel with green onion kimchi, wrap radish and ginger — you can build whatever combination you like out of 31 possible pairings.

How was the 9,900 won eel soup to finish?

For dessert we ordered eel soup. As the saying goes, you can judge ten things from one — since the eel itself was delicious, I expected the eel soup to be good too, and sure enough it didn't disappoint.

The soup was genuinely packed with eel, with none of the fishy taste eel can sometimes have. I broke a sweat and finished a whole bowl in no time! If you're feeling under the weather during the change of seasons, I recommend this eel soup!

Is Yuil Jangeo worth a visit?

A place where you can enjoy delicious eel at a reasonable price to your heart's content — that's Yuil Jangeo, the popular eel restaurant in Gwangsan-gu. A spacious parking lot, hot charcoal, and freshwater eel grilled right at your table. If you're looking for a great eel restaurant in Gwangju, I recommend Yuil Jangeo.