Eel restaurant in Sangam-dong for boknal: salt grill & deodeok, Ryeok

Ryeok Freshwater Eel Restaurant in Sangam-dong: location, hours, parking

• Location: 37 Seongam-ro 15-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 1st floor
• Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–22:00 (break time 14:00–16:00)
• Reservations: Naver reservation available
• Parking: use a public car park

For boknal (the hottest days of summer, when Koreans eat restorative food), I went to Ryeok, a freshwater eel restaurant in Sangam-dong, to get my energy back. Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom (력 민물장어구이전문점) is an eel specialist on Seongam-ro in Mapo where you can enjoy freshwater eel prepared the same day, served as a neat full table.

It's close to Digital Media City Station, so it was easy to reach on foot. There's no parking of its own, so a public car park or public transport is easier. Ryeok is popular for office dinners and gatherings, so if you want a drink with your meal, public transport is the better idea 🍻

Ryeok menu and prices

At lunch Ryeok serves one-bowl dishes like rice bowls, and at dinner it focuses on grilled dishes. I booked on Naver and went for dinner, so I ordered from the grill menu, and the first order had to be at least 2 portions.

Lunch special menu

• Rice bowls: special eel bowl (hitsumabushi) ₩27,000 / egg eel bowl ₩18,000 / abalone eel pot rice ₩21,000 / pollack roe and natto bowl ₩16,000 / soboro (minced meat) and eggplant bowl ₩14,000
• Set meals: Baengnyeongdo soy or spicy marinated crab set ₩21,000 / mackerel set ₩16,000 / pork bulgogi set ₩15,000 / yuringi (fried chicken in sauce) ₩10,000
• Sides: Baegi braised cutlassfish ₩16,000 / cream shrimp ₩12,000

What I ordered for dinner

• Salt-grilled eel ₩27,000 × 2
• Deodeok (bellflower root) grill ₩15,000
• Rice ₩1,000

What side dishes come with 2 portions of salt-grilled eel?

Ryeok's signature grills are salt-grilled, soy-grilled, spicy marinated and comeggi (hagfish), and I ordered 2 portions of the salt-grilled eel, seasoned with sun-dried sea salt. A variety of side dishes that go well with eel came out, along with tare (sweet soy glaze) sauce, so you can enjoy several flavors.

The seafood stew that comes as standard

At Ryeok, a seafood stew with pollack, roe, milt, bean sprouts, clams, sujebi (hand-torn dough flakes) and minari (water dropwort) comes as standard, so I ordered one bowl of rice and polished it off in no time. I almost ordered the stew as an extra without knowing it was included, so it was an unexpected joy 😆

Ryeok's pre-grilled salt eel: how did it taste?

Two salt-grilled eels came out with vegetables! Ryeok's eel is grilled over 90% before it reaches the table, so it takes a while to arrive, but in exchange you can eat it right away with just a light re-warming, which made it easy to chat during the meal.

The eel is caught and prepared the same day, so you really taste its clean flavor and chewy texture. 🤍 Sangam-dong eel grill Ryeok 🤍 Restorative food!

It was a really good match with the eel. I had a hearty boknal meal at this eel grill house. With so many side dishes, it was fun to eat the eel in different combinations. At the next table they ordered comeggi and potato pancake, and I could hear them saying it was delicious.

Ways to enjoy the eel

Ryeok says it uses only domestic grade-1 Japonica eel, and I could taste the rich flesh and deep nuttiness, perfect for restoring energy on boknal or in this kind of heat. You can dip it in salt, top it with wasabi, dip it in tare sauce, or eat it with ginger, whichever you like, and it was fun to taste the different flavors together.

A side to go with the eel: deodeok grill

Ryeok's deodeok grill is ₩15,000, and since I was going all in anyway, I added it as a side that goes with eel. The moment I ordered it, I could hear the kitchen pounding the deodeok, haha. Sweet seasoning brushed on, grilled with green onion, with a lovely smoky char!! It was delicious.

The eel was so fresh, plump and tasty that I now want to come back for lunch and try the rice bowls too.