Smoke-free eel grill at Balsan Station: white kimchi wraps, Jangsuchon

The weather has suddenly gotten so hot that my body has been dragging, ugh. You all know you have to eat well at times like this, right? So to properly recharge, I went to Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel (장수촌 풍천장어), a hidden gem of an eel restaurant near Balsan Station. One bite and I thought, "Wow, this is the real deal!" so I'm rushing to tell you about it!

Where is Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel? Location, parking and opening hours

Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel is at 27 Gangseo-ro 54-gil, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd floor. Come out of Balsan Station Exit 3 and walk a short way down the alley toward NC Department Store, and you'll find it quickly. It's open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with last orders at 9 p.m.! It's super close to the station haha.

There's a dedicated parking space below the building, so you can bring a car without worrying. The inside is huge too, so it's perfect for group gatherings!

Handy tip: on one side of the restaurant there's a big tank labeled "eel storage" (장어보관소). Their rule is to prep and serve eel the same day, and the freshness really did stand out. They also sell rich eel extract, said to be good for immunity, separately at a kind price, and I quietly eyed it as a gift for my parents haha.

Does grilling eel at Jangsuchon leave you smelling of smoke?

Every table at Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel has a ventilation hood that sucks up the smoke, so I could eat comfortably without worrying about the smell. The seating is mostly plush sofa seats, so it's comfortable for a long meal too.

The moment you open the door, a wide open space greets you, and the whole place felt really clean and pleasant! Above all, at barbecue or eel places your eyes often sting from the smoke, right? Here the ventilation hoods are working overtime, so I could eat cleanly and loved that.

Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel menu and prices

The signature dish at Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel is 1kg of salt-grilled eel for ₩59,000, with a table setting fee of ₩3,000 per person on top. It's a direct-sale style with reduced distribution margins, so you can reportedly try top-grade domestic native pungcheon eel (freshwater-and-seawater eel) at a fairly reasonable price!

It says that when you order 1kg, the head, bones and innards are all neatly removed and you get the full boneless weight, so I was already feeling the trust before I even ate.

• Main: salt-grilled eel (1kg) ₩59,000 / extra eel (500g) ₩30,000
• Meals: jangchu-tang (eel and vegetable soup) ₩11,000 / Beolgyo cockle bibimbap ₩11,000
• Sides: grilled whole abalone ₩18,000 / grilled king prawns ₩15,000
• Table setting fee ₩3,000 per person, extra

1kg of charcoal-grilled eel: which side dishes come with it?

When you order grilled eel at Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel, the basic side dishes come neatly laid out: a fresh salad, tangy sweet lettuce geotjeori (fresh-seasoned salad), braised lotus root, white kimchi, and ginger strips, the soulmate of eel. If you run short of side dishes or wrap vegetables, you can go grab more at the self-serve bar without feeling awkward, which I was totally happy with!

Do you grill the eel yourself at Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel?

At Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel, a staff member comes at just the right timing and grills all the eel for you. Long, plump eel goes onto glowing red hardwood charcoal.

Honestly, you always worry about burning it when grilling eel, right? The kind staff grilled everything, which was so convenient, ugh. They snip it into bite-size pieces and line them up neatly on the grill, and with a sight like that you can't help taking photos.

Grilled golden brown over strong charcoal, the outside is crispy like a cracker, while the inside holds its juices and is super soft, chewy and bouncy! The nutty flavor bursts out with every bite, and I kept exclaiming as I ate haha.

Best combo: grilled eel wrapped in white kimchi

Dip the eel at Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel into the sweet special teriyaki sauce and top it with sharp ginger strips and chives, and greasiness? What greasiness? You can keep eating nonstop. My favorite combo, though, was wrapping the eel in tangy white kimchi, which cut right through the richness, so I enjoyed it without getting tired of it down to the last piece.

Complimentary eel soup

At Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel, eel soup (장어탕) comes bubbling in a earthenware pot as a basic free service! And it's not a half-hearted freebie: the broth is so deep and thick that one sip warms your whole body and makes you feel like you're really getting a health boost.

It's also packed with savory ugeoji (dried cabbage leaves), so if you stir in a bowl of rice and have it alongside the grilled eel, your stomach gets very full in a perfect, flawless combo! ugh.

Would I go back to Jangsuchon Pungcheon Eel?

I fell for the plump, hearty eel quality with no off smell at all, and fell again for the warm service that grills carefully from start to finish. The place is wide and pleasant, so whether you take your parents, meet friends, or go on a stamina-boosting date as a couple, you'll get plenty of praise. Next time my energy runs low, I'm definitely going back to stamp my revisit!