Mapo eel restaurant dinner: Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom

When you want grilled eel for dinner in Sangam-dong

I wondered if there was a good place for eel in Sangam-dong, so my friend and I looked around and visited Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom (력 민물장어구이전문점). It also seemed like a great spot for a Sangam-dong lunch gathering or a Digital Media City company dinner, so I wanted to introduce it.

It is just about a two-minute walk through the little side streets from Digital Media City Station Exit 9, and there is no dedicated parking lot. I parked at Sangam 1 Public Parking Lot, though, and it was only a two-minute walk from there. For reference, Sangam 1 Public Parking Lot is seriously inexpensive for a public lot near Digital Media City Station in Sangam-dong. Even after parking for a few hours, the fee never feels burdensome, so I use it often.

A Sangam-dong favorite for eel: Ryeok Minmul Jangeogui Jeonmunjeom

The restaurant is easy to find because the first-floor sign simply says “Ryeok!”

Hitsumabushi for lunch and grilled eel for dinner

Their lunch special, hitsumabushi (grilled eel over rice), is popular, and they also have eel pot rice and rice bowls. Eel hitsumabushi is usually priced above ₩25,000 wherever you go, and considering the quality here, ₩27,000 feels just right.

This Sangam-dong eel rice bowl spot was even featured on Live Today as one of the top three!!! Earlier that day, a junior assistant manager from another company—five years younger than me—had really annoyed me at work. Whew... I thought, things are completely different from my day, the world has changed so much in ten years, kids these days are really different, haha. I needed to blow off some steam, and luckily it was the day my friend had booked eel for a little restorative meal, so I went in excited.

Neat side dishes and a table set for our reservation

As soon as we entered, our table was set up with a reservation sign. The side dishes all looked neat and beautifully arranged, and they were all delicious when we tried them too. My friend kept saying everything was so nicely prepared and good, and sampled a bit of each with me.

There was ginger, perilla leaf, pickled radish wraps, pickled garlic, salad, braised mushrooms, and sweet pumpkin salad. They were great as appetizers, and it was fun wrapping each one with the eel.

A dinner split between soy sauce and spicy grilled eel

You can order from a kiosk. At lunch, people usually have the hitsumabushi eel rice bowl, and it is well known as a Sangam-dong lunch gathering spot. But we came for dinner and said, “Hey, let’s have grilled eel and make it feel like a proper dinner out!!” So we ordered the grilled eel. There are soy sauce, spicy, and salt-grilled options, priced in the ₩28,000 range, and the nice thing was that we could order one soy sauce and one spicy portion. So that is exactly what we did.

After we ordered the eel, warm altang (fish roe stew) came out first. You can see it bubbling away, right?

My friend and I shared the roe and milt, along with mushrooms, crown daisy, vegetables, and tofu. The broth was so refreshing that my friend said it was great to have soup. She felt like she might be coming down with a little cold during the change of seasons, so she absolutely loved it. And while we were taking spoonfuls of altang, out came the eel!!

Par-grilled eel with wild ginseng

This is how it arrives, with corn, pineapple, mushrooms, shishito peppers, and scallops, plus one wild ginseng root placed on each serving.

This is the ginseng they give you for a restorative boost!!! Wow~~~ My friend and I were like, haha, wow, this place is seriously the real deal for a nourishing meal, and got so excited.

The eel came par-grilled, so we put two pieces at a time on the grill and ate it warm, almost as if reheating it. We grilled the scallops, pineapple, and other vegetables too, eating them as they cooked. We alternated bites with the ginger, perilla leaf, and other side dishes that came first, or ate the eel on its own to enjoy its natural flavor. It really felt like a proper restorative meal, and all the fatigue from the day melted away. I think anyone looking for a Sangam-dong lunch gathering spot or a great eel restaurant would be happy with both the grilled eel and hitsumabushi here.