Paju eel restaurant with eel bone porridge: Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae

A room-style restaurant that's great for 60th and 70th birthday celebrations and family gatherings! I went to Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae (장어명가지중해), a Paju eel restaurant near Imjingak, to eat eel at its best in season, June to August. I recommend it as a Paju room restaurant for family get-togethers 🤞

Where is Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae, and what are the hours and parking?

Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae is at 1447 Bangchon-ro, Munsan-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi, near Jayu-ro Naepo IC. It's open every day from 11:00 to 21:00, and parking is available.

• Address: 1447 Bangchon-ro, Munsan-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi (near Jayu-ro Naepo IC)
• Hours: open every day, 11:00–21:00
• Parking: available

You can exit straight off Jayu-ro, so it was easy to get to.

And the parking lot is hu~~ge!

Are there rooms for 60th/70th birthday family gatherings?

Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae has a spacious hall, small private rooms, and a big room that can even host company events. The restaurant itself felt like a palace, kind of?

The scale of the waiting area and rest space, whoa!

The hall was deep and wide too.

Further in there are small-group room tables, and at the very back a huge room big enough for company events.

That's why I recommend Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae for family gatherings like 60th and 70th birthdays. Of course, eel being something parents love is a big reason too, haha.

There were tons of celebrity autographs too. It's a celebrity hangout as well!

Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae menu and ordering

The main items at Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae are salt-grilled and sauce-grilled eel, sold by the whole eel. My husband and I visited as a pair and were seated by a window in the hall.

The green scenery was lovely, and so was the Imjingang view beyond it. It felt like I'd traveled far away... even though I live in Paju and this is Paju ^^

Let's check the menu and order fast! It's an eel restaurant near Imjingak in Paju, so eel is the star. Salt-grilled and sauce-grilled eel are sold by the whole eel. Meals you can add include pufferfish hot pot (bok ttukbaegi), bulgogi, eel porridge, doenjang stew (soybean paste stew) and more.

There were also wild Imjingang pufferfish dishes, available only from April to June. I've never tried them so I was really tempted, but today we came for eel! We ordered one salt and one sauce.

They also had spicy fish stews (maeuntang) with eel, bagasari (mandarin fish), catfish or freshwater crab.

Lots of drinks too~~ including a bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) highball that sounded like a great match for eel~

Table setting: fried eel bones and side dishes

The basic setting at Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae comes with fried eel bones, a dipping sauce for the eel, and a variety of side dishes. I'd reserved ahead, so the table was already set.

There were fried eel bones, a welcome sight! I'm super picky about texture, but they were fried crisp and crunched like snacks. Plain they're nutty... but the savory eel sauce set out for us was so good that I dipped the bones in it. They went together so well I kept dipping. 🤣🤣 Magical sauce 👍👍

Then came the side dishes: seasoned chives, kimchi, pickled perilla leaves, ginger, water kimchi, pickled chili peppers and more.

They'd prepared a nice variety of sides to go with eel, which can get greasy because it's so fatty~

How do the salt-grilled and sauce-grilled eel taste?

The eel arrives pre-grilled once, and a staff member grills it until done. And here's today's star! The pre-grilled eel made a pretty entrance. Sauce and salt, side by side 😍

They cut it nicely and stand the pieces up on the grill. Sizzle sizzle sizzle~ The look of it! I wanted to dig in right away.

Even the head, which I've never seen elsewhere!! (My husband boldly said he'd try it, then gave up because of all the bones 🤣🤣)

They said "Grill it like this and enjoy," and I thought they'd just check the basics and leave, but the staff kept grilling until it was all done. 👏👏

It seems to come well pre-grilled, so we could eat sooner than expected, which was nice. First bite, eel only~ sauce one first! They said it's the same sauce as the one we'd dipped the fried bones in, so it had great savory depth! Not that spicy, just right.

The eel was less springy-chewy and more soft, clingy and dense. We love vegetables, so we diligently ate it with the side dishes.

They matched really well, and every side dish was tasty.

You could taste the care. The salt-grilled was clean and mild, but we like bold flavors, so I think the sauce one tasted better to us, haha.

What does the eel porridge taste like?

The eel porridge (jangeo-juk) at Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae is white porridge made with a broth simmered from eel bones, not ground eel. We added it after finishing the eel! Places usually sell eel soup, but this one had porridge, so even though I was full, I was curious and ordered just one.

I'd assumed ground eel went in, but it was white, so I asked, and they said it's porridge cooked in a broth carefully simmered from eel bones. No wonder it was so thick and sticky. With the kimchi from the side dishes I finished a bowl in no time, and it was gentle on the stomach.

Verdict

Jangeo Myeongga Jijunghae lets you eat in-season eel (June to August, great for stamina) while looking out at the Imjingang. The place is spacious and upscale, with rooms in various forms and sizes including ones for large groups, so it suits just about any event. I'd love to come back with my parents during the next pufferfish season. Eel and pufferfish, here we come~ haha