Seongnam eel restaurant for crisp salt-grilled eel: Mansuheon

I was so busy wrapping up my schedule in the US and coming back to Korea. I think this was my first five-day break in the two years since starting my blog, haha.

After being exhausted by a long 15-hour flight, I thought I needed to recharge a little, so the day after arriving in Korea, I went out for grilled eel—the ultimate restorative food!

Mansuheon Jeongja’s atmosphere and parking

This is a newly opened eel restaurant in Jeongja-dong, Bundang, and the interior was done up so stylishly from the start. I parked in the building basement, and they generously validated two hours!

No, but this interior is totally my style... I do usually take lots of photos, but there were so many pretty corners that I ended up taking even more, haha.

Usually, great eel places are a little run-down, you know? I really loved being able to enjoy delicious eel here in such a clean, upscale space. It was busy, too. There were families and office workers—despite not having been open long, it was packed, which proves it’s a great eel spot in Bundang!!

Lunch and dinner menus, plus eel prices

The lunch and dinner menus are different. Lunch has dolsotbap (hot stone-pot rice) dishes for a more casual meal, while dinner has grilled dishes to enjoy at a leisurely pace.

• Low-temperature-aged Japanese eel, charcoal-grilled ₩45,000
• Low-temperature-aged Japanese eel, seasoned ₩46,000
• Korean beef grade 1++ No. 9 boneless short rib ₩41,000
• Octopus and water parsley vinegared salad ₩15,000
• Eel and Korean beef menchi katsu ₩25,000
• 100% pure buckwheat goldongmyeon ₩13,000
• Jirisan 3-year-aged doenjang rice in broth ₩13,000

Finishing par-grilled eel over charcoal at the table

When you order grilled dishes, they first par-grill them beautifully in the gorgeous kitchen before bringing them out, so I didn’t have to worry about the smell clinging to me, and it was much easier to eat, too!

All the banchan (Korean side dishes) arrived while we waited for the eel to cook nicely. They looked beautiful, neatly arranged in pretty dishes, and tasted great, too!

Eek, such a mouthwatering sight... They don’t have this in the US... Korea is the best, and this Bundang eel place is the best.

The par-grilled eel is brought out, then you cook it just a little more over the clean charcoal set up at the table. That golden-brown color looks so appetizing, right? 🤤

It was so good dipped in the house sauce and salt!!! I absolutely love salt-grilled eel, haha. I tend to like it cooked quite crisp, but seasoned eel burns if you cook it that way... So I got the salt-grilled eel nice and crisp, dipped it generously in sauce, and wow, it was insanely delicious.

Add ginger properly and wrap it in perilla leaf, and it feels different again. It cuts through the richness perfectly. The eel definitely felt a little plumper than at other Bundang eel places?! Chewy yet tender, I’d say—the texture was great, haha.

They even had a separate eel refrigerator here—maybe I should call it an aging cabinet? Anyway, it seems like there’s a reason it tastes so good.

Finishing with 100% pure buckwheat goldongmyeon

For the finish, I ordered the 100% pure buckwheat goldongmyeon. They mixed it well with kelp vinegar, then divided it into individual bowls so it was easy to share. Such good sense, too..! 👍

Because it was 100% pure buckwheat, it felt light, and with mushrooms, gungchae (stem lettuce), and shredded egg, it had the feel of an elegant, healthy meal! It was tangy and perfect for refreshing my palate, haha.

The portion was pretty generous, so I almost couldn’t finish it, but I couldn’t possibly leave any eel behind, so I ate it all before leaving, lol.

I’m so happy to have found such a great Bundang eel place with a clean, stylish interior and food that tastes this good, haha. I’m curious about the lunch menu too, and it’s somewhere I’d like to revisit the next time I feel like restoring my energy!!