Suwon eel restaurant: 68,000-won grilled platter for two, 99Jangeo88

A close friend of mine (I call her unnie) moved to Suwon, so when we finally met up after a while I wanted to find somewhere good to eat and get some proper nourishment in together!

While looking around for what to eat, I found 99Jangeo88 Suwon Homaesil Branch, an eel restaurant in Homaesil, Suwon, and went for an early weekday lunch! We ordered one salt-grilled freshwater eel platter for the two of us, and it turned out to be more generous than I expected — plus the staff grilled it for us, so it was an easy, relaxed meal. Here's the review :)

How to get to 99Jangeo88 Suwon Homaesil Branch, and where to park

When you arrive in front of the building, a big, eye-catching sign for 99Jangeo88 Suwon Homaesil Branch is the first thing you see, so it was easy to find even on my first visit! I went at around 11am on a weekday for a slightly early lunch.

I parked in the building's basement lot, took the elevator up, and the restaurant was right there — really convenient. Parking at restaurants is always a bit of a headache when you're driving, so having a basement lot to use was great.

What the dining room is like at 11am on a weekday

Since I visited at 11am, before the main lunch rush, I could eat pretty comfortably.

The interior had wood-toned tables and felt clean and well kept overall. The tables weren't packed too close together either, which made it comfortable for eating with friends or family! As soon as we sat down, the basic side dishes were set out quickly :)

Inside the self-serve bar at 99Jangeo88

On one side of 99Jangeo88 there was a self-serve bar where you could get extra side dishes, and what I liked was that everything was kept under clear covers.

A lot of places leave lettuce and side dishes out in the open, so having them neatly covered made it feel a bit more hygienic.

When you're eating eel you keep reaching for more ginger, onion, and lettuce wraps, and we could easily go back for more whenever we ran low.

99Jangeo88 menu and prices

99Jangeo88 doesn't just do grilled freshwater eel — they also have a good range of meal options like eel rice bowls, eel soup, and fish porridge.

• Salt-grilled platter ₩68,000
• Seasoned-grilled platter ₩72,000
• All-you-can-eat eel ₩49,000 per person / min. 2 people
• Sakuraya eel rice bowl (regular) ₩29,000
• Sakuraya eel rice bowl (large) ₩37,000
• Eel soup + mini rice bowl set ₩21,000
• Eel soup ₩12,000
• Kimchi cold noodles ₩8,000
• Fish porridge ₩10,000
• Buckwheat noodles ₩10,000
• Olgaengi hangover soup ₩10,000
• Turmeric rice ₩1,500

They also run a lunch special from 10:00 to 15:00, so if a full grilled eel platter feels like too much, the eel rice bowl or eel soup looked like good lighter options.

The 68,000-won salt-grilled eel platter for two

What we ordered was the salt-grilled platter for ₩68,000! It was just the two of us, but once the eel was all laid out on the grill, there was more of it than I expected!

The menu says one platter serves about 2–3 people, and it was plenty for the two of us. The seasoned version looked good too, but we wanted to really taste the eel's natural flavor, so we went with salt-grilled.

Freshwater eel grilled for you at the table

Once the eel came out, the owner of 99Jangeo88 laid it neatly on the grill and grilled it for us right there, to just the right point.

The eel had already been pre-cooked once, so it didn't take long on the grill before it turned golden and was ready to eat. Not having to wait long was a nice bonus.

The first bite of the golden-grilled eel, I had plain, with nothing added!

That first bite had a great texture right away — crisp and golden outside, soft on the inside.

Being salt-grilled, there was no heavy sauce covering it up, so I could really taste the eel's clean, savory flavor. The nutty taste that spread as I kept chewing was really nice too :)

Why grilled eel and ginger belong together

Next I put a piece of eel on a perilla leaf, added onion, ginger, and sauce, and tried it wrapped up — and yeah, eel and ginger really are a classic pairing for a reason.

After the rich, savory flavor of the eel, the sharp bite of the ginger cut through and cleaned up the palate.

I also tried dipping it in the sauce

and pairing it with the tangy dressed lettuce salad, which really brought out the eel's savory flavor even more! Piling eel onto lettuce and mixing in perilla leaf, onion, and ginger in different combinations to suit my mood meant that even after a whole platter, it never got old — I enjoyed every bit right to the end.

The peppery doenjang stew between bites

Along with the eel, 99Jangeo88 also served doenjang (soybean paste) stew. It came out bubbling hot, with zucchini, onion, and green onion in it, and the broth was on the spicier side.

After several pieces of rich, savory eel, your mouth can start to feel a bit greasy, and a spoonful of hot doenjang stew at that point hit exactly right.

A piece of eel, a spoonful of doenjang stew, then another piece of eel topped with ginger... haha.

Eating like that, the two of us genuinely polished off the whole platter.

The one letdown at 99Jangeo88

The one thing I was sad about that day was not being able to have a cold beer, haha.

I had to drive again later, and it was only 11am for lunch, so I held off (it would have been the perfect drinking snack, haha). Eating the golden-grilled eel, I kept thinking, "a beer here would be just perfect!" Next time I'd love to come back in the evening and take it slow ><

Final verdict on eel at 99Jangeo88 in Homaesil, Suwon

After my close friend moved to Suwon, I visited 99Jangeo88 Suwon Homaesil Branch with her to catch up after a while and get some good nourishment in together.

The salt-grilled platter was generous enough for the two of us, and I loved being able to pair the savory eel with ginger, onion, perilla leaf, and more.

Most of all, having the eel grilled for us meant we could just relax and chat through the meal, and the tidy self-serve bar and basement parking made everything easy!

If you're in Homaesil, Suwon and looking for a place for a family meal, a nourishing outing with your parents, or a hearty meal with friends, it's well worth stopping by for a platter of eel. :)