Giant eel and duck neck at a Siheung Baegot eel buffet: Songnim Bok

Where is Songnim Bok Jangeo in Siheung Baegot?

Songnim Bok Jangeo Unlimited Freshwater Eel Siheung Baegot Direct Branch is an eel buffet restaurant at 1F, 43-7 Seouldaehak-ro 278beon-gil, Siheung, Gyeonggi, South Korea. It's open from 11:30 to 23:00, and you can use the store's underground parking lot for 2 hours. I came here after hearing you can eat unlimited freshwater eel, a classic autumn health food.

The place had everything: group seating, takeout, reservations, wifi, separate men's and women's restrooms, and a waiting area.

Songnim Bok had a clean exterior, and as an eel buffet chain, it keeps opening new branches.

The interior was simple and clean, and since I came after the weekday lunch rush, it was pleasantly quiet.

How long do you get, and what do adults and children pay?

The all-you-can-eat time limit at Songnim Bok is capped at 2 hours. There were tips on the wall for grilling eel well and a list of 7 benefits of freshwater eel, worth a read while you wait.

• The Siheung eel buffet splits pricing into adult and child categories, with the table charge applying to adults only.
• Child pricing is based on elementary school age, and preschoolers eat free.

Side dishes and what's in the self-service corner

The basic side dishes at this Siheung eel buffet were green onion kimchi, ginger, pickled onion, baek kimchi (white kimchi), and pickled perilla leaves, served alongside eel, pork belly and duck neck.

Songnim Bok's self-service corner

At the self-service corner, you could take as much eel, pork belly, and duck neck as you wanted, and the basic side dishes were unlimited too! The corner was kept clean and constantly restocked.

Grilling eel, pork belly and duck neck on one pan

We grilled the first round of eel, pork belly, and duck neck all together on one pan. We wanted to try all three before deciding what to load up on, and maybe because the ingredients were fresh, there wasn't a hint of gamey smell — everything tasted great.

This Siheung eel buffet reportedly prepares live eel fresh every morning.

The eel actually came folded in half, and when I unfolded it, there was a thick, sticky mucus layer, which looked fresh and chewy.

Eel tastes even better grilled golden brown with a slight char. Going through my blog photos now, I'm craving it again.

Even though it's freshwater eel, there was no fishy taste at all — just nutty and clean. That's probably a sign of how fresh it was.

Was the pork belly buffet-quality?

My eldest said the pork belly was delicious, so we grabbed more from the self-service corner and filled the grill. This wasn't the usual thin all-you-can-eat pork belly — it was the quality you'd get at a regular restaurant. It had a bit of thickness, and was soft and juicy without being dry.

Wrapped in lettuce with green onion kimchi, pickled onion, garlic and cheongyang chili, it was so good.

Duck neck with just salt and pepper

The duck neck wasn't marinated — just lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.

It was my first time trying duck neck, and there was no gamey smell — chewy and nutty, the kind of thing I could keep eating as a drinking snack.

The giant eel, and more than five eels in total

Since I came specifically for the Siheung eel buffet, I made sure to eat my fill of eel.

Eating the eel with ginger and teriyaki sauce, I never got tired of it and kept going.

From grilling so much on the pan, some char had built up on the eel. When I asked the owner how they clean the grill, they came right over and wiped it clean with a sanitizing wipe.

I went back to the self-service corner for more eel, and there it was — an absolutely massive eel.

The thickness on this giant eel was on another level. Its juiciness stood out too. We wrapped up our eel grilling with the giant eel.

The final bite was, of course, perilla leaf, ginger, and teriyaki sauce. We must have eaten more than five eels that day.

What else to see near Baegot

• This Siheung eel buffet is located on the food street behind Baegot Lotte Mart.
• Siheung Premium Outlets and Baegot Saengmyeong Park are nearby, perfect for shopping and a walk afterward.

With how tough the economy has been lately, I came here hearing you could eat unlimited eel, and all three meats — eel, pork belly, and duck neck — were genuinely good quality. Being able to grab them freely from the self-service corner made it easy, too. I'd recommend it for family meals and all kinds of gatherings!