5 portions of grilled eel and gejang in Gwangju: Ppaksen Eel Songjeong

Today my husband and I decided on eel for our weekend dinner out and stopped by Ppaksen Freshwater Eel, a well-known spot near Songjeong Station, and ate a bunch of different things. I normally love eel and would eat it every day if I could, but the price is no joke so I don't get to have it often — so when a good-value place opened up near our house, we had to go try it.

Location and hours of Ppaksen Freshwater Eel Songjeong Station Branch

14 Songjeong-ro 30beon-gil, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, South Korea

• Mon–Thu 15:00–23:00 (last order 22:30)
• Fri–Sun 15:00–24:00 (last order 23:30)

Ppaksen Freshwater Eel Songjeong Station Branch is about a 5-minute walk from Songjeong Station. There's parking right in front of the restaurant, so we didn't have to worry about that at all.

Ppaksen Freshwater Eel only uses firm-fleshed sinseon eel raised under 14 months from fry, so it's a place you can trust the eel you're eating — no reason not to come. They say the eel is Gochang pungcheon eel of the Japonica species, so knowing it's reliably domestic made it feel even more reassuring, and tastier too.

Interior and seating

The interior of Ppaksen Freshwater Eel Songjeong Station Branch is quite spacious with plenty of seating, which seems ideal for family gatherings or group meetups. We came around 5pm on a Saturday and there were already a fair number of people, and by the time we left, more kept coming in — you could really feel it was a popular spot near Songjeong Station.

Endless refills of green onion kimchi at the self-serve bar

There's a self-serve bar on one side of the restaurant where you can take unlimited vegetables, sauces, and kimchi, and the green onion kimchi was so good I went back for it multiple times.

Ordering is simple — just use the tablet at your table.

The menu and order units

The system works so that you get 1 whole eel per 2 portions ordered, and the minimum order itself starts at 2 portions, so we ended up ordering 3 portions to start and then adding 2 more portions... haha, whoops.

These are the side dishes they gave us — an assortment of kimchi, sauces, scallion salad, doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), and even myeongi namul (wild garlic leaves), all picked to go well with eel. I was planning to order a stew separately if it wasn't included, but since the doenjang jjigae came automatically, I got to enjoy it with rice too.

They use a charcoal fire instead of a gas burner, and it was surprisingly novel that they could heat it up right at the table.

3 portions of premium eel, pre-grilled once before serving

This is the 3 portions of premium eel we ordered — the size was really big and the flesh so plump it made your mouth water just looking at it! It comes already pre-grilled once, so you only need to cook it a little more before eating. As soon as it arrived, the staff kindly cut it up for us and even placed it on the grill, which made things pretty easy.

Once it's cut, you just stand the pieces up on the grill to cook — since it's already pre-grilled, it only takes a little more time, which I loved about Ppaksen Freshwater Eel Songjeong Station Branch, being able to eat quickly and comfortably.

Maybe because it's premium eel, the pieces were huge and plump — you'd feel full after just one piece. But being big didn't take anything away from the taste or quality at all! If anything, it felt even better and happier to be able to eat a lot of delicious, big eel, haha.

Teriyaki loaded with ginger, and the red sauce combo

Loading up the basic teriyaki sauce with a ton of ginger and taking a bite — this was exactly the eel combo I wanted, so I kept refilling it from the self-serve bar and eating it this way.

I also like red sauce, so I asked the staff for a little bit of just the red sauce, and this combo with the eel was great too — it just kept going down.

My husband diligently grilled the eel and I wrapped it all up and ate it. I personally love perilla leaf wraps, so I loaded up on perilla leaves and ginger at Ppaksen Freshwater Eel Songjeong Station Branch. Add ginger, pickled onion, chili, garlic, and plump eel all into the wrap and it's pure honey-tasting deliciousness!!

2 more portions of regular eel plus grilled deodeok

The eel just didn't seem to run out no matter how much we ate. But we were enjoying it so much we finished it fast anyway, so we ordered 2 more portions of regular eel. We'd originally considered trying eel soup, but figured since we came for eel, we might as well eat a ton of eel — so we ordered more. Probably won't need to eat eel again for a while after this.

Finally, the additional 2 portions of regular eel. Slightly smaller in size, but the taste is the same, so I think ordering whatever combo you want works out fine.

This is the grilled deodeok (bellflower root) my husband wanted to order. It comes already grilled and coated in red sauce, so it just needs a little more grilling to get crisp yet moist. The combo of sweet eel with spicy, slightly bitter deodeok is unbeatable — we couldn't stop eating it and finished it off completely.

I'd recommend Ppaksen Freshwater Eel Songjeong Station Branch to anyone who loves eel. With its varied menu, good side dishes, and reasonable prices, it's a place worth visiting — highly recommend it!!!!