Gwangju eel restaurant on a rainy day: ₩9,900 eel soup at Yuil Jangeo

Hey everyone~ On a day when the rain kept drizzling down, we went out for some eel to perk ourselves up! This time we visited Yuil Jangeo (유일장어), an eel restaurant in Gwangsan, Gwangju, over on the Donggok side. It's on the way from Songjeong-ri toward Naju, in a big building right across from Songjeong Outlet. You have to turn off the main road to get there, so keep an eye out for the sign and drive slowly.

Yuil Jangeo hours, parking and how to find it

This Gwangsan eel spot is open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, and apparently closed on Chuseok day itself. It can also be closed on other holidays sometimes, so definitely check before you go.! There's parking for about 5 cars right in front, and a wide dedicated lot out back, so you can park easily and head in~

Yuil Jangeo is an eel specialty restaurant in Gwangsan known for genuinely fresh eel, so it's always packed with customers. Even when we visited there weren't many seats left, and apparently on weekends even the inner rooms fill up and you might need to wait via a table-ring waitlist.!

Picking your own live eel at the display counter

Instead of ordering off a menu and having food brought to you, Yuil Jangeo works on a system where you pick out your own eel directly from the display case.! You check the eel's condition, size, weight and price yourself, choose one, then pay at the counter — they'll pre-grill it and bring it to your table.

Inside the display case are eels that have been beautifully aged~! There are portions laid out for 2, 3-4, 5-6 people and so on, and you can also buy them packaged to go. Since you get to see and choose the eel yourself, it somehow feels like it's going to taste even better.

Off to one side of the restaurant you can see the aging fridge, full of eel maturing nicely. It's packed to the brim, but apparently even that much eel sells out fast, so Yuil Jangeo really does seem to be a genuine eel restaurant in Gwangsan~

Two servings of live eel for 29,000 won: what does the table setting cost?

Yuil Jangeo only handles japonica, a native Korean eel species, and prices are posted in precise units: ₩29,000 for 2 servings of live eel, ₩4,833 per 100g boneless. Eel prices can shift depending on sourcing, so keep that in mind~

Yuil Jangeo does charge a table-setting fee.! This covers charcoal and various side dishes, and it's ₩4,000 for adults, ₩2,000 for elementary schoolers. Since you can keep helping yourself to the side dishes, that price feels like pretty good value.

Takeout discounts: 10% off trimmed eel, 5% off pre-grilled

Eel grilled over charcoal is genuinely delicious, so I'd recommend eating it in the restaurant if at all possible, but in case some of you want to take eel home, here's the takeout discount info~ Trimmed eel gets a 10% discount, pre-grilled eel gets 5% off, so keep that in mind if you're taking eel to go from Yuil Jangeo. It's noticeably different from supermarket eel in freshness and texture.

The self-serve sauce bar and basic side dishes

Just a little further inside the restaurant you'll find the basic side dishes and sauces that come standard. There's salt, pepper, sesame oil, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), and even a spicy sauce for eating your eel with a kick. A standard teriyaki-style sauce for the eel sits on every table!

Once you order, the basic table setting comes out~ It's all side dishes that pair well with eel! Pickled perilla leaves, green onion kimchi, pickled radish, pickled onions, napa cabbage kimchi, fresh lettuce wraps and garlic, ginger, and various sauces~ The salt sauce and spicy sauce we grabbed ourselves from the self-serve bar.

Pre-grilled eel stood upright over white charcoal

One reason the eel at Yuil Jangeo has such great flavor and texture is this charcoal right here~ Plump japonica eel gets laid onto carefully prepared, blazing-hot charcoal, and the texture and flavor that comes out of that is seriously so good,,, I feel like anything grilled on charcoal like this would taste amazing.

The eel we'd been waiting and waiting for finally arrived~! We picked the 2-serving portion, and within that, chose a nice plump eel with real heft to it. Since the eel comes already pre-grilled, we got to save time on the actual grilling, which was great.

When the eel first comes out, the staff places it on the grill for you. Apparently eel needs to be grilled standing upright rather than laid flat, so the inside cooks through properly and you get that crisp-outside, tender-inside texture~ Once the staff sets it up, you grill it a bit, then flip it over and grill the other side. You can also grab tongs and scissors from the self-serve bar to make things easier.

Yuil Jangeo is a self-grill eel restaurant run directly by its own eel farm.! By cutting out labor costs and middle distributors, they can offer freshwater eel at rock-bottom prices~ The quality is completely different from an all-you-can-eat eel place, and there are private rooms too, so it seems like a good spot for group gatherings. With Chuseok coming up soon, apparently a lot of people buy eel as holiday gift sets, so if you're looking for a holiday gift, I'd recommend Yuil Jangeo.

The 9,900 won eel soup we added on a rainy day

Maybe because it was raining, we found ourselves craving something hot and soupy, so we ordered eel soup on top! Ordering the soup comes with rice side dishes too. We got seasoned bok choy, seasoned bean sprouts, and radish kimchi. While the eel grilled, we tucked into the eel soup.

Eel soup packed with eel for ₩9,900

Yuil Jangeo's eel soup is a nutrient-packed bowl loaded with pungcheon freshwater eel~! At ₩9,900, the price feels just right. The broth is genuinely deep and savory, with just the right amount of spice~ Eaten with rice, it'll disappear a whole bowl in no time — a total rice thief.

Tips for grilling eel properly at the table

There are hotter spots and cooler spots on the charcoal grill — once a piece is fully cooked, move it to the cooler side, and shift pieces that still need more cooking to the hotter spot~ If you grill eel too long it can turn overly crisp and you lose that plump texture, so check on it often and grill it just right.

We laid the golden-grilled eel over a fragrant perilla leaf wrap, dabbed a little spicy sauce on, then added ginger and raw garlic dipped in teriyaki sauce, and ate it all together..!! There are honestly so many possible combinations that every bite has you wondering what to try next, but really, however you eat it, it's delicious,,,

From the plumpest cuts to the energizing tail section..!! We got to eat fresh eel at a reasonable price and leave completely full — such a satisfying visit to Yuil Jangeo, a great eel restaurant in Gwangsan~

With eel soup, seasoned grilled eel, eel tteokgalbi (grilled patties), plus meal options like naengmyeon (cold noodles) and eel soup, Yuil Jangeo lets you enjoy eel in a hearty, satisfying way. If you're looking for a great eel restaurant in Gwangsan, I recommend Yuil Jangeo~