Korean Grilled Eel (Jangeo-gui)

Originally posted on July 10^th, 2014.

First time eating Korean Grilled Eel

The Ilmisanjang restaurant is located on the small Island Ganghwado and is specialized for this food. Really special for me was when the 18 banchans were served at our tables.

Before the main dish we got served a clear clam soup. It is very refreshing and healthy. What I found also very special was the banchan with ginseng. It had a light sweet taste from the honey marinade mixed with the slightly bitter taste of ginseng. Very pretty and delicious.  

We had 민물장어 which is known as japanese Eel, an Eel species which lives most parts of its life in freshwater. This fish is freshly fished and served immediately to be self-grilled on the typical Korean coal-grill-tables. Freshly grilled you can dip it into the light soy sauce mix and wrap it into the prickled thinly cutted radish. Or you could also make a salad wrap where you usually add some gochuchang, freshly chopped ginger and spring onion or any other banchan you like.

Imjinkang Naru restaurant

The next time I ate this dish was with my friend from Kumdo, Junyoung who I am teaching english to, his wife and their little son. We went to a restaurant which is located right next to the Imjin River the 7th longest river in North and South Korea. This river flows from North to South where is crosses the Demilitarized Zone and joins the Han River in Seoul. In fact, this restaurant was quite close to the North Korean border.

The Imjinkang Naru restaurant was very cute and idyllic surrounded by many trees and plants. Similar to the first restaurant they have little private dining rooms where we sat in the traditional way on the floor. They also have their own garden. So everything served here is self-planted and freshly harvested by the restaurant keepers. There is also a view directly to the river where you could see how the Eels are catched.

Different to the first restaurant were the banchans and the dipping sauce which was a wasabi sauce. There were also different types of marinated Eels. Here we wrapped the grilled Eel into a rose-colored radish. The mix of the Eel taste, sauces and vegetables is amazingly unique and delicious!!! I am getting really hungry while writing this. 

This was one of the most special and most delicious dishes I tried during my study abroad in Seoul. Thanks to my master and friends from Kumdo I can always try so many Korean dishes and learned many things about the Korean culture through them. I am always very thankful I have met them! 🫰