Nonhyeon Jeil Jangeo Eels

Post by Chiefeater Luke Soon

You can’t miss Nonhyeon Jeil Jangeo on a Saturday night just off the Gangnam grid. It has a bright yellow sign in bold brush calligraphy and a long tank glowing blue by the door, full of the evening’s eels, still very much alive. The red 生 stamp on the menu says it all: everything here starts live. Inside it’s a proper neighbourhood suljip, with gas grills set into every table, an ajumma keeping an eye on the floor and handwritten specials taped to the wall.

Freshwater eel is sold by weight, ₩33,000 for 330g or ₩73,000 for 700g, and the staff do all the grilling. A server in white cotton gloves lays the fillets skin-side down over the flame, then turns and snips them into neat crescents with scissors and tongs. I asked for half and half, my usual way with eel in Korea: half salt-grilled and half done yangnyeom-style with the sweet-savoury sauce. Everything came out salt-grilled. It was good eel, with fat rendering, skin crisping to almost glassy and soft flesh with that clean river sweetness, and the charred tail pieces were the best bites. But a whole plate of plain eel gets a bit monotonous, and that’s exactly what the sauced half is there to fix.

A butterflied saury came off the same grill, salty and smoky, and a single gonggibap was necessary to soak it all up. We washed it down with Saero Zero Sugar soju, served, rather wonderfully, in a Chamisul glass.

Oyster season has just started here, and I was very tempted by the Tongyeong gul gukbap (₩12,000) but held back. It’ll be the first thing I order next time.

Good produce at honest Gangnam prices, but if you want your eel done both ways, make sure the server confirms it before it goes on the grill. Chiefeater Luke Soon rates it 6.5 out of 10.

Prices: Grilled freshwater eel ₩33,000 (330g) / ₩73,000 (700g). Lunch menu ₩10,000 to ₩25,000, including whole-eel rice bowl ₩25,000 and Tongyeong oyster gukbap ₩12,000.

Must try: Live eel off the grill (ask for half salt, half yangnyeom), and the oyster gukbap in season

Business Hours

Opens for lunch and dinner
Hours are not stated