13.319 Minmul Jangeo

Cycle 13 – Item 319

20 (Sun) November 2022

Minmul Jangeo

3.0

at Supsok Jangeochon

-Sinhyeon, Gwangju, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, MIL + FIL

Supsok Jangeochon (숲속장어촌) is a Korean restaurant.  Specializes in minmul (freshwater) jangeo (eel), grilled à la Korean BBQ.

Located 20 km from home – I think that I might’ve been here once, pre-GMTD

The In-Laws invited us to lunch at their favorite eel joint.

They like to patronize restaurants that are way out of the way, which gives them an opportunity to ruefully shake their heads and declare that it’s such a hassle to come out so far, but worth the effort (see also 11.217 Baeksuk).

Packed house on a Sunday at lunchtime.

I believe that any given food, in its basic form, has an upper limit on how good it can be.  Freshwater eel in Korea, for example, where they’re all born from the same gene pool, caught from the same body of water, all taste pretty much the same, so long as they’re pristinely fresh, sufficiently sized, properly prepared.  At that point, the difference lies in the sides, the sauce (if any), as well as the service, the cost, the convenience.

I suspect that the grills are made intentionally small to show how big the eels are (see also 12.284 King Special Large).

At Supsok Jangeochon, the eel was pristinely fresh, sufficiently sized, properly prepared – in other words, as good as it gets.  Beyond that, the sides were woefully skimpy, and the location was terribly inconvenient – in other words, not worth the effort.

Sides included lettuce wraps and lightly marinated buchu for topping.

By contrast, our local eel place offers such a wide range of sides that every bite can be made into an entirely different taste/texture profile (see for example 12.278 Puncheon Jangeo – Regular).

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

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