THE EEL

Today, I visited a restaurant called THE EEL, located in Apgujeong, South Korea. A distinctive feature of this restaurant is that all the seating is in private rooms. I ordered Unagi don, or Unadon, which is a Japanese rice bowl dish with grilled unagi on top.

Unagi bowl, kanpachi sashimi, sliced ginger, pickle, buckwheat noodles, salad, chawanmushi, and green tea was served and the price for Unagi don was only 30,000, or about $22.

The server gave us a quick run-through on how to enjoy the unagi bowl.

• Use a wooden spatula to divide a bowl into four.

• Take out 1/4 and enjoy the original taste.

• Take out 1/4 and add toppings to your taste such as perilla leaf, green onion, seaweed, or wasabi.

• Take out 1/4 and add tea broth.

• Take out the remaining 1/4 and eat it using the method above that you found most delicious.

I like eel, so I've tried a lot of grilled eel and eel rice bowls, but the quality of an eel from this restaurant was the best. The chewy texture of the meat went well with the tangy sauce, and the slightly spicy flavor was excellent.

My favorite was adding ginger, perilla leaf, and green onion.

Final Thoughts

• The quality of the eel was the best, and the sweetness of the sauce was perfect

• There were many options to enjoy a simple unagi bowl

• I would recommend this restaurant for special occasions, as private rooms are provided.