I heard there was a place at Isu Station that does great sea eel and hagfish, so I went with my foodie friends.

The sign

It seems to be open from 3 pm until the early hours, so it looked like a good spot for a daytime drink too.

Soup

A few starters get laid out, and they are not bad.

Steamed egg

Tasty. A place that does good side dishes usually does the main dishes well too. My expectations went up.

Sea eel

A hefty one comes out. We ordered the medium at first, but at this place the large is the right call even for two people.

Nicely grilled

The savory, nutty flavor is superb, and I found myself wondering whether sea eel had always been this good. Better than Anagoya, I think..

Side dishes

We barely touched them.

Songak soju

It is a soju that came over from North Korea, and maybe because the ingredients are different and the alcohol is higher, it went down in a peculiar way. You could call it funky, but perhaps that is why it had impact.

Taedonggang beer

I got this as a birthday present, but I still have not drunk it. I really should check how good it is.

Live hagfish

It is a rather grotesque sight, so if you are faint of heart, do not order it..

Grilled

Maybe because it is so fresh, it was far better than at other hagfish places.

Chicken feet

We tried the chicken feet to finish, but they were a bit on the sweet side.

I drank a lot of soju for the first time in a while. I prefer places like this to fancy restaurants. In Korea, Western food is inevitably a lot less satisfying, so wherever I go I always bring dessert and drinks along, but at a Korean place like this that simply lets the ingredients shine, none of that preparation is needed, which is convenient. I expect I will keep dropping in on places of this style from time to time.

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