Paju Galilei Farm: 20 Years of Taking Our Parents to This Eel Restaurant on Dog Days

On the outskirts of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, between rice fields and warehouse-style buildings, stands a large wooden structure. What catches your eye before the sign is a long mes…

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On the outskirts of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, between rice fields and warehouse-style buildings, stands a large wooden structure. What catches your eye before the sign is a long message attached to the eaves: "We cultivate nature; we speak of people." Beside it, in smaller letters, is written 'Galilei Farm - Pure and Excellent.' It's an eel restaurant our family has been going to for over 20 years, and this dog days season, we found ourselves here again. It's the kind of place where when our parents ask, "What should we eat this summer?" the answer is already decided.

Entrance to Galilei Farm from the parking lot. Cars were tightly packed on the right side.

Saturday Evening, Wait Number 687

The first thing you do upon arrival isn't ordering food—it's checking in. In a separate waiting area next to the entrance, there's a tablet kiosk. On the wall is a sign that looks hand-written: "Please check in first. We'll call your number in order." The number we got was in the 680s, and the screen displayed 683, 684, 685, 686, 687 in a row. In other words, there weren't just a few parties ahead of us—there were dozens.

The waiting area wall has a long history of the restaurant. Galilei Fishery directly farms and sells freshwater eels, and while they initially focused on domestic wholesale and Japanese exports, they started an eel specialty restaurant in 1999. The opposite wall has a description of Gyeonggi Province's premium seafood 'G+FISH' certification, with a notice that stands out: they undergo rigorous testing for harmful substances every two months (46 items including antibiotics and heavy metals), and certification is immediately revoked if standards are exceeded. It seems the restaurant has put this up for you to read while waiting, and it actually does make the time pass a bit faster when you read it.

The waiting area monitor displays numbers up to 687. The right wall shows G+FISH certification information.

On one side of the waiting area stands a banner for 'Galilei Farm Premium Eel Gift Sets.' Signature gift set (9 premium eels + Libsol grater set) 240,000 won, Premium gift set (6 premium eels + Galiose Messolongi salt set) 180,000 won. The phone order number is listed as 031-942-7766. It says only 300 sets are available for holiday gifts, but we've never purchased one—we just pass by each time saying, "That would be nice to give to someone."

Gift set information banner displayed in the waiting area. Prices are based on the time of visit, so it's recommended to check on-site.

The Dining Hall — School Cafeteria-Sized

When your number is called and you enter, you're struck by the scale. It has a warehouse-like structure with an open ceiling, and rows of black exhaust hoods hanging from it. Each hood has numbers like 71, 77, 78, 84, 85 on it—those are your table numbers. With long wooden tables, backless benches, and a view of trees outside through floor-to-ceiling glass, it feels less like a restaurant and more like a well-built camp dining hall. Once you're seated, there are days when your elbows practically touch the table next to you. I want to say upfront that this isn't the place for someone who wants a quiet meal. Kids run around, hoods whir, and you hear the sound of tongs flipping meat all over the place.

Numbers like 71, 77, 84 on the hoods are the table numbers. On weekend evenings, there are hardly any empty seats.

Through the middle of the hall, staff push carts loaded with green plastic bins, clearing away finished plates. People are constantly crossing paths in the aisles—some returning to their tables with lettuce from the self-service bar, others coming back from the restroom with their children. Even though the aisles are fairly wide, when it's busy, you have to wait a while before you can pass through.

The aisle where dish-clearing carts pass frequently. That's how fast the turnover is.

How to Use the Self-Service Bar — "Take Only What You'll Eat"

This restaurant isn't the type to load your table with side dishes. There's a self-service bar in the middle of the hall, and on the wall it says: "We provide basic banchan / Prepare only what you'll eat / Vegetable takeout is not permitted / Many people use this space / Please use it cleanly." Bowls are stacked here too, so you just take what you need, and there's a water dispenser nearby. I've seen first-time visitors sit down and wait for side dishes to appear, looking confused, but at this place you have to get up and get them yourself.

Water dispenser and bowl shelves next to the self-service bar. "Vegetable takeout is not permitted" is written in bold.

While the self-service bar's offerings are simple, it has everything you need for eel. Ginger strips, onion slices soaked in water to reduce the sharp taste, perilla leaves, lettuce, red lettuce, wrap kale, and whole green chili peppers. What really cuts through the eel's richness is the onion and ginger, so I always load up on onions starting from my first plate. One thing I'd note is that during busy times, the kale or perilla leaf trays sometimes run empty for a bit. But if you wait a moment, a staff member will refill them.

Ginger strips, onion, perilla leaves, red lettuce, kale, green chili peppers. Everything you need for eel is here.

Eel Over Charcoal and the Regulars' Sausage

When your ordered eel arrives, staff add charcoal and place the grate on top. The prepared eel comes out with a dark skin side and thick, pinkish flesh. The grilling is up to you. You place the skin-side down and grill, flipping once the flesh turns white, but since eel breaks apart if you touch it too much, restraint is key. On the table are small dishes of eel sauce, ginger strips, kimchi, and mustard sauce.

Fresh eel just placed on the grill. Sausages are grilling alongside it on the right and bottom.

There's a reason the sausage is grilling alongside the eel. This restaurant doesn't sell rice or meal options separately. So regular customers bring things like pre-cooked rice or sausages from home to grill and eat together. Our family has done this for 20 years. If you only eat eel continuously, it gets tiresome by the third piece, but chewing a salty sausage in between resets your palate. It's especially useful if you bring kids. And today, the table next to us was grilling something similar.

As the eel finishes cooking, staff come over and cut it into bite-sized pieces with scissors. As the cut sides curl and the fat sizzles, the best first piece is to dip it lightly in salt and eat. Starting from the second piece, brush it with eel sauce and top with ginger. Rather than subtle, it's definitely rich and deeply flavorful, and pairing it with a green chili pepper balances it out. Sitting in front of the charcoal on a hot evening at the end of summer, you work up a sweat—and that's also a feeling of having given your body a real tonic.

Once cut, it curls like this as it cooks. The sausage on the right was brought from home.

Location and How to Get There

Since it's on a road on the outskirts rather than in downtown Paju, you really need a car to visit conveniently. There's a flat parking lot in front of the building, so parking isn't much of a concern, though on weekend meal times cars fill all the way back and you might have to walk a bit. There's a beverage vending machine to the left of the entrance, which doubles as a smoking and waiting area. The location on the map below is where we visited this time.

A Summary for First-Time Visitors

• Check in first when you arrive. Don't look for a table—get a number from the kiosk in the waiting area. Three-digit numbers are common on weekend evenings.

• They don't sell rice or meal options. Bringing pre-cooked rice or sausages from home makes it much more filling. That's how regulars do it.

• Get vegetables and bowls from the self-service bar. Just note that vegetable takeout isn't permitted, so only take what you'll eat.

• It's crowded and loud. If you go expecting a quiet dinner, you'll be disappointed. But if you go with family, you won't feel self-conscious.

• It's recommended to check prices and hours on-site. Hours are posted on the glass door at the entrance, and gift set prices are based on the banner photo above.

If you're planning a trip to Korea and want to experience proper Korean grilled eel instead of samgyeopsal or chicken, this is a place worth visiting from Seoul. Unlike a tourist restaurant, it's a large neighborhood eel restaurant where families flock every weekend to sit in front of the charcoal grill, so you can see exactly what Koreans eat in the summer and how they do it. By our family's standard, for over 20 years, the answer hasn't changed.