Golden Swan Motel

This place is literally my favorite place to dine in. I drive about 2 hours just to have eel here! I’ve been eating here since about 8 – 9 years ago, and it’s still the same owners today! Although the place is really small and looks shady, it has the best eel. Must try!

This place is legend. Possibly the only restaurant in the world were you can get a fresh eel straight from the Delaware on the menu. Also trout from roscoe. All the small plates are pickled and fermented from local veggies. And none of this is an advertised selling point for the restaurant. One of the true hidden culinary gems of the United States.

Excellent Korean style grilled Eel… home cooked style. A lot of fresh vegetable side dishes.

This area of Catskills is big on deep frying and low on choices, so I was happy to discover this place. We showed up in the motel and there were no people in the restaurant, just us and the owner lady who spoke very little English. She told us that they have eel. When I asked what else, she said — trout. It was too late to go elsewhere because of children so we stayed.
The small dishes were good. Both eel and trout were for BBQ style eating — lettuce leaves with rice, sauce and fish that you get to wrap up and eat. It was nice. Eel was a lot better than trout.
And as I mentioned, this is pretty much the only ethnic food around and a nice break from deep fried things and hamburgers.
ps. not a romantic place even though it is on the lake.

This place is out of the way and not worth staying at…
I’ve seen better motel rooms in 3^rd world countries, all i could think about was bed bugs…
They may have good Korean food but we didn’t stick around to try it…
Only eat here do not stay!!!

HIDDEN GEM ALERT…
I know, the name sounds awfully shady and suspicious, but don’t be fooled folks! This tiny establishment found off the beaten path is run by Koreans and is inundated with Korean golfers and Korean church-​goers on weekends. While the restaurant is part of a somewhat shanty motel, the food is truly superb and seriously speaks for itself; it’s home style Korean food at its best. You can really tell the difference in how this food is prepared and seasoned when you compare it to other Korean restaurants in bigger cities. It tastes like food your grandmother would cook and just makes you feel good inside.
One word: EEL. Everyone must go there and try the grilled eel. It is absolutely divine. My recent lunch stop at Golden Swan Motel (which was a detour on the way back from a July 4^th weekend road trip) came out to $ 64 including tax and tip, for two people. Yes it’s a bit pricey, but for that amount you get a bowl of purple rice, kimchi bean paste stew, a plethora of Korean side dishes that are seasoned very well, lettuce wraps and a platter of freshly grilled barbecue eel accompanied with sliced garlic and jalepenos. The eel is delicious – it’s different than eel from other restaurants in that it isn’t as «slimy» as other unagi and it isn’t dripping with overly sweet japanese BBQ sauce; the meat is simply undeterred for the most part and tastes how it should. The restaurant also offers other items, such as spicy seafood/​fish stews.
Yes the place is in the middle of no where, but a detour is seriously SO WORTH IT. It’s even more worth the stop after a long afternoon of golf. It’s located right by the water in a lovely setting. My boyfriend has been eating here for the past few years and it’s been consistently delicious. And the owners are so incredibly warm and make you feel like guests in their home — service is just great.
Highly recommended. If you’re driving north of the city or you’re near the Catskills, stop by! You won’t be disappointed.