A note on the words: unagi is freshwater eel, seasoned and grilled. Kabayaki is eel basted with a sweet soy tare glaze as it grills, whereas shirayaki is grilled plain without tare, seasoned simply with salt. Kimoyaki is the grilled liver of the eel, prized for its distinctive flavor and gentle aroma, and kurikara-yaki is eel meat wound around a skewer to grill. An ohitsu is a traditional wooden tub used to serve steamed rice at the table, and unadon is grilled eel served over a bowl of rice.
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Yama no Chaya on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. I was finally able to pay a visit to a restaurant I had long wanted to try: Yama no Chaya in Akasaka, a well-known unagi (eel) establishment. I once thought of booking for dinner, but it was fully booked about two weeks out so I gave up for the time being. This time I reserved for lunch. Maybe it is relatively easier to get a reservation for lunch?
Looking at the map, it seemed to be inside Hie Shrine, but wondering to myself whether there really was anything like that there, I went exploring Hie Shrine.
Heading around toward the back, I spotted a sign!
And when I arrived, look at this appearance, ha. To think there is a place like this in Akasaka!!
Wondering how one gets in as I approached, someone from the restaurant came out to meet me.
By the way, my meal was in the room in the photo above.
The view from the window looks like this, after all. True to a restaurant on shrine grounds, it really is a quiet, lovely spot.
[Lunch] 10,890 yen course
[Lunch] 19,360 yen course
For lunch there are 10,000-yen and 20,000-yen courses, but it seemed to me less a difference in the eel itself than just a slight change in the number of dishes and what is included, so this time I asked for the 10,000-yen course! The setting could hardly be better, and naturally expectations run high.
Now then, first a drink. Since it was lunchtime, I went with oolong tea.
And so the course got underway.
A refreshing, faintly sweet goma-dofu (sesame ‘tofu’).
Kimoyaki (grilled eel liver) — at some restaurants they might only serve it if you check ahead and they happen to have it, so having it included in the course is a treat.
Take one bite, and of course it is delicious. The distinctive flavor of the liver and the gentle aroma of the eel are wonderful together. This calls for sake, doesn’t it? So, lunch though it was, just the one 180 ml carafe! I ordered some sake. It pairs wonderfully.
Next came the shirayaki (plain grilled eel). It is skewered in wiggly folds, ha. At first I thought they did not really have to shape it like this, though if you are eating it off a skewer it might well be easier this way. Take a bite, and it is delicious. The flavor of the eel is brought out by the salt. I am so glad I added that sake earlier — the pairing with sake is incredible!
And finally, the kabayaki and rice set. Here there is no unaju (eel over rice in a lacquered box); they serve the kabayaki (sweet tare-glazed grilled eel) and rice separately. Having been told there was extra tare sauce if I liked, I dug in! One bite, and it is fluffy, remarkably tender eel — delicious! It seems they do not grill it overly hard, so I could feel tiny bones here and there, but even so, the gentle, fragrant char is fantastic.
And the rice is delicious too. Having the rice served in an ohitsu (wooden rice tub) is a delight!
I laid half of it over the rice and drizzled on tare sauce, turning it into unadon style. This was wonderful too.
It was truly superb. My main thought is simply that I want to come again! The private room in the old house was marvelous, and above all, the atmosphere is wonderful. The sense of eating in real stillness is the best of it. On top of that, the eel is outstanding, leaving nothing to be desired. I seem to recall the evening course started from 20,000 yen, so I wonder what is different there. If I can get a reservation next time, I would certainly love to go.
Yama no Chaya (Unagi (Eel) / Akasaka-mitsuke Station, Tameike-sanno Station, Kokkai-gijidomae Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.8
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
