A note on the words: unagi is freshwater eel, and hitsumabushi is grilled eel sliced over rice and served in a wooden tub to be divided between several bowls. Tare is the sweet soy glaze the eel is grilled with; shirayaki is eel grilled plain, with no glaze at all, and kimoyaki is the grilled innards. Hone-senbei are the bones, dried and fried into crackers. Chawanmushi is a savory custard steamed in a cup, and ankake is a thickened, glossy sauce ladled over a dish. Yakumi means the small aromatics served alongside to be added at the table, and sansho is the citrusy Japanese pepper that goes with eel. Dashi is the light stock that Japanese cooking is built on.
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Azabu-juban Hanabusa 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 had a meal to host, and I remembered a hitsumabushi place I went to a while back, Azabu-juban Hanabusa (in Japanese). I searched for it and, wait, has the location changed? On Tabelog too the listing seems to have been replaced because of the move. It looks like they have shifted somewhere a little further back off the street. And the offering seems to have come down a bit in price, to make it easier to use?
Anyway, I decided to go and see.
Arrive at the front of the shop and there is, immediately, an elevator. Right. I do not think I see this arrangement often.
There is a canopy, so, fine, though I do worry about it being exposed to wind and rain.
[Lunch only] Luxury lunch course, four dishes — 7,000 yen
Hanabusa course: unagi bone, shirayaki, hitsumabushi and more — 11,000 yen
Hanabusa special selection course: premium hitsumabushi, kimoyaki, shirayaki and more — 14,000 yen
[Lunch only] Tanno course — 6,500 yen
The reasonably priced Tanno course and the lunch course are easy to reach for!
So: the luxury lunch course comes with a salad, the hitsumabushi shrinks to a small size, and it costs 500 yen more.
Right. In that case the one that is 500 yen cheaper, with no salad but a normal-sized hitsumabushi, is the better bet.
So, the Tanno course it is.
Inside, the room feels good. A nice shop.
It is a course, and the first thing out was hone-senbei.
Crunch, crunch. The flavor of eel comes drifting up out of it, and it is good. Even the bones taste of eel, which is very much the eel doing its job.
Scatter a little sansho over them and they are excellent.
Chawanmushi. Gently seasoned, a very Japanese sort of dish. There is eel inside it too, and it is good. A reassuring taste.
Enter the hitsumabushi! The vessel, I think, is unchanged from the old shop.
They explain how to eat it. Divide it into four: the first round plain, the next with the yakumi, the third with dashi, and the last however you like.
The yakumi.
Lid off!
Looks good ^^
One mouthful and there is a crisp exterior with a soft, fluffy inside. Good.
The tare is on the strong side and fragrant with it. Because it is hitsumabushi and the last rounds are meant to sit in dashi, perhaps it is pitched a little strong on purpose. And it is precisely that strength that lets the sansho show so well. This is eel that suits sansho. For the second bowl I added the yakumi, and the wasabi is another tremendous match. Clean, and very good.
Third bowl, the dashi. Suddenly it turns light and soft.
After the third bowl they pour just the dashi into the bowl for you. It rinses off the tare, and dashi on its own is clean and good in itself!
And the fourth bowl. At the end I like the eel plain with nothing on it, so I had it that way, then one more go at the dashi, and done.
So, the reborn Hanabusa. Delicious, and I came away satisfied. It was not busy at all and the room lets you talk at your own pace, so it may suit a hosted meal. It is also a little closer than the old location, so if I am ever taking someone who likes eel out to eat, I will keep it on the list.
Azabu-juban Hanabusa (Unagi (Eel) / Azabu-juban Station、Roppongi Station、Akabanebashi Station）
Tabelog lunch rating★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
