A note on the words: unaju is grilled freshwater eel brushed with a sweet soy glaze and served over rice in a lacquered box, here served in a luxurious two-tiered box with extra eel. Kansai style refers to grilling the eel directly over charcoal without a preliminary steaming step, yielding a crisp skin and fragrant smokiness. Nagayaki is eel grilled whole and served long on a platter, while shirayaki is eel grilled plain without the sweet soy glaze. Kimosui is a clear soup with eel liver served alongside eel dishes, and hitsumabushi is the Nagoya specialty of crisp-grilled chopped eel served over rice with broth and condiments.
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Aoiya on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Speaking of Shizuoka and Hamamatsu, Lake Hamana is close by, so that means eel! With that in mind, I took the train from Hamamatsu Station to Tenryugawa Station. From there, I must have walked another 15 to 20 minutes or so. I arrived at the eel restaurant “Aoiya”! Based on information that if you do not go early and line up it gets terribly crowded and hard to get a meal, I arrived about an hour before opening, in the 9 o’clock hour. There was already one group ahead of me, which reaffirmed that it really is popular. I was glad I came early.
In the end, I think I was around third in line? Partway through, a staff member came out and I gave them my name, then waited a while.
It was looking a bit rainy, so those of us on foot took shelter under this roof.
The people with cars could wait inside their cars, which must be nice!
Special unaju — 5,500 yen
Nagayaki rice set — 3,800 yen
Shirayaki rice set — 3,800 yen
Unaju — 3,600 yen
Unadon (eel over rice in a bowl) — 3,400 yen
Children’s donburi — 1,800 yen
Kabayaki (soy-glazed) or shirayaki (plain) — 3,000 yen
Half cut — 1,600 yen
Deep-fried eel bones — 500 yen
Eel tail — 300 yen
Assorted pickles — 500 yen
Naturally, unaju. And since I came all the way to Hamamatsu, I wanted to eat the special unaju! So the special unaju was my choice!
And so, a short wait.
About 15 to 20 minutes, I suppose. Since I was in the first group seated, perhaps they had already been preparing it. It came faster than I had imagined.
The box comes in two tiers! Open!
Oh, the first layer is eel only. There are three pieces.
And underneath that…!
This one is where the unaju is, then. There looks to be about 1.5 pieces here?
Usually, I feel like most places just lay it flat across the rice, but I wonder if they cut it into smaller pieces because they wanted to make it two tiers?
Supposedly a whole eel and a half goes into it, so it might not be a particularly large eel.
To start, a bite of just the eel.
Mmm, delicious. I wonder if Shizuoka is Kansai style? The crisp surface and the savory aroma are wonderful.
The sauce is sweet yet sharp, a sauce that pairs well with the Kansai style of grilling. Perhaps because it is charcoal-grilled, it is truly aromatic and good!
Eaten together with rice, it is thoroughly delicious!
I ate the last two pieces or so of eel without rice, but with a light dusting of sansho pepper, it would make the best accompaniment for drinks.
It comes with kimosui and melon, but looking at the menu, the melon is 500 yen.
I do not need it — make it 5,000 instead!
So it was delicious eel, well worth lining up for in the morning. When you come as far as Shizuoka, you can eat Kansai-style eel too. Nagoya has hitsumabushi with that crisp skin, so Shizuoka might be right on the dividing line. Customers kept arriving non-stop and it stayed packed the whole time, so if you want to be certain, coming on a weekday or arriving early in the morning would be best.
Aoiya (Unagi (Eel) / Tenryugawa Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
