A note on the words: unaju is grilled eel laid over rice in a lacquered box. Tare is the sweet soy basting sauce the eel is dipped in again and again as it grills. Uzaku is cold eel dressed with vinegared cucumber, a summer dish; umaki is eel rolled inside a dashimaki, the sweet layered omelet made with dashi. Kimosui is a clear soup made with the eel’s liver, served alongside the box, and oshinko simply means the pickles that come with the rice.
Unagi Kawasei on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
You can also book on AutoReserve (English)!
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. This time I went to an eel restaurant in Iidabashi called “Unagi Kawasei.” It was a meal with someone I hadn’t seen in a long while, and I thought an eel plan that comes with all-you-can-drink sounded pretty hot, so I made a reservation. When I got to the front of the shop there was a notice saying they were full for the day. Glad I booked!
[Lunch/dinner] Full eel deluxe course with all-you-can-drink, for two or more, 18,000 yen
[Lunch/dinner] Monthly deluxe course with all-you-can-drink, for two or more, 15,000 yen
[Lunch/dinner] Full eel basic course with all-you-can-drink, for two or more, 16,000 yen
There was the question of what exactly differs between them, but I went with the 16,000 yen basic eel course, the closest to my budget. Still, having all-you-can-drink included is rather nice ^^
An appetizer plate of edamame, shellfish, eggplant and so on. For now I picked at this while choosing what to drink.
A good lineup, with some fairly decent sake in it too.
Sea bream, squid and tuna, three kinds. Eel courses pretty much always come with sashimi, don’t they ^^
I added a Kubota Senju to go with it.
A light, clean eel dish, perfect for summer. Even so, the eel is plump and tender, and the acidity added to the flavor of the tare makes it delicious!
Another sake here! Yuki no Bosha. This one is good too!
The umaki is good as well, the eel sitting inside a sweet dashimaki omelet. Who knew it would go this well with grated daikon.
Uzaku and umaki are both standards, but I suppose the reason they turn up everywhere is that they’re delicious, lol. The sake goes down fast.
Meanwhile, preparations for the unaju were steadily coming along.
Nice-looking oshinko!
The kimosui is ready too! And with that, the unaju arrives.
I feel like I’ve seen the pattern on this lacquered box somewhere before ^^
Open!
Oh wow, that looks good.
Two fillets of eel, a solid amount that covers the rice completely. The smell when the lid comes off gets the appetite going.
One bite: plump, tender, delicious—!
The fragrant char on the surface and the softness inside multiply each other. Ridiculous!
The tare is spread pretty evenly over the rice, but the tare itself has restrained sweetness and comes across as clean and sharp.
An unaju you can eat lightly. A rich, plump unaju — delicious!
So, this time I used the place for a meal with company. My impression is that being able to drink freely and finish with a delicious unaju at this price is quite good value. If I could ask for one thing, it would be to be able to add the all-you-can-drink separately for a fee — then you’d have a heavenly plan where you pick whatever snacks you like and close the night with unaju while drinking freely, lol. Anyway, a delicious eel restaurant!
Unagi Kawasei (Unagi (Eel) / Iidabashi Station, Kudanshita Station, Suidobashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
