A note on the words: unaju is grilled eel laid over rice in a lacquered box. Jiyaki is the Kansai way of grilling eel — straight over charcoal from raw, with no steaming step, which leaves the skin crisp; the Kanto way steams the eel between grillings for a softer result. Tare is the sweet soy glaze brushed on as it grills. Sansho is Japanese pepper, sharp and citrusy, the standard partner to eel. The grades tokujo, jo and nami run from the largest portion down to the standard one.
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Nyorosuke Roppongi on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Right, this is Hangover Meshi. This time, the eel shop near TV Asahi in Roppongi — “Nyorosuke Roppongi”! I have bought a bento here once before. It may well be my first time eating inside the shop. The eel is done in the Kansai manner! The shop is fairly wide across. It is small, but if you shift your timing slightly off the lunch peak you can get in perfectly well at midday!
Unaju, tokujo grade (the top one), 7,500 yen
Unaju, jo grade (the middle one), 5,600 yen
Unaju, nami grade (the standard one), 3,800 yen
Three grades of unaju. On top of those there appears to be a special futo-unagi, a fat eel, going up through grades named things like gokujo and kiwami, ha, and
two fat top-grade eels apparently comes to something like 9,600 yen! And if you have it made up as a course with various extras, that is another 3,000 yen!
This time I chose the jo grade of unaju.
I order, wait a while, and the unaju appears!
It is hanging over the edge, ha.
Oh! Even the jo grade is plenty of volume, is it not.
It is done in the Kansai “jiyaki” style, grilled slowly over charcoal without being steamed first, so the outside is crisp and fragrant and the inside is plump and juicy. You can feel the springiness of the eel too, which is lovely! Take one mouthful and the fragrance of the charcoal and the savor of the fat fill your mouth — a moment of bliss! Is that not delicious!
And besides the dried sansho that is on the table as standard, they also give you a house-made condiment using fresh green sansho. It has a bright fragrance and a tingling kick to it, and it lifts the savor of the eel further. The eel tare here is quite rich and strongly sweet, and this change of flavor suddenly makes it much easier going.
Since even the jo grade is plenty, unless you are extremely hungry the nami may well be enough, ha. For some reason I have the impression there is a lot of Kansai-style eel around Roppongi Hills, but if what you want is Kansai-style eel, Nyorosuke feels comparatively easy to walk into, so I recommend it!
Nyorosuke Roppongi (Unagi / Azabu-juban Station, Roppongi Station, Roppongi-itchome Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.3
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
