A note on the words: unagi is freshwater eel, split, skewered and grilled with a soy-and-mirin sauce brushed on in layers. Unaju is that eel laid over rice in a lacquered box, the ju being the box itself. Restaurants often name their grades after plants rather than numbering them, so matsu, tsubaki, ran, yuri and botan are pine, camellia, orchid, lily and peony — the price tells you where each one sits. Oshinko means the pickled vegetables served alongside, and kimosui is a clear soup made with the eel’s liver.
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Unagi Kikukawa on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
So, this is Hangover Meshi. Lunch on this day took me to Shinjuku! I dropped in on Kikukawa, a long-established unagi restaurant on the west side of Shinjuku, on Kotakibashi-dori near Nakamoto. There are still plenty of eel places I have never eaten at, after all! I have to work through them, even if only a few at a time. It was founded sixty years ago, but the building is a clean, modern one. There is a counter on the first floor, and a tatami room plus table seating on the second. Maybe there is a third floor? I do not know.
Eel, for the first time in ages!
Matsu (pine): 3,000 yen
Tsubaki (camellia): 3,800 yen
Ran (orchid): 4,600 yen
Naka-ire ju, Yuri (lily): 5,800 yen
Naka-ire ju, Botan (peony): 7,400 yen
What is a naka-ire ju, I wonder? I did not order one this time, but is it maybe the same idea as the “two-tier” at places like Ichinoya (in Japanese)?
I do not really need that much, do I — so this time I chose the Ran.
I ordered some tea to start with, and chatted away while waiting for the eel to arrive.
After a while, the oshinko turned up first! Once the pickles come, the unaju is one step away!
And the lid comes… off!
Mm, that looks good!
Well, if I were to say one thing: on the very top grade of a flat unaju, you want enough eel piled on that you cannot see the rice, or it feels a bit thin!
(Then again, maybe the naka-ire ju is not a two-tier box but the high-grade version of the flat unaju, ha.)
The plump eel is fragrant from the grill, and the sauce is not too sweet — clean and light.
Nothing heavy about it, and the thin coating of sauce over the rice feels refined. It somehow has the air of old-fashioned seasoning. The rice is laid in thinly, so it felt like a small amount, but in the end it was just right and I was satisfied.
Coming with kimosui included (not as a separate order) also scores highly!
So there we are — eel for the first time in ages, and it was delicious! Eel really is a winter thing, is it not! Which means the season for going out to eat eel has come around. This being the first of the run, I am going to make the rounds of all sorts of eel places from here! It was fairly empty, so if you suddenly want eel in Shinjuku, this might be an unexpectedly quiet find.
Shinjuku Unagi Kikukawa (Unagi / Seibu-Shinjuku Station, Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station, Nishi-shinjuku Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
