A note on the words: unagi is freshwater eel, typically either basted and grilled with tare, a sweet-savory soy-based sauce (kabayaki), or grilled plain without sauce as shirayaki; here, the evening menu features both styles on skewers, including a two-skewer shirayaki tasting paired with wasabi and pickled plum paste. Unaju (eel over rice in a lacquered box) and hitsumabushi (sliced eel over rice eaten in stages with condiments and broth) are the daytime staples here, while nights center on drinking snacks such as uzaku, a tangy dish of grilled eel and cucumber in vinegar, and rich eel liver grilled on skewers or in butter. A Kaku highball is a whisky-and-soda made with Suntory Kakubin.
Unagi Nosuke Yaechika Ten on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Eel fans, thank you for waiting! It is time for Hangover Meshi!
Continuing the Tokyo Station series, this time it is Unagi Nosuke in Yaechika!
It is an eel (unagi) specialty shop that opened in June 2026 in the Yaesu underground shopping mall at Tokyo Station, commonly called Yaechika, and it has two faces: unaju and hitsumabushi by day, and an eel izakaya (Japanese pub) in the evening under the slogan “a drink with eel.” Its selling point is a finish the shop calls “pari-fuwa” (crisp outside, fluffy inside) — steamed and then grilled in the Kanto style, yet crisp on the outside. The secret tare (sauce) made by grilling and soaking eel bones is apparently another point of pride!
Would you look at that — as I was walking past, they were running a happy hour with draft beer for 390 yen and Kaku highballs for 290 yen! Well, ha, when they put it like that, of course I am going in! Right?
It is happy hour, after all, so there’s no reason to hold back on the drinks!
Sooo good!
Let’s go ahead and order plenty of eel snacks.
One dish I knew I had to order the moment I saw the menu, ha.
Eel livers grilled in butter and coated in tare. Put a piece in your mouth and first comes a waft of savory, scorched tare. As you chew, the slight bitterness of the liver shows up, the richness of the butter layers over it, and it all comes together in a sweet-savory finish, I guess? The contrast in texture between the creamy liver and the crisply browned bits is nice too. Still, maybe it might have been even better if it had been a bit hotter?
Uzaku, which I order just about every time. It is a dish of grilled eel and cucumber dressed in vinegar. The uzaku here looks like the classic version! When you say uzaku, this is the first thing you picture, ha. Bring the crisp cucumber and eel to your mouth together and the refreshing hit of vinegar comes first, and the more you chew, the more the fat and savory flavor of the eel slowly spread. The vinegar was rather strong, though as a snack with drinks I think I might actually like it on the sharper side.
A liver skewer of eel livers gathered onto a skewer and grilled with tare. Even though it is the same liver, where the liver butter carries you on richness, here the savory aroma of the tare takes the lead, I guess. Take a bite and the sweet-savory tare comes juicy and full, followed from behind by that characteristic slight bitterness of liver. Firm, chewy bits and tender bits are mixed together, and it is delicious!
Order this and you get a clear sense of the eel at this shop! An eel skewer of eel meat skewered and grilled with tare. The first thing you notice is the sweet-salty tare and the toasted aroma of the skin reaching your nose; bite in and the plump flesh falls softly apart, with the sweetness of the fat spreading gently. The talk was that it is Kanto style with a crisp outside, though I wonder if I really felt it was as crisp on the outside as Kansai style.
![[Specialty] Shirayaki skewer tasting (1,100 yen)](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/30163113/DSC07093.jpg "Unagi Nosuke, Tokyo Station: Nibbling Eel Skewers with a 290-Yen Kaku Highball 11")
If you want to taste the eel itself, this is the one. Two skewers of shirayaki — eel grilled without tare — to compare side by side, one with wasabi and one with pickled plum paste. You can really taste the natural sweetness of the eel’s fat and the toasted aroma of the skin. On the wasabi skewer, the sharp kick cuts cleanly through the fat, leaving it light and refined. On the pickled plum paste skewer, the tartness gives a bright pinch and keeps the aftertaste light.
650 yen for this, huh! Octopus really is pricey… I belong to the fried-octopus party, so if it is on the menu at a place I will pretty much always order it as a snack. Still, I think I might want a little more volume from the fried octopus here.
And so I drank plenty of highballs and thoroughly enjoyed happy hour. Even without ordering unaju, having the full range of ways to enjoy eel — skewers, liver, shirayaki — is what is nice about this shop, I guess. Thanks to the happy-hour draft beer and Kaku highballs, I got change back from 3,000 yen per person! I recommend it when you feel like having a casual drink with eel.
Here’s hoping you run into something delicious today too!
Unagi Nosuke Yaechika Ten Menu
Snacks (eel dishes)
A drink with eel on the way home from work.
Choice of wasabi, pickled plum paste, or salt
Fried dishes & specialties
+120 yen for a bite-sized rice
Quick dishes & small bowls
Shirayaki & kabayaki
Hitsumabushi set & two-style (aimori) set
Kabayaki and shirayaki together
All set meals include a small side dish, pickles, clear soup, and dessert. Large rice +120 yen / change to eel-liver clear soup +300 yen / mini salad +250 yen
Shime (closing dishes), rice & dessert
Rice, pickles, and clear soup
Beer, highballs & sours
At the time of visit (around the 5 p.m. hour), happy-hour pricing was in effect: draft beer 390 yen and Kaku highball 290 yen. Please check at the shop for hours.
Sake (by the glass)
Drinks that pair well with eel
Shochu & fruit liqueurs
Shochu served on the rocks, with soda, with hot water, or with water; fruit liqueurs on the rocks, with soda, or with water
*From the menu at the shop at the time of visit in September 2026. Prices include tax. Please check the official website or the shop for the latest details.
Unagi Nosuke Yaechika Ten (Unagi / Kyobashi Station, Tokyo Station, Nihombashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.3
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
