Washoku Daikoku — Restaurant in Kawagoe

I've eaten at some of the best eel shops in Japan. This was hands down the best, for a myriad of reasons!

They're such a small shop, it's very small scale and only two chefs are qualified to prepare the eel. Unlike some other eel shops, you can actually make a reservation here.

The shop is different from other eel shops because all of their are domestic. The one pictured here is from Kagoshima.

In fact eel season is in the winter, it's at it's best during this time. Most people here tend to eat eel in the summer season for stamina and to combat heat fatigue.

The chef likes to show the customers the eel before he prepares it. Eel with a striking contrast of black and white is a sign of tastiness.

Not all eel shops remove the bones from the eel but this shop takes that extra step to do it.

It's lightly steamed before it's grilled, so the procedure takes much time and you should expect a bit of a lengthy way which is more than 30 minutes, at the very least. Really good food can't be rushed.

The ambiance at the shop is really relaxing and doesn't feel so touristy and crowded as other places.

The owners are really kind and are very proud of the quality. They don't cut steps. You can tell that they don't skimp on anything. I'm surprised that the shop isn't better known.

The green tea is also from Kagoshima. The wood used to grill the eel is from Wakayama prefecture. Only the finest pieces of wood can be used because it only affects the grilling results. The best eel is grilled on infrared heat and not overly strong heat. Some shops use very high heat and the eel is a bit dry but it's nice and crispy. This shop likes to lock in the moisture and tender softness of the eel.

I really like having the plain grilled eel without any sauce on top. This is something that is really special. You can enjoy the natural texture and flavor of the fish. I liked it best when dipped in Japanese pepper salt. Sansho shio is the name of this special condiment. If you order eel from this place, I highly recommend comparing the plain grilled one and the one basted with sauce.

The bone chips were really delicious. It was my first time to eat the fish bones like this and it was really tasty.

There was also my first time to try eel tenderloin wrapped up on a skewer.

The first wasabi was really special and we could grate it on shark skin. It's mild, sweet and creamy unlike a lot of the commercial crazy punchy wasabi. This paired really well with the plain grilled eel!!! Mixing this with grated daikon white radish also made for wonderful condiment.

The eel with the teriyaki like sauce was really exquisite. It's not so thick and strong like at some shops. Although it is dipped 4 times in the basting sauce, as opposed to the average 3 times the other eel shops, it's not at all heavy. This surprised me.

It's really nice to eat at the shop in the evening after shopping around the busy...

Do not be mistaken their friendliness with service quality. I'm an Asian foreigner so their first response was to speak in Japanese. The server quickly realises we are foreigners so she spoke English to the best of her abilities. She was nice and friendly.

I ordered 2 pieces of unagi while my wife ordered 1 piece. She then proceed to show the raw eel in the basket. This was not done for some tables for some reason unknown.

The table (that wasn't shown the eel) received their unagi bentos 15mins earlier than me (and I have ordered way before them). I received my bentos about 30mins after ordering.

Our green tea was served after the bentos while other tables were served right when they sat down. But we were served iced water first while other tables don't have them. The drinks weren't specifically ordered. The server just serve them instinctively.

While the food was great, it lacks the grilled taste. It is fresh, but could be cooked better. The included soup is a little plain. White Radish taste good.

Not sure why we are being served last even when we ordered first. Is it because we are foreigners and they wanted to serve the Japanese first? Plausible. But the inconsistent service bothers me quite a bit.

Friendly staff, yes. Service...

Really great food. We had a lot of different kinds of eel, and we were given a really good explanation of eels and how they are farmed, and prepared for people to eat. The chef and restaurant staff were all very friendly and helpful, and the explanations about eels and how they prepare them was really interesting.

We had a starter with different parts of the eel as well as foods that match well with it. We then has a fried eel bone that was absolutely amazing!!

Then we had a chance to grate our own wasabi and had it with the next course, that was a plain-grilled eel with a few other condiments. Then we had the main dish, which was an unaju. The sauce was so different from the plain eel, and it was delicious. It was served with miso soup and pickles that were also amazing!

Throughout the meal we were able to drink 3 kinds of Japanese sake. One for a toast at the start, and then 2 other recommended sake to go with the 2 kinds of unagi we had.

It was a lot of fun, the people were all amazing, and the food was absolutely delicious!

I really recommend this restaurant. I will definitely be...