Hitsumabushi Bincho ESCA Branch — Restaurant in Nagoya

Somewhere up at the top of the list of Nagoya's famous foods would be hitsumabushi. In gaijin speak, it would be better known as unagi. In Nagoya, you'd be spoilt for choice. Not only that, it'll be difficult to differentiate between the options you end up trying. A testament to the seriousness with which this town considers it's favorite dish. Apparently, there's more than one way to imbibe. To begin with, there is the straight up unagi. All you need is to decide how much unagi you want (commonly how the rest of the world eats it). Then there's the local option. You can eat it 3 different ways, altogether as separate courses of a set meal. As is (straight up a mentioned before with rice). With added condiments. And then as a dashi chazuke (in a broth mix with rice)! Confusing? Not really! If this is your only meal in Nagoya, then this is the only way to go. Like I said before, it'll be tough differentiating between all the wonderful restaurants that serve up this dish(and we tried a few). So let me narrow it down by specifying our conditions. If you've got a train to catch and only one hour with which to savour this lovely local specialty, then pack your bags and head down to this restaurant in the underground ESCA mall next to the Nagoya JR Station(Taikodori exit nearer the Shinkansen platforms). There are 3 Avenues within this mall. Hitsumabushi Bincho can be found at one end of the centre avenue. With only one hour to spare, make sure you bring your packed bags and queue early. There will be a queue, especially on a weekend. This place seats maybe 2 dozen at best. There is an English menu with pictures to mitigate the anxiety you might feel at your limited time before departure. Rest assured the staff will do their utmost to assuage this anxiety. Take note, hitsumabushi is made to order and will require at least 10-15 mins to prepare depending on how many people are ahead of you. You would think that an eel doesn't have much meat but you'd be surprised. Furthermore, unagi doesn't have that 'fishy' smell/ taste you would expect of a freshwater fish. Indeed, it's meat is soft, crumbly and tasty whether it is seasoned or unseasoned. We ended up scratching our hitsumabushi itch (including the shirayaki unseasoned grilled eel) with comfortably 15 mins to spare. It's a wonderful way to leave a...

4.5 stars Venue: In ESCA underground shopping mall. Queue up (~20m minutes) when we came at 5 pm Friday. Furnished in Japanese style . A bit packed. --- 7/10 Service: very good from the queue to check out. Systematic. Alreay gave us the menu at the queue. But we hadn't had enough time to go through all the instructions. Order at the queue. To be seated, then placed hit green tea and wet tissues on the table. Food served fast in proper sequence. Keep refilling tea. Smiling. Polite staff --- 8.5/10 F&B: Simple set menu with photos and instructions in multiple languages. Various drinks. Good food presentation. Normal portion. Reasonable prices. Grilled Eel Liver, ¥1100: first time to try. Interesting. Slightly bitter. --- 7.5/10 Grilled Eel Bones, ¥750: good value. Delicious. Crispy. --- 9/10 Eel Eeg Rolls, ¥1600: thick egg layets of egg roll. --- 7.5/10 Grilled Eel, ¥3450: without coating with sweet soy sauce. Tasted the exact flavor of the eel. --- 8/10 Hitsumabushi (Eel Rice Set), ¥3980: includes Japanese pickles, clear soup, and condiments. Thin eel stripes riding on the rice were coated with sweet soy sauce. For Nagoya style, divide the eel rice into 4 portions in the bowls with the wooden spoon. Eat the first portion of the grill eel and rice without adding condiments. Then, eat with green onions and wasabi for the second portion. For the third portion, add the dried Laver Seaweed and seasonings, and then pour the hot soup from a small jar. It's called Una-chazuke. Eat the last potion in any way you like. Well-cooked rice. Pretty flexible here. 300g rice is served, but you can choose the size of rice 450g (+¥200) or 200g. Eel without bone grilled with soy-based sauce was...

My wife and I tried to have our dinner at Binco yesterday without luck, the restaurant was already fully booked even before it opened at 5pm. Thus we book a late lunch for today at 2pm. We were glad that we went back, indeed their Hitsumabushi is really delicious. We had tried Unagi ju many times in Tokyo, but this Hitsumabushi truly impressed us. The unagi was grilled to the right temperature that the fatty part was reduced to the right amount with perfect balance of fat and burnt taste of the unagi. Another observation was that the Hitsumabushi wasn’t as sweet as Unagi Ju that I had before, but was caramelized to the right level that made the taste ‘umami’. There are three ways to taste Hitsumabushi, I personally like the the original taste, folllow by spring onion with wasabi. Tips, if you want to have your dinner at Binco, try to book early, and book a head of time. If you have an extra day staying in the city, try to book for their lunch. Plus, this restaurant is in the Esca underground...