Edogawa Ishibashi — Restaurant in Tokyo

Straight up, I did not think this was particularly exemplary for unagi. Save your dollars!!!

The omakase course was wonderful, serving a concept of "zero-waste." Everything from the eel is used, including the spine. It was delightful, but for $212 a pop, the flavors of the eel did not rival those of their tamago dishes. Severely disappointed. The eggs were beautiful though. A medley of flavors that speaks to your soul. So comforting. The lacquerware and clayware were amazing and a delight to the eyes. Please do observe them in greater detail. They deserve that kind of attention.

However, the eel skin/innards skewers were particularly unfortunate. My mom got a stick that was filled to the brim with fins, and rather dangerously firm pieces of bone. We asked our hostess if this was normal since none of the three other skewers had ANY hard pieces. She insisted that they were small parts of the fin but my mom kept pulling out shards of bone. She opted to not eat it. Our hostess/proprietor of the establishment deigned to not apologize for such a mishap (perhaps due to a language barrier? But there was no effort to communicate...

The history of this restaurant is very inspiring and the tableware is made by a very famous lacquerware artisan, with most pieces being several decades old and possessing intricate and technique-heavy details in gold leaf. As for the eel, you can tell its quality of preparation by how good it tastes with only a tasteful bit of sauce, so if you expect it to taste like the eel bento available in the supermarket or shopping mall B1 floors, or even the sauce-slathered pieces in fast sushi places, you will be presented with an eel dish that is both humble and elevated, so calibrate your opinions accordingly. As for the set meal as a whole, it is expensive no doubt but I felt satisfied as each dish was well-prepared, tasty and made me feel that I had truly celebrated...

I honestly love the rustic setting of this one-michelin star restaurant. It’s like dining in a traditional Japanese home in Tokyo area. From the menu, I really admire their“zero-waste” concept which was executed beautifully. The chawan mushi was silky smooth, one of the best I had so far. The shirayaki was delicious, but I really enjoyed the unagi kabayaki. Most of the courses were served in very old laquerware handed down through generations within the family.

One of my not so positive critique is the air ventilation of the place. At times, it felt so stuffy and smoky. Other than that, I’m very happy with the food...