Kawachiya — Restaurant in Tokyo

🟨 We went to Shibamata's retro town ( which is Tora-san's movie set town).

🟫 If you had watched Tora-san's films in the 1970s, you would have known the alleyways used in the movies are actually the real-life streets of Shibamata town.

🟢 I was a small child growing up in the early 1970s and Tora-san's films were being broadcasted regularly in Singapore back then. ✅️ My schoolmates & people of my generation grew up on a massive diet of Japanese 1960s and 1970s pop culture, music and films.

😅 That is why I was greatly inspired by Japan's wave of pop cultural influences. Anyway, I remember Tora-san's movies very well and chose to visit the beloved vintage town of his.

🔷️ By the time we reached Shibamata from Tokyo, both of us ( hubby and me) were feeling ravenous, and as we strolled by the quaint cobblestone alleys, we stumbled upon an Unagi-don restaurant. 🧡 And you know me, I love eating grilled Unagi meat aka eel meat.

🟩 So off we went into the restaurant and I ordered my Unagi-jyu and hubby had his assorted Tempura Moriawase. ✅️ The food was delicious and the lady boss or owner or manageress was so friendly, cheerful and kind.

💛 I will never forget this beautiful Unagi restaurant which exudes these ancient vintage vibes. 🖤 I Love Shibamata and hope to return one day to it again.

😊 to the late Tora-san = The people of Shibamata have preserved this town very well as a homage...

To me the food here is alright. For the price and experience, it wasn't a wow for me. We did the the unagi set. It came with the unagi over rice, a soupz and a bit of pickle. That set was fine. In general the unagi was good. They are Japanese eels so the meats are lean and more chewy texture. The did not over-do the sauce, but instead they have a power seasoning you can sprinkle on your eels to eat. The soup came with it was meh. We also tried the Hitsumabushi unagi set. It came with unagi over rice, soup, picked and a raw slimy mash potatoes, and blank soup in a tea pot, and other toppings. They came with an instructions how to eat it. Maybe we didn't understand it, but we tried and didn't like the raw potatoes things and blank soup mixing. In short, I would just with the simple unagi set. We also tried a few appetizers. Prawn tempura was good as usual. We didn't like the liver roll. It has the bitter taste of liver which is expected but it was also cold and nothing special. One of the main reason we came here is to try the koi fish sashimi. And we didn't like it. I don't really like raw fish but even my family members who like raw fish also didn't like the texture of the fish. It doesn't smell fishy, so it's fresh and kinda on a chewy side. Maybe we are not used to these fish. We spent about 250...

We went during peak hour around 12pm. Swiftly got a table, waiting for food took around 30mins.

Was briefed there will be 30-40mins waiting time for food to be prepared.

Portion was normal, food taste was average.

Waitress was well mannered and apologetic when our set menu didn't came in a set. Chawamushi and tempura came much later then the...