Tamai Nihonbashi Main Branch — Restaurant in Tokyo

We randomly found an unagi (eel) restaurant for lunch in Nihonbashi. I ordered the large portion with three pieces of eel, and my girlfriend ordered the medium portion with two pieces. The prices were reasonable: a small portion with one eel costs 2,300 yen, the medium is 3,600 yen, and the large is also 3,600 yen. When we arrived, there was no line, but shortly after we sat down, people started lining up behind us.

I learned that day that there are several ways to enjoy unagi:

1 Eat it as is. 2 Dip it in sesame seeds, wasabi, and green onions. 3 Add the yuzu powder on the side. There’s a small gap in the iron plate with yuzu powder, and you need to use a small brush to scrape the powder out. 4 There’s a small red gourd on the table filled with sansho pepper powder, which you can sprinkle on. 5 On your plate, there’s a small cup with an eel bone inside. At the end of the meal, the staff will pour soup from a spouted kettle into the cup. You can mix the eel and rice into a bowl and pour the soup over it to enjoy it as a rice soup (ochazuke).

I thought the first four ways of eating were decent but nothing extraordinary. However, the last way, with the soup rice, was absolutely flavorful and impressive. The earlier methods had a lot of sauce on the eel, which was quite sweet, but the soup really helped to cut through the richness.

The Japanese women next to us were all eating the small portion with one eel, while we, being big eaters,...

We came here by accident. We came to eat at Godaime Hanayama Udon Nihonbashi, which was also good. You have to wait in line early. But next to that restaurant was this place. And it too was forming a line and we found out it was an eel restaurant. We of course wanted to check out an eel restaurant so we decided right after this we would go eat here. So we finished our meal and entered this place. By then the line wasn’t that long. We were greeted by a wonderful waitress who asked us if we spoke Korean, Chinese, English, or Japanese. I guess depending on your answer there would be a specific server for you. We said English and then got seated. We wanted to try unagi but then came across this interesting dish: boiled eel. I thought to myself: boiled eel? Never had that, but noticed it was one of their specialties so we got that. Let me just say wow. So buttery and sweet. Lean and soft at the same time. It’s conger eel and it was soo good. If you are ever in this area check...

日曜のランチに伺いました。 待ち時間は13時くらいから約1時間待ち。 穴子の卵焼きと、中箱の焼き穴子と煮穴子の合い盛りを頼み、穴子の骨から取ったお出汁を頼みました。 昔ながらの酒屋を購入して2005年に開業したとあって、凄く雰囲気のよいお店です。 正直、まず、卵焼きは穴子が半分以下のところしか入っておらず、半分はただの卵焼きを食べるだけになります。また、穴子の量も少なく、個人的には頼む価値はないかと思いました。 穴子の煮穴子と焼き穴子の違いは、あまりなく、最初の一口目なら違いがわかりましたが、数口食べるとあまり差が無いので、どちらでもよいというのが私の意見です。好きな方を頼んで。 また、名古屋のひつまぶしにアイデアを得たと思われる、最初はそのまま、そのあとわさびなどをつけて、最後にだしを入れてという食べ方ですが、あまり良い穴子を食べているメリットが感じられず、出汁を頼む必要も無かったなと思いました。味変にはよいので、二人で一つ頼んでシェアくらいが良いと思います。お店の人はそれはオーケーと。

全体的には美味しく、とても柔らかい穴子が楽しめます。養殖の肥えたウナギと違い、脂っこくもないので美味しいと思いますよ。

オーナー見てくれてるようなので日本語だけで一言言うと、焼きは味の差別化のために面倒でも炭火の高温で少しパリッと仕上げてみては?　正直、そんなに差が無いのでせめて香ばしさがほしい。

ENGLISH BELOW

I visited for Sunday lunch. There was about an hour wait starting from around 1:00 PM. I ordered the tamagoyaki with anago, and the medium box that included both grilled and simmered anago. I also ordered the broth made from anago bones.

The shop, which was renovated from an old liquor store and opened in 2005, has a very charming and nostalgic atmosphere.

To be honest, the tamagoyaki was a bit disappointing — the anago was only in less than half of it, so the rest was just plain tamagoyaki. The portion of anago was small, and I personally didn’t find it worth ordering.

As for the grilled and simmered anago, the difference between the two was subtle. While I could tell them apart at first bite, the distinction faded after a few bites. So I think either one is fine — just go with your preference.

They seem to have drawn inspiration from Nagoya’s hitsumabushi style — eat it plain first, then with condiments like wasabi, and finally pour in the broth. However, I didn’t really feel that the broth added much value, especially considering the quality of the anago. I felt it wasn’t necessary to order the broth. It might work as a change of flavor, so sharing one portion between two people could be enough. The staff said that’s perfectly fine.

Overall, the anago was delicious and very tender. Unlike farmed, fatty eels, this was not greasy and quite enjoyable.

繁體中文（台灣）

我在星期日中午前往用餐。 大約從下午1點開始等候，等待時間約為1小時。 我點了鰻魚玉子燒，以及包含炙燒鰻魚與燉煮鰻魚的中盒餐點，另外還加點了用鰻魚骨熬製的高湯。

這家店是將老式的酒舖翻修後於2005年開業的，因此整體氛圍非常有懷舊感，也相當有特色。

坦白說，玉子燒讓我有些失望 —— 鰻魚只佔不到一半，剩下的就是普通的玉子燒。我覺得鰻魚的份量太少，個人認為不太值得點這道。

至於燉煮與炙燒的鰻魚，雖然第一口時能感覺到差別，但吃了幾口之後差異就不明顯了。所以我認為選擇哪一種都可以，依照自己喜好即可。

這家店似乎是受到名古屋「鰻魚三吃」的啟發 ——...