Ganso Motoyoshiya — Restaurant in Yanagawa

A remarkable dining experience in a restaurant that is 342 years old. Wow. I had the southern style set for ¥8,600 (€52.50).

Unsurprisingly it’s the best unagi that I’ve ever tried. The grilled eel was plump and soft and beautifully caramelised with that ancient sweet and salty sticky sauce. The delicate shredded egg is wonderful and the sauce glazed rice underneath is amazingly velvety. The presentation in the lacquer box is incredible..

The ¥8600 set also includes a light clear soup with unagi liver and what looked to me like intestine. There are also two side dishes of grilled eel prepared in different ways. I think it was shredded daikon on top of one of the side dishes and I was pleasantly surprised to find a clump of wasabi on one of the pieces of unagi.

The whole process begins with a delicious green tea and ends with an amazing palate cleansing fresh fruit plate. This whole meal was totally unforgettable. I arrived at about 1pm on a Wednesday and was shown to a table almost immediately. The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming.

Please take a moment to understand that you must remove your shoes immediately upon entry to the restaurant. You will be provided with slippers to continue into the restaurant proper. This seems to be very important to the lady of the restaurant so take care to properly observe the correct...

Visited the store on 2nd July at around 11AM, no need to queue and get in straight away. As we've got an elderly and 3 children, we prefer not to take stairs but then the staff member with short brown hair scowled at us :/ it seems you are not welcome to this restaurant when you don't follow what they want you to do. We tried to ignore her as we were too hungry to move but then when we order food and ask if we could order rice separately, she gave us a look of annoyance and go out to get the translator for communication. I was offended at that moment and prepared to walk away. After all, there are plenty of eel restaurants out there :o) subsequently she kept saying sorry when I thumped the table and prepared to get the hell out of this restaurant. We stayed finally as my family were starving and the fact that the terrible staff kept saying sorry. But how can you enjoy the food when you have had a bad xp at the start? The back waiter was cheerful and friendly though, the dishes are too cold to serve and the cashier part was another horrible story to tell. Overall, I highly recommend those who would like to visit this restaurant to think before you act. It's a lovely thing to travel with someone you love or care, try not to jeopardise your journey by visiting...

If you ever find yourself in Yanagawa, Unagi no seiromushi is a must try!!! The dish consists of shredded omelette, and grilled eel over rice in a steamed bamboo box. We visited Ganso Motoyoshiya, a long established restaurant since 1681 on a weekday. Upon arrival, I was drawn by the aroma of grilled eel and the charm of the restaurant. Please note they only accept Cash. They seemed busy but we didn’t have to wait for our table. We started off with chawanmushi and super crispy Eel bone karaage. They were amazing. It’s the best chawanmushi I had ever had. For the main dishes, both me and my husband ordered the toku seiromushi with kimo soup ( eel liver soup). My son got the Unagi don. The difference between seiromushi and unagi don is the cooking method. Unagi don is a bowl of rice topped with grilled eel and sauce. While, seiromushi is a steaming method in a bamboo box. We were both pleased with our meal. The grilled ell has a slight charred flavor, rich and incredibly delicious. The rice was enriched with the sweet savory eel sauce and absorbed all the flavor. I loved it so much! We left the restaurant so full and happy. It was one of my favorite meals of our...