Unagi in Sakae(Nagoya) @ しら河 栄ガスビル店

First off I have to mention, I can't compare this to other Unagi restaurants. I have had Unagi before, but not at a real, proper restaurant that specializes in Unagi.

Unagi is basically eel. A lot of people have probably eaten Unagi in sushi in some way. However, not so many people will have eaten in a restaurant specializing in Unagi, first of all because I'm not even sure they exist outside of Japan, second of all because even Japanese people don't eat Unagi very often. This was illustrated by the fact that it was the first time eating Unagi Hitsumabushi Don for one of the two Japanese friends I went to this restaurant with aswell. They told me it's considered a bit of an expensive dish that's only eaten on special occasions.

They had a variety of dishes on the menu, all including eel, but the most popular thing is Unagi Hitsumabashi Don, which is basically Unagi Donburi(Unagi on Rice), but you're going to get 3 different dishes out of the one bowl. I went for the 3000Yen set menu, which also included some sides such as these Tamago filled with Unagi Liver.

 Unagi Donburi

So here's the deal. First you mix up the rice and the eel and then you're going to take out a third of it and eat it plain and simple. This is your first round. For the 2nd round you take out another third of the Unagi Don and this time you add a few spices to give it a bit of a different taste. Then for the third and final round, you take out the remaining Unagi Don, add spices, wasabi and some seaweed. Then you ask the restaurant staff to bring you the boiling water and you can add water to make the following soup:

 3rd Round

All 3 rounds taste distinctly different. I personally prefer the simplicity of the first round, but that's pure preference. I can't honestly say any of the rounds taste significantly better than others. They simply all taste good in different ways!

As mentioned at the start, I don't have any other Unagi meals to compare this to, but I thought this was a pretty good meal overall.

Rating: 3.5/5

Best Unagi Round: 1st, I like plain and simple the best.

Recommendation: If you haven't eaten Unagi Hitsumabashi Don before, like I had. It's time you check it out!

http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230103/23006137/