CLICK ON THE MAIN PHOTO ABOVE TO VIEW CAPTIONS IN GALLERY FORMAT
Image 1: Closed on Wednesday, mid-August and Christmas
Image 2:
This eel specialty restaurant has a counter area and some private rooms.
Image 3:
We got a private room for two.
Image 4:
Garden view
Image 5: Japanese sake
Image 6:
We pre-ordered the USD$120 menu.
Image 7: Just a delicate appetizer before the eel. Sea bream liver with daikon and ponzu (citrus based sauce). We fell in love with these subtle but elegant Japanese flavours.
Image 8: Here comes the eel.
CLICK TO SEE!
Image 9: Starting from the bottom, a smoky barbeque eel jelly with an intense smokiness followed by a tiny cup containing a crunchy baby squid in a mild mustard sauce.
Image 10: Then a taller cup with steamed eel and diced bamboo shoot in a creamy aromatic kinome sauce. Kinome is a herb from leaves of Sansho (equivalent to Sichuan pepper) tree. Loving everything so far! CLICK TO SEE WHAT'S IN THE LAST CUP!
Image 11: They were raw baby eels! We really felt bad for eating these cute babies. Oh well, they were marinated in a lovely soy vinaigrette.
Image 12: This is one of their signature dishes served with a shichimi ponzu (ponzu with soy sauce and seven spices).
Image 13: Thin slices of quick boiled eel with matsutake mushroom. There weren't any bones at all. Amazing!
Image 14:
Soup course
Image 15:
This is a roasted eel soup with a strong dose of ginger and fresh orange peel.
Image 16: Gently grilled eel with a choice of salt or soy sauce dipping. The eel was remarkably soft and scented with a light charcoal aroma.
Image 17: Smoked eel with bamboo shoot, bonito flakes, and seaweed. You would not get bored with all these different eel preparations here.
Image 18: Another one. Medium grilled eel accompanied by refreshing cucumber vinaigrette garnished with hajikami (pickled ginger). We realized the escalation of flavour: raw, boiled, soup, lightly grilled, smoked, and now medium grilled before the main course! Awesome stuff here!
Image 19:
It's not difficult to guess what they serve as main in an eel kaiseki.
Image 20: Yes, unagi-don. Fully charcoal-grilled eel on rice! We finished this bowl of rice in no time. Delicious, aromatic, and satisfying!
Image 21: Served with kimosui, an eel liver soup. The liver was surprisingly crunchy and we got addicted to the Japanese umami-rich soup.
Image 22:
Pickles
Image 23:
And a hot cup of roasted tea.
Image 24: We were completely full at that point but always had room for sweets -- a honey pudding. It was great to experience eel in such a variety of preparations!
Image 25:
Tea pot
