Aikawa 愛川 - Old school unaju in Tokyo, Japan
I read about this place from Tokyo's Timeout magazine. And after walking off our lunch we decided to check out the place before dinner, a slight trek from the metro.
Whilst we wait for our food we have some edamame and senbei i.e. fried eel bones to snack on. Whilst we've had plenty of edamame, senbei is really a for us. Quite addictively crunchy but it gets quite salty after a while, which makes it perfect with beer.
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senbei (fried eel bone) |
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the glossy box |
After a 15 minute wait our glossy box arrives, with a eel liver soup to go with the unaju. The unagi is grilled longer here - katayaki style - so the meat is firmer, and crispier, not very sweet which I enjoyed. The fillets are very large and meaty, and this was only their medium! What if we ordered the largest? The rice beneath is plump and very delicious too.
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Medium large eel
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Aikawa does serve up an eel quite different from that you would normally have, which is steamed and then grilled making the meat rather soft. The unagi here is not meltingly soft, and has a slight chew and crispiness on the more grilled bits, which I quite enjoyed.
Overall, if you're looking for eel prepared in a different manner, this is a good place to check out ;-).
Food: ♥♥♥ 1/2
Service: ♥♥♥
Price: ¥4,200 for the unaju box, katayaki style (extra grilling, to make the fillets more firm)
Aikiwa
1-17-22 Takadanobaba Shinjuku Tokyo
Tel: +81-3-3200-3717