Here is a dish that we appreciate a lot in Japanese cuisine, it is the unagidon or unadon, a dish based on grilled eel on Japanese rice. Presentation.
The unagidon, a must in Japanese cuisine
Unagidon or unadon 鰻 丼 consists of a large bowl of Japanese rice topped with kabayaki-style grilled eel fillets. This technique involves grilling the eel fillets over a wood fire and then drizzling them with a teriyaki-like sauce. This sauce is made of shoyu soy sauce, sake and mirin. It is part of the family of dishes called “donburi“, large bowls of rice topped with meat, fish, vegetables, and tempura…Unagi 鰻 means eel, a very popular fish in Japanese cuisine. Its very quick preparation is very spectacular.
The chef brutally grabs the eel and nails it to his table with a nail driven through the eye, and it is immediately filleted. The technique required to master the cutting and preparation of the eel is counted in years. Here is a video of a Michelin starred unagi restaurant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn88LiPOKMc
Unagidon in Japan and its variations
The best unagi can be tasted in specialized restaurants called unagi-ya. Each Japanese restaurant has its own secret recipe. It is a rather expensive dish and is not for everyone.
We advise you to go to Nagoya, unagidon is the specialty of this region! You will find good unagi-ya around Asakusa too.
In these restaurants, there are variations. You can find it under the name of unaju, which is presented in a lacquered rectangular box. You can also have the choice of nagayaki, where the eel is presented separately from the rice. You can also find eel dishes under the name of hitsumabushi, especially in Nagoya. This very famous dish is accompanied by many ingredients like dashi and wasabi, miso soup, sesame seeds, perilla negi (Japanese spring onion), Japanese pepper, and dried seaweed leaf… It is delicious!
The hitsumabushi is eaten in stages, first the grilled eel mixed with the rice, then halfway through the bowl we add the toppings on top of the rice and eel mixture. To finish the end of the bowl we add some hot dashi or hot japanese green tea, a delight… If you are in Nagoya, we highly recommend this dish!
Eel in Japan
Unfortunately eel in Japan is on the way to extinction, fishermen go to China or Taiwan to get it where the quality is lower. It is a rather expensive dish which makes it less popular than other donburi. Count on about 30€ to 50€ or more for a unagidon in a specialized restaurant. Knowing that a dish on average in Japan is less than 10€ in a restaurant…
We strongly advise you to eat this dish in a specialized restaurant or in Nagoya and not in cheap restaurants or supermarkets. Because the eel will be either full of bones or in any case much less tasty.
If you want to cook it, you can find it frozen. But always check the origin and choose “import of Japan”!
