Una Tetsu (うな鐵) (Shibuya - 渋谷)
In the US, unagi (eel) is most often thought of as topping for a piece of sushi. The sweet/salty soy-mirin-sugar sauce basted over a strip of grilled eel has many fans in the US. However, there is so much more that unagi can offer.
Small, friendly, eel-ee... (photo by wjc)
As with most local food cultures, nearly all parts of an animal are used and Una Tetsu demonstrates that with unagi in interesting and delcious ways....
...Una Tetsu is a small (truly hole-in-the-wall in Tokyo is the norm), friendly restaurant serving all manner of unagi dishes. Oh sure, you can get the grilled unagi with the usual sauce but why limit yourself?
Una Tetsu has a "course" (コース) of grilled yakitori-like eel dishes that include eel head, eel esophagus, eel stomach and eel belly. Now before you get all squeamish on some of these, allow me to elaborate.
- Eel head is the meat from around the head (cheek meat, if you will) that is rolled and grilled with nothing more than a little salt. It's semi-crunchy (becuase of the eel skin not the eel skull) and like a snack to be greedily consumed with a mug of cold beer (which we did..).
- Eel esophagus (actually the meat around it) which is wound around a wooden skewer and served with a dab of wasabi. It is very lightly grilled because it's super soft and doesn't need much heat.
- Eel stomach, ok well, it is actually the whole digestive tract (cleaned of course) grilled as is. It doesn't need any seasoning and tastes like organ meat (liver and such...). It has a slightly bitter taste and the texture is like jellyfish. It reminded me of a true French andouille sausage with it's earthy taste.
- Eel belly is just the soft underside of the eel. This was the closest to the sushi-type eel. But when fresh off the fire, is amazingly juicy.
Shiro-yaki (white grilled) style unagi is a purist's dream. Thick sides of eel, grilled au nautrel with a smattering of salt arrive on a shiso leaf waiting for a dusting of "sansho", a pod-like herb with a semi-spicy, semi-flowery scent. The sansho is a traditional season for unagi - the flavor compliments the oily and rich texture of the eel.
A real treat is the una-chazuke which is a bowl of rice with pieces of eel and finely shredded nori on top. Green tea and seasonings are then poured over everything resulting in a fine dish from which to linger over. Wasabi and pickled vegetables accompany the dish.
The menu is SO packed with eel dishes - you will probably be overwhelmed. Not a lot of English is spoken here so you may have to point and gesture but do try and visit for a different take on your standard sushi unagi.
Una Tetsu (written in a traditional right-to-left style)... (photo by wjc)
Una Tetsu is located in Shibuya. Get to the Shibuya station and take the "Hachiko" exit. Follow the signs to the Inokashira train line (out the Hachiko exit, veering to the left and under the elevated building walkway to the left...). Cross the street walking under the building elevated walkway, and once you see the escalators, walk to the right of them. Una Tetsu is in the building straight ahead where the street ends in a "T". It's set back inside the open lobby of that building.