Unagi ya Restaurants in Japan

Unagi is a Japanese word for eel and the Japanese eels are frequently used in Japanese dishes. It is served as a part of the Japanese dish unadon, which is a donburi dish that is served with sliced eels placed on a bed of rice. Unagi dishes are generally expensive because of the eels and the cooking process of the dishes. The best quality unagi dishes are available in the unagi-ya restaurants. The renowned unagi restaurants generally have signboards that highlight the word unagi and the first letter of the word is usually made from the curved shape of an eel. Traditionally unagi is thought to have a cooling effect as the unagi dishes are less spicy and because of this reason the unagi dishes are often consumed during the hot and humid summer of Japan.

One of the unagi dish that you can avail in a unagi-ya restaurant is kabayaki. Kabayaki is grilled unagi served on skewers without rice and is often considered to be a hors d'oeuvre with drinks. Unajuu or unagi donburi is another dish that features grilled unagi but then unlike kabayaki, unagi donburi is served over a bed of rice. Shirayaki is grilled unagi served without sauce. This variation of unagi is a favorite with the unagi purists. Almost al these dishes are served with kimosui, which is a soup made from eel livers.

Besides the unagi dishes, some of the unagi-ya restaurants also offer dojo or loach in English. It is a small fish that is found abundantly in Japan. One dojo preparation that is extremely popular in Japan is yanagawa-nabe. This dish boasts of a mild casserole, which comprises of boiled dojo, burdock root and eggs.

In order to further enhance the taste of your lip smacking unagi dish you can sprinkle your unagi dish with sansho, which is a powdered aromatic Japanese pepper.