Summer is coming. And that means unagi season is nigh upon us. I can't think of many unagiya I prefer to the excellent 105-year-old Akimoto in Kojimachi.
Yes, there are several places where the kabayaki or shirayaki may have that extra depth of flavour that you only get from broiling over charcoal. But they use quality ingedients, and display a few surprising hints of creativity. And you can't argue with four generations of experience.
Plus it's just a very cool little restaurant, inside and out. Here are a few photos taken on a recent photo shoot. Starting with…
Kabayaki: at Akimoto the unaju is served with the rice and eel in separate levels of the box.
Usaku: a su-no-mono (vinegar-dressed dish) "salad" of yellow chrysanthemum petals, pink myoga ginger and baby cucumbers sliced impossibly thin, anointed with a refreshing rice-vinegar-based dressing, topped with a few slices of broiled eel.
Umaki: basically dashimaki tamago (omelette) wrapped around strips of unagi. Sweet, but not impossibly so, and the umezu-steeped ginger stem makes a welcome counterpoint.
Kimosui; a classic eel-liver suimono clear soup, featuring a small shaving of yuzu peel; eringi mushrooms; elaborate balls of dried fu; and, unusually, slivers of blanched zucchini to add a delicate contrast of color and texture — much in the way that togan might be used in winter.
I wrote up Akimoto five years ago in my JT column here…
