260 years of unagi tradition at Izuei Honten @ Ueno, Tokyo

I was checking for lunch on my first day arrival to Tokyo during my March 2015 trip. Izuei Honten also show up as serving among the best unagi meal in Tokyo during my online search. So I decided to try on how well their prepare meal as this establishment already exist for almost 260 years. This restaurant is different from other restaurant in Tokyo which usually have limited space and only have 10-20 seats. But Izuei Honten have 7 floors of dining space which can occupy 150 patrons. The staffs are all dressed in proper traditional kimono. This place is recommended for unagi lovers.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The unagi were well prepared and the rice were seasoned. The unagi here was pure, fresh and without any adulteration or masking of flavours. They have sansho (Japanese pepper) to put on unagi which makes the taste pungent).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. The unagi meal set shown below priced at 2,700 Yen. If you come early and able to have their lunch set, the price is lower).


Nice decoration inside the shop.

Cute utensils. Extra unagi sauce, sansho pepper and soy sauce.

I ordered the unagi (grilled eel) set.

The unagi grilled to perfection. Slight crispy with less sweet sauce when compared to my home country version. The rice were flavoured very well with their special sauce. The meal was non oily at all.

The texture were soft and non oily.

The meal set comes with pickles and soup. The soup was quite clear unlike miso soup which is cloudy.


There are plenty of miniatures inside the shop.

As soon you enter the entrance, you will be greeted by the miniatures display.

This is how the shop look like. Its just around 5 minutes walk from Ueno station.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.709723, 139.772690
Address: 2-12-22 Ueno, Taito, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan
Phone: +81 3-3831-0954
Hours: 11:00 am – 9:30 pm
Public transport: Ueno station. You can reach this station via JR or Tokyo Metro. This is a main interchange point on east of Tokyo.

Cheap eats at Ootoya @ Gotanda, Tokyo

Ootoya is a chain restaurant in Japan serving cheap great food. Their speciality is teishoku meal set. Teishoku is a main dish comes with rice and miso soup. Teishoku meal are nutritious as you eat several food items at one meal. Usually you will have meat/fish, vegetables, rice and pickles in one teishoku meal. The Japanese teishoku in Ootoya is cheap, healthy and authentic. They also have English menu so ordering food should not have any problem for any English speaking tourist to Japan. Ootoya have many branches throughout Japan and they offers good food options for both lunch and dinner. They also have wagyu beef set which I not manage to try at 1,300 Yen which is quite cheap for wagyu beef.

Taste:8/10(Delicious. Ootoya is a cheap, simple and quick place where you can have good lunch and dinner. Since most dinner place have higher price tag, Ootoya can gets very crowded at night).
Price:8/10(Cheap. For less than 800 Yen, you can get a decent teishoku lunch set).



Japanese fried chicken set. The chicken is crispy outside and tender inside.


Fried fish with vegetables set. Fresh ingredient and tasty.

Cosy restaurant serving cheap and great food.

Soy sauce, sesame and chili flakes are provided.

Promotional item leaflets.

Ootoya is located at first floor of this building. Ootoya have a obvious blue colour signboard.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.625749, 139.724836
Public transport: East exit of Gotanda station on JR line/Yamanote.

Cheap Michelin star lunch at Nakajima @ Shinjuku, Tokyo

Nakajima of Shinjuku in Tokyo located within walking distance from south exit of Shinjuku JR train station. This is probably the cheapest one star Michelin restaurant in the world. Being the highest number of Michelin star restaurants in the world, Tokyo does offer many choices for food connoisseur. Their lunch set are simple which is just sardine but the taste is good, fresh and cheap at 800 Yen. There are 4 lunch sets (Sashimi - raw sardine with seaweed and sesame, furai - fried sardine, nizakana - sardine in soy sauce and yanagawanabe - sardine cooked with egg). The set includes rice, pickles and miso soup. You can also have second bowl of rice for free. The 3rd bowl will be 100 Yen. I prefer not to have additional rice as I would like to try out another sardine dish. Do come here early as the restaurant already full even you reach at 11.30am. Their lunch time is from 11.30am until 2.00pm. They usually out by 1.30pm. Eventhough you need to queue, but the service were fast and the wait is just for a while. Once you get inside, there is a simple menu in English, with pictures, so you know what you order. You can order a set, add mains or sides from other sets. Do visit here during lunch time as their dinner is expensive starts at 8,000 Yen.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. The two sets that I ordered which is sardine in soy sauce and sardine sashimi were good and up to their standard of being one star Michelin restaurant. The sardine were fresh and well prepared. As for the sashimi, the sardine were finely chopped by the skillful chef).
Price:8/10(Cheap. This restaurant serving great sardine dishes during lunch time is a bargain as this is a one-star Michelin restaurant. Good food, low price and good service. The lunch set start from 800 Yen. My two set of meal only cost me 1,400 Yen (USD12) which is well reasonable in Tokyo with such good food).


First set of sardine. Nizakana - sardine in soy sauce. Taste great.

Small dash of fragrant herbs and ginger on the fish. Good.

The lunch set comes with pickles, miso soup and green tea.


Not satify with the first lunch meal, I ordered full portion of sashimi sardine. The sashimi served finely chopped, with addition of some spring onions, lemon, sesame seeds and ginger.

The chef is so skillful. He able to slice the sardine so fast and precise.

Simple and nice setting in Nakajima restaurant.

Simple lunch set. Just choose from the 4 menu. All are sardines. They cooked it in 4 different ways. Sashimi - raw sardine with seaweed and sesame, furai - fried sardine, nizakana - sardine in soy sauce and yanagawanabe - sardine cooked with egg.

Pickles.

Entrance to Nakajima restaurant in Shinjuku.


Nakajima restaurant in Shinjuku. Signboard at street level.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.690184, 139.703940
Address: B1F, Hihara Bldg, 3 32-5 Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo Prefecture 160-0022, Japan
Public transport: Shinjuku station north exit.