This post was written in 2006. Shop details and prices may have changed since then.
I went to Komagata Dozeu, a loach restaurant in Asakusa with a 200-year history.
Dojo means loach in Japanese. The sign says “dozeu” (どぜう), but it seems you read it as “dojo”.
The front entrance. Maybe because it’s a place with history, it somehow looks like it has real depth to it. ^_^; Inside, it was packed.
Apparently it got a lot of media coverage for a while, and though it’s not as busy as back then, there were still a few people waiting outside.
The house specialty, loach nabe. One serving is 1,500 yen, and the photo below is one serving. It looks like a huge amount,
but the pan is really shallow. Still, it didn’t feel overpriced.
You pile on heaps of green onions like in the photo and eat it.
Depending on your taste, adding shichimi, the Japanese chili pepper mix, makes it even better.
We ordered two servings, and when we finished the first they put the second one on for us. The pan is so shallow that you have to keep pouring in broth so it doesn’t stick and burn.
The flavor was clean and light. It’s similar to the light taste of eel dishes, but with far less fat. Being a loach dish, I was
worried whether it’d be any good, but it turned out to be an unexpectedly refined dish. The price is reasonable too, and those 200 years of history are no fluke. After finishing the first serving,
as we moved on to the second, the seasoned foodie who came with me ordered a bowl of rice, and it goes amazingly with rice too. (On the way out I heard they use rice from Miyazaki
Prefecture.) The green onions tasted special too… You could feel the care put into every single ingredient.
It’s not in the photos, but the sake sold only at this place is pretty good. It’s a bit strong, but it goes down smoothly.
This is a dish called Yanagawa: loach with the bones and innards removed, cooked with burdock root and egg. It’s 2,000 yen, and the place’s second signature dish.
If each person has 1.5 servings of loach nabe, 0.5 of Yanagawa and half a bowl of rice, you can have a very happy meal for about 3,000 yen a head.