In Japan, pretty much every neighbourhood has at least one good place for eel, tonkatsu and sushi. Partly for that reason, and partly because it isn’t eel season right now, I didn’t particularly want to come all the way to Fukuoka just to eat eel, but I couldn’t find a decent place for lunch, so in the end I went to Yoshizuka, an eel restaurant that is very famous around here. The place I’d originally planned on was a Western-style restaurant, but it had closed down. Such is the slump in the restaurant business… or maybe that place just wasn’t very good.
A sleek exterior
Since it’s an old, long-established shop I was expecting a traditional atmosphere, but not at all. It reminded me of Hanilkwan after it moved to Gangnam.
The basic setting
Hard to judge from this alone, but it comes out nice and neat.
Beer-flavoured drink
It was hot, so I ordered one. I’m really into non-alcoholic beer these days. Some people say it doesn’t taste like beer or that it’s too watery, but the quality has improved a lot lately, and apart from not getting you drunk it’s far better than bad happoshu. There’s no reason to get drunk in the middle of the day anyway, so just getting the feel of it like this is pretty nice. It helps the digestion too ^_^
Table decoration
Probably because it’s May, there were koinobori carp streamers…
The cheapest unadon, 1,300 yen
I hadn’t long had breakfast, so I ordered the cheapest unadon. Unexpectedly, though, the eel was grilled just right and the sweet sauce was delicious. Being out-of-season eel it wasn’t very fatty, but it was so good that I scraped the bowl clean even though there were only two pieces of eel. I could have ordered a pricier bowl, but this was plenty good as it was. At this level it’s worth coming from far away. I went in at around 2 o’clock, and there was still a queue. You’d better either avoid the lunch hour or be ready to wait.
Kimosui (eel liver soup)
The clear soup you always get at eel restaurants. It was clean and nicely done. The better the restaurant, the better even its humblest dishes taste, and this place fully deserves to be called a great restaurant. Next time someone tells me they’re going to Fukuoka to eat, this is the first place I’ll recommend. Except in summer, though. Eel isn’t something you eat in summer, after all…