Eel, Japanese cuisine Kikusui

[A long-established store that has been operating at its current location since the Edo period]

This shop is said to have been founded in the Edo period. It has been located at its current location since the Edo period, and the current owner is the fifth generation. According to the owner, “The shop is located on the road leading to the castle, and in a newspaper advertisement from 1911, we have the oldest advertisement for a shop in Yanagawa.” At the time of the advertisement, the shop was a pickle shop. After some changes, it became a restaurant, and currently serves dishes centered around Yanagawa’s specialty, steamed bamboo steamer.

The most popular order at the restaurant is the “Unagi Gozen” meal, which includes not only the eel steamed in a bamboo steamer, but also a vinegared dish made with eel and a delicious chawanmushi egg custard topped with a ginger sauce.

Apparently, the customers are “about half locals and half tourists,” with some devoted regulars who come from far away several times a year. As a COVID-19 countermeasure, each table has a nice furniture-style acrylic fence. The shop also has a 10-tatami room, but it has been converted into table seating for customers with walking problems, so the owner said, “Please feel free to come and visit us.”