Unagiya Ichinoji

With the parent name as Miyagawa Honten that has a history spans of 125 years is now one of Tokyo's famous Unagi restaurants, operating about 20 outlets just alone in Japan. Not only that, recently they have clinched the Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide in 2018.

Finding the location of this Japanese Restaurants maybe a little tricky as it is located behind some Japanese restaurants or some back passage.

Unagiya Ichinoji

The concept is kind of similar to Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant where you get to see freshwater live eels in the tank and chef preparing the eels in an open concept kitchen separating the restaurant and kitchen with glass panels. To achieve the smoky taste with crispy texture, these eels were grilled over hot charcoal.

Seats

The restaurant has limited seating, about 30 plus seat as the restaurant is not big. If you want to have a greater view of how Unagi is prepared, you can sit by the kitchen counter and watch the process of grilling unagi.

Main Menu

Ala Carte Menu

One of the recommended dishes will be the Hitsumabushi. It comes with different sizes from Small to extra large, suitable for sharing. What you get in Hitsumabushi will be pieces of cut eel placed on a bed of Hokkaido Rice and served with 3 condiments.

Hitsumabushi (M) - $26.80

Sometimes by looking at the delicious smoky grilled eels, I felt like ditching the carbohydrates (rice) away but these are not the usual Japanese rice, they are Hokkaido Rice.

How to eat it? Dont worry, there are instructions you can follow on the table in 3 simple steps.

Yummy 

If you want a more powerful taste, these sauces are yours to add. If you want to add a little more spice, you can topped your food with some spicy sauce as well as pepper. However when I compared the spicy and the original sauce, it was little or no difference to me.

Condiments on Table

Adding on to their main menu, they have this seasonal Unagi Fair menu at discounted price.

Seasonal Menu

With the special menu from the Unagi fair, I had order their Unagi Sushi double roll. It might not look filling to the stomach but this set itself can be as filling as those who is ordering the Hitsumabashi set.

Unagi Sushi Roll Double - $32.80 

One of the sushi roll in the set was cut into 6 pieces and topped with Tobiko. I would say it was quite flavourful. Besides the alluring flavours from the crispy eel coated in the sweet sauce, the marriage with sushi roll wrapped with cucumber, egg and crab stick elevated the dining experience. Definitely no regrets in ordering this set.

Sushi Roll

Unagi Box Set looked complete with sides and desserts. There are tempura, Gyoza in the Bento Box. Dessert are basically some konyaku stuff with half of it topped with peanut powder. Not too bad though. 

Unagi Box Set - $29.80

Chawanmushi was included in both Unagi Fair set that we had ordered. It looked a little different here with ingredients like snow pea and unagi, apart from the usual mushroom and Japanese fish cake.

Chawanmushi

Comparing Unagiya Ichinoji to Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant, I would say that no queue is required here. However, I still prefer the latter as the taste was pretty stronger than Unagiya. Taste is rather subjective and if you prefer a lighter taste, you may like what they are serving here.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Unagiya Ichinoji

Location: 30 Robertson Quay #01-05 Riverside Village Residences Singapore (238251)

Operating Hours: 11.30 - 1500

                               17.30 - 2200