“Nurukan” for vinegared dish? Discovery at Yoshizuka Unagiya

Good evening!
Thank you very much for visiting this blog.

Today’s article was written by a writer “N”, who gave an article when this website was renewed.
It was about a restaurant of eel dishes.
I thought that it should be perfect for this week of “the day of the ox in midsummer” (Japanese people eat eel on this day).

I learnt a new way to enjoy Nihonshu from this report.
Please check it out!

Contents

“Nurukan” for vinegared dish!? New discovery at Yoshizuka Unagiya

Good day!
Today’s report is by a special correspondent “N” from Fukuoka.
Thank you very much for visiting this blog.

Today I report the most famous eel restaurant in Fukuoka City.

Let’s eat eel in summer!

The place I visited with an idea, “It’s summer! Let’s eat eel!”, was a restaurant “Yoshizuka Unagiya” which was established in 1873.

I know a person who writes books about “Fukuoka’s foods”, and sometimes he takes other people to restaurants on his data collection.
I’m a member of the group, so I luckily had an opportunity to have Nihonshu at a restaurant with people who have much knowledges about foods.

“Yoshizuka Unagiya” has many fans not only from the local people, but also people who have business receptions or famous celebrities from outside of Fukuoka.
They have visitors from foreign countries as well.
Their high quality eel dishes and rice attract many people.

“Nihonshu is nice with sour foods”

Before I had “Unaju” (grilled eel and rice) for the main dish, I tried “Umaki” and “Uzaku”.

“Umaki” is a kind of omelet of grilled eel inside.
The egg was very soft, and it was like the taste of happiness.

The next was “Uzaku”.
It was pieces of grilled eel, cucumber, and wakame seaweed, vinegared with Tosazu (vinegar with soy sauce and fish stock based soup).
The combination of these ingredients was great.
The aftertaste of the flavor and moderate sourness was nicely light and clear.

When we had the first mouthful of “Uzaku”, a person in the group who was a specialist of foods said, “Nihonshu must go with a sour food!”
I hadn’t heard the idea before, and I got interested in this new suggestion.
I stopped eating until Nihonshu came.

“Warm sake is the best.”

In the menu book, there were many Nihonshu which were selected by the restaurant.
I wanted to leave the choice to specialists, so I asked other people to order good ones.

This is “Tengumai” (Yamahai-Jikomi, Junmai Genshu – semi dry) from Ishikawa Prefecture.
It was served warm (sake served warm is called “Nurukan”).

The specialist said that they liked warm serve, not hot or cold.
I thought that it was because the season was summer and hot serve was not comfortable.

The specialist said that it was my amateurish idea.
They said that warm sake goes well with foods in both summer and winter, and it’s suitable for vinegared foods.

When I had “Tengumai” with “Uzaku”, the sourness of the vinegar became milder and other tastes remained.
Probably because the sake was classified in “Junshu”(which is one of classification of Nihonshu with rich and full-bodied flavor), eel didn’t kill the taste of the sake, while the sake remained the eel’s flavor as well.
The combination was just perfect!

After I enjoyed “Tengumai”, the main dish, “Unaju” arrived.

How amazing!
The eel looked so soft, and the surface was beautiful with perfect burned color.

The outside was crispy, and the inside was soft.
The sauce was their special one with slight sweetness.

It contained good fat, and the flavor was so rich!
All of us let out voices of admiration.

Kimosui (soup of eel liver) was very beautiful! The clear soup looked shining!

I had Nihonshu with these main dishes as well.
I was impressed by the beauty of the foods too much, and didn’t have time to think about interaction between sake and eel.
However, “Tengumai” indeed made me happy very much!

By the way, the strong point of this restaurant is not only eel dishes, but also their “rice”.
The grilled eel was placed on the perfectly cooked rice, and the each grain was lively and delicious.
They prepare rice in many rice cookers to provide the customers freshly cooked rice every time.

I found writings and a picture on the place sheet.

It’s by a famous novelist, Hino Ashihei!

It says, “Dr. Kappa Unagi (Unagi = eel) said, ‘Eels swim to the equator to lay eggs, and come back to Japan taking 2 years. The returned eels arrive at Yoshizuka to become Kabayaki (grilled eel).’ January 26th, 1955 ASHIHEI”.

I imagined Hino Ashihei enjoying exactly same dish as the one I had decades ago.

I learnt a lot about the good part of “Nurukan” at this restaurant.
Please try Nurukan at “Yoshizuka Unagiya” when you have a chance to visit Fukuoka.

I’d like to finish my report here, from Nishinakasu, Fukuoka City, in a good smell of grilled eel and sauce!