Sumiyaki Unafuji Daimaru Kyoto Bettei

Perhaps no-one has quite had their life changed by food as much as the founder of the Unafuji series of restaurants, Chef Mizuno. While working as an animal feed producer, he tried shirayaki — freshwater eel grilled over a charcoal flame, seasoned with nothing but salt — for the first time, and was completely flabbergasted that something so delicious could exist. He handed in his resignation almost immediately, making it his life’s calling to spread the gospel of unagi throughout Japan. Throwing himself into training at multiple unagi specialty restaurants for over two decades, he finally started his own, Unafuji, in 1995. Aichi is one of the unagi meccas of Japan, with multiple restaurants boasting over a century of experience and history of preparing the delicacy. In just 25 years, however, Unafuji managed to earn itself a spot in both the Michelin Guide and Tabelog’s Top 100 Restaurants — an unprecedented feat that has yet to be replicated. Unafuji’s success has led to outlets mushrooming all over Japan, with its latest venture taking up residence in the Daimaru Kyoto building. While it may be the restaurant’s first Kyoto venture, its taste is still unmistakably Aichi. Chef Mizuno sources only the extra-large, ultra-fatty “blue eel” subspecies directly from an exclusive inner circle of suppliers scattered all over Japan. His selection process is so strict that even out of that extremely high-quality catch, only 20 percent of the eels pass muster. The eels are then cut belly first to allow for clean removal of the liver, which is then used in some of the restaurant’s signature dishes like the unagi don (eel rice bowl) and hitsu-mabushi (eel over rice with other condiments and dashi broth). The flesh is cooked over a charcoal fire that exceeds 1,000 degrees Celsius, sealing in the fatty flavor with a beautiful, crispy crust. But the secret to Unafuji’s success is due in equal part to its sauce. Chef Mizuno’s quest for the perfect sauce took him all over the country, where he carefully analyzed the salt and sugar content of the very best unagi specialists in each prefecture. The result of this is the perfect ratio of savory and sweet in Unafuji’s house sauce — a closely-guarded secret that he will take to the grave.