Unagi Kaiseki Nihonbashi Isesada

There's a saying in Japan about mastering the kabayaki, or the grilled eel: it takes three years to learn to skewer the fish, eight years to split it and a lifetime to grill it. Unagi Kaiseki Nihonbashi Isesada has been perfecting them for three generations. The restaurant, established in 1946, rose among the ashes of Nihonbashi, which was temporarily reduced into ruins following World War II. Though a familiar story — a postwar restaurant in one of Edo's oldest and most revered gourmet districts — it's a narrative the third-generation owner shares with pride. The restaurant's name, borrowed from the first owner's hometown of Isesaki City in Gunma Prefecture and the Ise Grand Shrine, carries a sense of good fortune. The unagi course at Isesada never overcomplicates the eye, but its preparation is a meticulous process in the kitchen. Live domestic eels are carefully chosen by craftsmen. The restaurant follows the Kanto-style kabayaki method, influenced by the region's samurai culture that avoids slitting the fish along the belly as it symbolizes seppuku. Instead, chefs choose to cut from the back (se-biraki). The process begins with skewering the eel, followed by "white-grilling" — grilling without seasoning — steaming, and finishing with hon-yaki — grilling with the sauce. The secret sauce brushed on the eel, used since the restaurant's inception, imparts a refreshing taste with subtle sweetness and a lingering aftertaste. It is also drizzled over Koshihikari "phantom rice" from Nagano Prefecture, which is noted to have that perfect sweetness and stickiness and is cooked on a traditional kamado stove. At the wooden counter seats, guests can watch the eel being grilled by the third-generation owner himself before their eyes. Private rooms with sunken kotatsu tables exude a traditional Japanese ambiance. Closing in on its century milestone, the restaurant proudly remains a relic of Edo, backed by generations of technique and trust.