Yodobashi, Eel restaurant in Yodobashi Akiba, Chiyoda-ku, Japan.
Yodobashi is an eel restaurant on the eighth floor of the Yodobashi Akiba building in Akihabara, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. The menu focuses on unagi dishes prepared using grilling techniques rooted in the Mikawa cooking tradition from Aichi Prefecture.
The restaurant opened in 2005 alongside the Yodobashi Akiba building, at a time when Akihabara was growing beyond its identity as an electronics district. That shift brought a wider range of dining options to the area, and Mikawa-style eel cooking arrived with it.
The menu centers on unagi, Japanese eel cooked following recipes tied to the Mikawa region of Aichi Prefecture. Ordering hitsumabushi means eating the same serving three different ways, ending with a bowl of broth poured over the rice.
The dining room sits on the eighth floor of a large retail building, so taking the elevator from the ground level is the easiest way to get there. Lunchtime can bring a line since the building draws many visitors, so an early evening visit tends to be quieter.
Unlike many eel restaurants in Tokyo, this one skips the steaming step before grilling, which is standard practice in the Kanto region. That choice produces firmer, more textured flesh, and it is one detail that regulars of Mikawa-style cooking specifically come for.
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