I was craving for a different kind of Japanese Food last weekend, and my friend told me to try Unacho Restaurant, which recently opened in Plaza Senayan, South Jakarta. So last weekend I visited this restaurant together with my husband for a light lunch at midday. Unacho Restaurant has been opened since November 2014, and we can easily find this restaurant because we accidentally parked our car at the same level as the restaurant, at P2 level. Unacho offers Nagoya’s speciality eel dish, which is popularly known as “Hitsumabushi”. The Indonesian owner brings this concept from Japan, and I heard from my friend that the head chef is also a Japanese. The exterior looks simple, just like a typical Japanese fine dining restaurant, with the minimalist Japanese decor, wooden table, and waitresses dressed in Kimono.
One of them greet us friendly and welcome us to have a seat inside. We saw there were 4 tables still empty that day, so this place was pretty crowded when we’re there around 13:30 but we managed to take some of the restaurant’s ambience once we finished our lunch.
Unagi Hitsumabushi, IDR 185K (one single layer)
Both of us love Unagi so much, and we immediately fell in love with this dish since our first bite. Unagi Hitsumabushi is the Nagoya’s specialty eel dish that dipped in a mixture of secret sauce, and tenderly grilled over special selected charcoal. We opt-in one single layer Unagi for our light lunch, because we’re quite full from our sushi date that day before visiting Unacho. We can slightly smell the charred aroma when it’s served on our table. This Unagi Hitsumabushi is served in a large bowl of rice, topped with generous sliced grilled eel until fully cover the rice, and several toppings such as spring onions, dried seaweed, Sansho pepper and wasabi. Not to forget, clear soup also included in the package. It was truly a fantastic meal for us!! The eels have a perfect level of crispy char goodness, thick, chewy, so delicate, tasty, so soft until melts in the mouth, and so delicious that made us crave for more until now.
What makes it even more special for us because there are four stages to eat the delicious Unagi Hitsumabushi. First to eat it as it is, the second is to mix it with a selection of seasonings or toppings, and lastly is to eat in an ochazuke style, with a dashi broth poured over the top. After that, at the very last stage, we can repeat the stage that we liked the most. Both of us loved to eat the eel dish in the second stage, spring onions and dried seaweed added crunchiness and a unique flavour to the eel.
Click on below short video to see Four Steps to Enjoy Unagi Hitsumabushi from our YouTube Channel:
Divide the eel dish into four sections; then you can follow the following stages below.
First stage: Enjoy as is..
Place the first section into the smaller bowl and enjoy as is.
Second stage: Add seasonings..
Add seasonings and spices (spring onions, wasabi, seaweed, and Sansho pepper) to your taste and enjoy a new flavour.
Third stage: Top it off with the broth
Add some more seasonings and spices, and this time top it off with the broth to make a soupy dish.
Salmon Mille-feuille, IDR 55K
This was also a great decision on that day. Salmon Mille-feuille has a similar presentation with Ahi Poke, which we usually had at another restaurant. Layers of chopped salmon, avocado, and tomato, topped with salmon roe, served with homemade sauce. It was a wonderful appetizer, elegant, and so delicious!!
Kinako Powder, IDR 35K
As usual, our meals wouldn’t be complete without dessert. Homemade traditional Japanese dessert coated with Kinako Powder. If you know and usually eat Japanese Mochi, then you can imagine that, this one is similar but with a softer texture than Mochi. It was so unique and of course, one bite wasn’t enough! We also added the brown sugar syrup because it tastes plain without it.
In addition to the delicious Unagi Hitsumabushi, they also offer a reasonable price for everything. I still remember when I brought my mother for a New Year’s lunch this month to the other Japanese Restaurant located on the 46th floor (E*****). She had Unagiju (IDR 190K) where the eel came in small portions, and now I realized there was a big difference. Unacho Restaurant serves generous eel, even for one single layer option. Generous servings earn this place an additional thumbs up! It is one of the finest quality eels we’ve ever tasted, and with that price, Unacho can easily satisfy Unagi cravings out there.
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