I'm not sure what came over us to even attempt lunch shortly after breakfast and in between dashing back to the hotel for our airport shuttle. And when we finally found Nodaiwa, there was a queue! What's with people and queuing before the shop opens?
I obviously flouted the rules with this snap.
The moment we sat ourselves down, we ordered the two eel sets on their festive promotion. I love these pretty cups that our green teas were served in!
Too pretty.
Even the eel chopstick holder got me snapping away - sigh, annoying asian blogger at work.
Even my unagi don get served in such a nicely painted bowl! Clearly I could have gotten my priorities wrong, gushing over the serving ware instead of the food.
Nodaiwa only serves unagi don (yay for specializing and being a master of that trade). We had ours done two ways, with and without soup.
This was a dreamy encounter of everything perfect in a single bowl. Grilled eel dusted with salt and brushed with sweet sauce atop a bed of fluffy pearl grains. This just relegated the other eels eaten so ordinary because this was heaven.
We were both busy tucking into our rice bowls until we forgot to soak it in the soup even whi chwas equally tasty.
On top of the main course, we were served soup with an eel ball within, unlike seafood balls this was softer.
Eel sashimi salad and sesame dressing was an aromatic and refreshing affair. I've not eaten eel raw before and this was more sinewy than the usual salmon sashimi.
Tamago and grated daikon to whet the palette.
More pickles to go with our already delicious rice bowl, superfluous if you ask me but I liked every course of my set.
Last but not least apple jelly and pickled apples, rice cracker and hot tea to elicit a huge burp of satisfaction. It may sound almost silly saying that the apple jelly was the yummiest eaten already, but it was. Japan has so much in store to discover every single meal and their desserts are also equally amazing. How many bento sets have you eaten locally that had desserts presented for the sake of it; from overly sweet store bought konnyaku premixes to cut fruit?
Sets are priced from JPY 5,000 onwards and offer great value. If I had the time I would have gone for the omakase even.
Nodaiwa
2-19-15 Kitazawa Setagaya Tokyo
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