Narita Village: One Eel Of A Time

The map says it: WELCOME TO NARITA. Friendly statues.


Sloping street that leads to Narita-san Temple.

Rice crackers. The spinning plate grills at the same time.

Interesting arichitecture.

The Narita Visitors Centre, in front of which is........

........ my favourite Unagi eatery in the village: Chrysanthemum.

Check out the mouth-watering displays. One could almost eat the replicas!

Some local patrons inside.

That's where I sat.


Some pickles and cold vegetables for the first course. Keep the soup for later.

BUT BEFORE WE ADMIRE THE GLORIOUS BOWL OF UNADON,
LET'S FIRST OBSERVE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE PROCESS OF
PREPARING THE EEL.

The 'slaughterhouse' gets cleaned first, by the apprentice.

The master picks a bucketful of eels.

Grabs the slippery fish from the bucket.

One incomplete chop to the head, to keep it from slipping away.

Pokes thru the head to the table, no escape for sure.

Finds the right spot and slices all the back to the tail.

The eel is now opened up. Spasmodic waves course along the vivisected fish.

The master skillfully debones the eel and

removes the inards, which isn't much.

The procedure is then repeated.

Again.

And again.

Until the bucket of eels is empty.

The bones are collected in another bucket.

They would be dried. And later seasoned and grilled.
Was told that they have aphrodisiac properties - 'adult food', said a Japanese colleague.
I have munched loads. Doesn't do it for me.
Maybe I was alone.

Back to our master. He has by now cut up about a hundred unagis.
Each is sliced in two.

And skewered for the grill.

Sometimes, they work in two. The master cuts and the apprentice skewers.

Two makes short work of the whole affair.

This requires skill and practice.

The grill cooks the unagi to perfection.

All smoked and ready! Just add the sweet teriyaki sauce.

Throw in on rice in a box and it's called Unajyu.

In a bowl, it's Unadon.

This was mine! The Unadon version of Big Mac, this.
With two slices of unagi. See the second one peeking from below a layer of rice?

The first time I had this soup (Fukuoka in 1991), the waitress said it's 'river soup'.
Took a few years, and many bowls later, for me to learn it is really liver soup - unagi liver.
That's the small bit in the middle of the bowl. The other two squid-looking things are bean-curd.

As usual, boy cleans up everything except the liver.
But after the pix was taken, the waitress comes over and says that it's good for the eyes.
So, boy gobbled the liver.

The meal ended with two cups of green tea, one regular and the other brown-rice blend.

With the stomach filled, Narita Village was then further explored.

That, is another story.