The Eel Restaurant

In our town, along the river, is a wonderful and very old eel restaurant. Takahashiya has been a centre for family celebrations, good eating and entertaining for 150 years. Eel is very popular in Japan and specialist eel restaurants have a special quality.

There is a lovely old building by the river with a perfect Japanese garden. While you are deciding what to order tea is served with crackers made from the eel backbones treated in soy and sake then baked.

The choices are many: Plain eel, grilled eel, marinated eel, eel soup etc.

Most people, including us, have the traditional set menu. Marinated eel grilled and served on rice, pickles, soup made with eel stock and a desert of soybean jelly rolled in green tea powder, served with a type of cream caramel.

Once the river by the restaurant was lined with cherry trees of great age. Sadly during the war they were used for firewood.