2nd Generation Unamaro 880-⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hitsumabushi (Ume) 880- The heat is still unbearable. Power injection. Unamaro specializing in hitsumabushi, not just Unagi. They also offer Korean and Nepalese cuisine. They do everything. A visually appealing set arrives. However, the rice is too sticky, the eel is overly sweet and salty, and doesn't taste like eel. The rice crackers are also soggy. It was a lunch that I regretted for a long time. I was naive to think I could have hitsumabushi for 880 yen. I should have gone to Unatoto.

Located in the middle area between Shinbashi, Yanagibashi, and Akarenga streets, there is an "eel restaurant". In addition to hitsumabushi, they also offer Korean rice bowl menu and combination sets, perhaps because they are the "second generation". I visited for lunch with a hypothesis of Korean influence, and was greeted by a mysterious layout with two entrances and a lone staff member with a foreign feel. I ordered the "Pork Kimchi Rice Bowl" for 800 yen from the menu at the front of the store. They brought me a glass of water in 2 minutes, and I waited at the comfortable stainless steel counter with air conditioning. However, I ended up waiting longer than expected, about 10 minutes. The soup served was a clear wakame soup, which may have had a similar flavor base to hitsumabushi, possibly using artificial seasoning. The rice bowl was unexpectedly large, and I had to mentally prepare myself to leave some rice uneaten. The taste of the pork kimchi was different from what I had imagined. It reminded me of the pork bowl from an Indian restaurant in Takaramachi. Although I was pleased with the short 19-minute stay, I believe they may only accept cash payments.

I was drawn in by the attractive signage for Hitsumabushi, so I decided to enter the restaurant. I ordered Hitsumabushi Take. However, when I looked at the menu, it also mentioned eel dishes, Korean cuisine, and Nepalese cuisine, which made me slightly anxious. Since it was originally only 1000 yen, I wasn't expecting much, but I wish they wouldn't call it Hitsumabushi. First, the eel dish. It looked like it was heated up from a retort pouch, like the contents of a bottled eel. It was just served like that, and only the outer part was eel. There was no eel underneath the seaweed. I wonder if there would be eel if it was served with pine. The broth didn't have the fragrant scent of bonito, and I couldn't quite figure out what was in it. It wasn't bad. Perhaps the other Korean cuisine dishes on the menu are delicious.

Sometimes, have you ever entered a place without thinking too much and regretted it later? One day at lunchtime, I saw a long line in front of a restaurant and thought, "Oh, it looks good, maybe I should join the queue for eel." But I didn't feel like waiting, so I turned the corner and saw another "Unatoto" restaurant. It was empty, so I decided to go in. To my surprise, it was a fusion restaurant serving hitsumabushi, Korean cuisine, and Nepalese cuisine. What kind of concept is this? There was only one customer inside. Feeling a sense of defeat already, I ordered the hitsumabushi with bamboo for 1000 yen. From the counter seat, I could see two strong-looking foreigners in the kitchen who didn't seem Japanese, Korean, or Nepalese. They were transferring small pieces of eel-like meat from what looked like a rice cooker to the plate using tongs, then topping it with seaweed and trefoil with their bare hands. By this point, I had lost my appetite. The dish served looked like hitsumabushi, but when I tried it, it was covered in a sweet sauce that made it hard to tell what I was eating. Maybe it was eel. Maybe... I couldn't eat it, so I poured the broth from a small bottle over it and forced myself to finish it. I made a hasty retreat. I had made a mistake... In Shinbashi, there are many different restaurants, but I can't understand how the owner thought this concept and serving style would be successful in business. Later, I found out through a search that the chef in the kitchen was apparently from Nepal. His background was also mentioned, but I still can't understand the reason behind this concept... Well, I still don't get it.