There’s A New Japanese Live Eel Specialist In Town — Is It Good?

Is there room for yet another live eel specialist eatery in tiny Singapore? There’s already Chikuyotei at InterContinental hotel, Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant, Uya and Unagiya Ichinoji. Well, it seems so, with the opening of Unaemon at new Japanese food hub Gochi Church Street Japan Kitchen in Capital Square last week.

The first Unaemon restaurant opened in 1950 in Sakuragi-cho, Yokohama — and there’s another branch at Yokohama Station. It specialises in the more common Kanto method of cooking unagi, where the fish is par-grilled before it's steamed, basted and grilled again for a moister finish. Man Man and Uya do it the shortcut Kansai-style, where the fillets are dipped in sauce, then grilled for a lightly crunchy mouthfeel. The outpost at Gochi Church Street is the only Unaemon outside Japan.

There are only 31 seats in this compact eatery, with five facing a glass panel through which diners have a bird’s eye view of the grilling process. Thankfully, the eels are not slaughtered here, but somewhere in the back of the kitchen every morning. Despite being fairly small, the space is well-ventilated, the seats amply spaced out and the décor simple yet tasteful — think dark floors, wooden interiors and clean lines.

The restaurant imports 100kg of live freshwater eels from Taiwan once a week, and has plans to fly them in twice weekly if demand increases. The creatures are kept in a tiny prep room at the back of the kitchen, hidden from customers, inside a shallow tub of water. A rubber hose with running water dangles over the tub to keep the eels moist. The head chef of Unaemon Singapore comes from the Yokohoma HQ and he’ll be based here permanently.

Unaemon’s signature style of preparing unagi is to slit and butterfly the fish, grill it briefly over binchotan charcoal, steam it then season with the joint’s secret basting sauce made with soy sauce, mirin and sake. Apparently, the closely-guarded recipe has been used by one of Unaemon’s co-founder’s other storied eel restaurant Taga for over a century – the sweet barbecue sauce is such a key ingredient that its owners have religiously replenished it since Taga opened 147 years ago to ensure it never runs out. Finally, the eels are grilled thrice, says the restaurant. It’s then served over nanatsuboshi rice from Hokkaido. The restaurant might also serve unagi shabu-shabu in the near future.

Definitely get the more value-for-money medium-sized portion, which feeds one hungry person. This lacquered box of unagi and rice is served with pickles, chawanmushi and a bonito-and-kelp broth on the side. Despite looking paler than the unagi we’ve had at other joints, the fish has a nice smoky sear and the sauce is indeed special: it has a subtle yet complex sweetness that highlights the fresh, clean flavours of the eel. However, while the flesh is crisp and flaky, it’s a bit too skinny and thus slightly dry. We put this down to opening pains — even the now-stellar Man Man and Uya suffered similar problems with thin and slightly dry eels in its early days. Perhaps the restaurants need time to stabilise the quality of the live creatures imported here. Meanwhile, the nanatsuboshi grains are less sticky than the much-loved koshihikari variety, but the firm and nutty short-grained pearls pair beautifully with the light yet flavourful sweet sauce.

Probably our favourite way to enjoy unagi is in this Nagoya fashion. Grilled eel is chopped into thick chunks and laid neatly in a wooden bowl of rice. As with all Hitsumabushi dishes, the unagi can be eaten three ways: unadon style (just eel and rice alone); with the accompanying condiments like seaweed strips, spring onions and wasabi; or ochazuke style (drenched in the accompanying broth).

If you’re wondering how the prices here compare to its rival eel joints, it’s somewhere in between: Man Man’s Hitsumabushi bowl costs $29.50 for a medium one and $39.40 for a large; Uya’s is $35 for medium and $48 for large, while Unagiya Ichinoji’s is $19.80 for a small bowl, $26.80 for medium and $32.80 for large.

The ultimate unagi degustation, this set comes with eel prepared six ways: grilled with sauce, grilled with just salt, boiled with the sweet barbecue sauce then sprinkled with spicy Japanese peppers, wrapped in an egg roll, parboiled then seasoned with vinegar and white wine, and lastly, smoked. It’s served in a beautiful lacquered three-tier box that has rice on one tier; slabs of grilled unagi on another and everything else on the last tier. We didn’t get to sample this dish at the media preview though, as it's temporarily unavailable. But the restaurant says it should be on the menu in a few months.

The unagi here isn’t perfect, but it has potential — that secret sauce is pretty yummy. Also, you can make reservations here and the ambience is comfy enough for a business lunch in the CBD should you be too lazy to queue at rival eel joint Man Man. But we’d give Unaemon’s six-day-old kitchen a couple of weeks to tighten up its cooking before popping by.

Unaemon is at #01-08 Capital Square, Gochi Church Street Japan Kitchen, 23 Church St, S049481. Tel: 6226-1297. Open daily 11.30am to 3pm & 5pm to 11pm. Last orders at 2.30pm & 9.30pm.

Photos: Mark Lee & Bryan Lim