Hosakaya ほさかや

Hosakaya gained a little popularity after Anthony Bourdain visited on one his show No Reservations. It’s tucked away in a not so popular area amongst foreigners, Jiyugaoka Station.

Hosakaya is known for serving freshwater eel, unagi everything! There’s only one chef standing by the little charcoal grill making these unagi skewers. Oh and by the way, there’s no English menus. So we got up and walked over to the chef and just pointed at some skewers we wanted to try.

They only serve unagi, so other than the typical unagi meat, they serve every part of an unagi like liver, fin, skin and more. So if you’re feeling adventurous and want some local vibes, could swing by at night for a few skewers and bottles of beer! Or if you just want to stick to the typical unagi meat, they serve unagi bowl at lunch for ￥1300! Jiyugaoka is a really local area and there’s a lot of izakayas around the neighbourhood so it’s a great place to explore!

Address \\ 1-11-5 Jiyugaoka Meguro Tokyo
Phone Number \\   03-3717-6538 (Cannot make reservations)
Hours \\   Monday – Saturday: 11:30am – 2pm, 4:30pm – 9pm
Average price \\   Lunch:￥1,000 -￥1,999;     Dinner: ￥2,000～￥2,999
Payment Method \\   Cash Only
Rating \\   3.58/5
Website \\   Hosakaya (Japanese Only)

1 Michelin Star Nodaiwa 野田岩 銀座店

Nodaiwa is a 1 Michelin Star restaurant so it already speaks for itself. The owner is now the 5th generation and definitely kept the tradition and quality. We made a reservation but we were late because we kept missing the entrance! If you reference to the first picture, their sign was actually on the top right hand corner (Japanese sign only) but we thought that was the Ginza Station entrance. So if you do go, make sure you find that entrance!

They had a few set lunches to choose from so we picked a set that was around  ￥5,000. It comes with tea, a soup, 2 side dishes and the unagi rice box. The unagi was light and delicate, the sauce was absolutely amazing. We were trying to savor every bite!

As we left, we then realize the restaurant was right beside Jiro and we saw him counting cash! This is probably the closest we’ll get to Jiro. =P

**Quick Tip** For most fine dining restaurants in Japan, I highly recommend to go for lunch because it’s normally half the price of dinner, if not more.

Address \\  B1 F 4-2-15 Ginza Chuo Tokyo
Phone Number \\   03-5524-3125 (Takes reservations)
Hours \\   Monday – Saturday: 11:30am – 2pm,  5pm – 8pm
Average Price \\   Lunch: ￥5,000 – ￥5,999,  Dinner: ￥10,000 – ￥14,999
Payment Method \\   Credit Card Accepted
Rating \\ 3.67/5
Website \\   Nodaiwa Menu (Mainly Japanese)