Eat THE eel n rice

One of the things that I missed about Japan was eel. Sometimes it was available in Australia, usually in rolled sushi with cucumber. I tried once and couldn't swallow the eel which was like rubber. Yuck! If you can't fix it right then don't serve it anyway.

Japanese eel is beautiful. It's steamed and char-grilled with special thick sauce (usually each restaurant has a story for that sauce, such as "we've used the same sauce for over 100 years!( by adding new ingredients to the old one)" Eel goes lovely with white steamed rice. It's just delicious that way, but in this particular restaurant my friend and I religiously go to eat, we can have more fun with that.

OK-...so this is it! Called Hitsumabushi. On the right is the eel on top of white rice. Behind the bowl is a soup to eat WITH eel and rice. Next to the soup us some toppings - seaweed, chive, and wasabi. On the center of the tray is another soup.  And some pickles.

You can enjoy about 3 to 4 bowls of "eel and rice" but each servings can be different. First you eat the eel and rice as they are. This is delicious enough. Second you put some topping and eat it. This is what I like the best. Third you put some topping and pour the soup (the one that's behind the big bowl) on top of it, making it look like a porridge. This is also very good. And you can enjoy the last servings just as you like.

You can enjoy eel like this in Nagoya. The restaurant I go is the most famous one, I think. The name is Atsuta Horaiken. (I wonder who need this info but anyway)

It is a luxury for Japanese to eat eel. Well at least for me it is. Since I am unemployed and have no money, my friend was kind enough to buy me the lunch. YAY!

Phone interview coming up later this week. Research, research, research......