Name: Matsuda Unagi-ya
Address: 1343 Horaimachi, Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto 868-0011, Japan, Hitoyoshi
Telephone: +81-966-35-7877
Rating: 3.5

Matsuda Unagi-ya

Hitoyoshi City in Kumamoto Prefecture is a castle town with a history of 700 years. Its small shops are also full of stories. Uemura Unagiya is a century-old shop for eel dishes. It has an ancient townhouse layout. Most of the diners are locals. The signature dish is the braised eel rice. The outstanding part is that it uses live eels from Japan. You can&#39;t miss the eel stew and eel liver soup. The century-old shop is not in vain.

Sophie&#39;s Japan Kyushu Travel | Hitoyoshi Eel Rice

In order to take a unique sightseeing train, I took the Emerald Mountain Emerald Train from Kumamoto to the terminal station Hitoyoshi.

This is a small town that can&#39;t be more niche. After getting off the train, I went straight to the recommended century-old shop No. 1, Uemura Unagiya (eel). After walking for 15 minutes, there were basically no pedestrians on the road. It was a bit scary. According to the navigation, I came to the door of a small shop. I pushed the door and realized that everyone had come to the Eel House for lunch.

Although the storefront is small, it is quite big inside. There are small tables outside and several large private rooms inside. The decoration is super old, tatami, library, and cast iron kettles hanging on the charcoal pile, revealing the ancient Japanese culture.

The key point is the eel rice. The Japanese wild eel is grilled on charcoal fire. Of course, it is amazing. Even the rice and charcoal are emphasized to be used from the nearby Kuma area. They have been focusing on making a bowl of eel rice for 100 years. It took about 15 minutes to get to the table. The cheapest dish was a medium-sized bowl of eel rice, which had 3 pieces of eel without soup and cost 1,900 yen. The portion was enough for a girl. The eel skin was roasted to be extremely crispy and fragrant, and the inside was fresh and chewy because it was a live eel. It was soft and juicy, and the fine bones were basically cleaned. I couldn&#39;t stop eating one piece after another. The white rice was dipped in eel sauce, and the texture was soft and melted with a light bite. It was rare to eat such soft rice. There was also a bowl of eel liver clear soup, which was expensive but must be tried. It was my favorite among the dozens of eel rice I have eaten so far.

Matsuda Unagi-ya

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