- When people think about seafood in Japan,
more often than not they think about sushi, but not me.
Whenever I leave Japan what I crave the most
is without a doubt unagi.
(lively hip hop music)
So please imagine my excitement
now that we have traveled down to what I am calling
the unagi capital of Japan, Nagoya.
- If you ask anybody living in Japan
where the best eel is,
they're absolutely gonna say Nagoya.
And it's literally an hour and a half away by train.
Every time we've come to Nagoya
we've actually had Una Dong
and we've smashed their specialty Hitsumabushi.
- Hitsumabushi! - And we've just never
ever shared it with you guys.
- We're gonna do this professionally
because we're professionals-- - Yes, calm.
- And I'm gonna contain my excitement as much as I can.
(lively techno music)
(lively upbeat music)
- Okay, we just left Nagoya station
and we're headed to a fishmonger called Nakasho
and they've been in the business for over 90 years;
which is a crazy amount of time to be mongering things.
And the question we have,
the very professional foodie question we have
is can you monger other things?
Like can you be a octopus monger?
- Is there an apple monger?
- A berry monger? - How do I start
monging things? - Money monger.
- Like what does it mean to mong?
- To monger-- - Have I ever monged
anything in my life?
- Can now I mong?
These are the important questions, we'll contemplate them.
(peaceful techno music)
- My name is Higashl. (speaking in foreign language)
- Wow. - That's a big boy.
- Oh my gosh, wow. - Big boy.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Okay, are these the blue ones?
- The blue ones are the good ones.
(muffled talking)
- Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Oh totally, moshi moshi, I got it, yeah.
(peaceful techno music)
(loud water splashing)
(speaking in foreign language)
(peaceful techno music)
- I'm feeling very happy.
We right now are at Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa.
And that's a very hard word for me to remember, but I did it
because, unagi. - Unagi.
10 points to Gryffindor if anybody knows what that's from.
Speaking of which, don't I look so Gryffindorian today?
- You look like a very stern teacher.
- I'm here to learn and teach
and to spread the word of unagi.
- I feel like a little intimidated,
like you're gonna walk around with like a ruler stick
and I'm gonna get smacked if I get a fact incorrectly.
- Well, I mean that could happen,
I could just start eating your unagi instead.
- I don't have to worry about it because I know so much
about unagi now.
I am the one that is hyper informed.
- Okay, let me hear about this.
- I read Kafka on the Shore.
I don't remember that much about it,
except for three things. - Okay.
- One, Johnny Walker kills a lot of cats.
- Okay. - Two, they have to flip
a really heavy stone. - Okay.
- And number three, the main character really likes to eat
unagi once a month as a treat.
And that part resonated with me so much.
- 'Cause you wanted to have it once a month as a treat?
- The rest of the plot, I don't know what happens,
how it ends, I don't remember.
But the unagi I remember.
- Excuse me, I thought I was suppose to be learning
facts about unagi but all I'm learning is that--
- Cultural references, cultural references.
- Okay. - So this is the culture
first, you'll get the facts next.
Unagi facts. - Yes, you remember
at the beginning I was talking about,
can you say it for me?
- Hitsumabushi. - It feels different
when you say it somehow.
- It's not hitsayobushi, it's Hitsumabushi.
- So hitsumabushi is Nagoya's jam.
And basically instead of just serving the eel
on top of the rice with the sauce
and just like eating that,
they serve it with all the little sides parts,
so you can kind of enjoy it in four different ways;
which I really like because sometimes we talk about
how we get a little bit the same thing
over and over again.
- For real, it's exciting
because when you get, in Tokyo, eel,
then it'll just be sauce and rice, eat it.
When you're halfway through, you still know
what the rest of the meal is gonna taste like,
but here they keep on changing things up
and keeping you so excited, like I am, for all the eel.
Unagi fact, another thing that makes Nagoya style unagi
unique is that they don't steam it before grilling.
Usually in Tokyo, they will steam it first
and then finish it on the grill, not here,
straight up grill, just like a pro.
Not that you're not a pro in Tokyo,
but this is...
- I'm gonna let you keep circling your way out of this.
The other thing that I find exciting
is that every place has their own tare, their own sauce.
The kind of way they go for yakitori
and we have different sauce or salt to choose from,
it's never the same in every place,
there is like a huge ginormous vat of sauce back there
that's just kind of like gathering flavor
and getting more delicious
as time goes on. - Oh my gosh.
(lively funk music)
It smells delicious.
I gotta laugh.
One person laughed at my joke,
one person laughed at my joke.
I have a feeling I'm gonna be scolded by the teacher
for talking too much in class.
Pick me, I have so much more to say.
(smooth jazz techno music)
Oh baby, I'm so ready.
(speaking in foreign language)
Wow. - Yes, yeah.
- This is amazing. (speaking in foreign language)
- You know what we have to do, right?
- Oh please. - We have to hold back.
And we have to take 1,000 sexy food porn shots of this.
Brace yourself Simon, no bad Simon.
(smooth jazz funk techno music)
- Oh my gosh, what a beautiful beautiful bowl.
(speaking in foreign language)
So there's a specific way you're suppose to eat this.
You're suppose to divide it into four.
The first time, you're just suppose to try it on it's own
to see what it tastes like.
So you're gonna use your little tiny wooden paddle
to kinda scoop out a little bit of it.
And then the second time around
is when you can kinda start changing the flavor
a little bit, but we're gonna get there.
First, we're just gonna try it in its purest form.
- Just try it in its pure form.
(peaceful classic music)
It's my favorite seafood in the world.
- It's so so fluffy and nothing about this is fishy.
I think that can be intimidating for people
because they feel like it's a type
of an ocean taste, it's not.
- No, this is the meatiest seafood.
It tastes more like meat than it does like seafood.
- It does for sure.
- It's so soft, it's got a little bit of crisp on it,
kinda like a really good crispy chicken wing.
- I think Nagoya has gt that down
because they've got the crispy chicken wing jam
and they know how to keep it moist on the inside
and crispy on the outside.
That's the real tough part
because eel is such a thin piece of meat once you filet it.
Once you start grilling it on that high heat,
you could just use up all the fat,
crisp it up and it could be nothing.
But wow, its just got such a nice color to it.
How do you feel about the tare as well?
- It's not over powering.
- And not too sweet, right?
- Yeah, that's exactly it.
You go to some places and it's just so very very sweet
and kind of like the stickiness of the crunch
kind of makes it taste like candy a bit.
This does not have that, just so savory.
And light, and so light.
Like I'm just like, oops, I've already finished
and you're behind me, oopsie.
My gosh Simon, you're moving so slowly,
it's like you don't even like eel.
It really seems to me like if you continue this way,
I'll just have to eat both of our meals.
(loud bell ringing)
- Round two. - Round two.
I'll be honest I put some wasabi on
and then I lost it somewhere so we're gonna go for it.
- You're gonna get a wasabi bomb.
So for the second dish,
first time you're suppose to have it pure.
Second time, this is where you could add the toppings
like the wasabi and the seaweed and the green onion.
It doesn't need it,
but it just gives you a little bit of variety
if you want some.
- I mean if you think about it,
it's not like you can go to a place in North America,
order a hamburger and ask for it four different ways,
it's pretty unique, right.
- That is a very good analogy,
unless you get four different burgers.
- I actually think the seaweed is incredibly mashing
with this right now.
The toasted nuttiness of the nori on the outside,
it's actually mega-enhancing all the flavors
of the eel right now.
- I do feel like this is a very different bowl now.
Before, I tasted a lot more of the smoke and the char.
Here, I have so many more things popping around.
- I felt like the sweetness was nearly muted.
The green onions and a little tiny kick of the wasabi;
which you could barely taste by the way, it wasn't hot.
- No. - And then for me,
like I said, I feel like the nori was the winner.
It just made all the crispy edges kinda pop out
and taste more nutty.
Like when you have that kind of crispy nut flavor
rather than having like a sweet
saucy flavor. - Exactly.
- Oh my gosh, and we still have a third way to try it.
And then we have whatever way we want after that.
- We're not even halfway done.
- I know, are you happy with our journey to Nagoya?
For you to be trying your most favorite thing ever?
- I'm happy with my journey to Japan,
with my journey in life.
- Oh, I know what's happening right now.
We all know what's happening right now.
So many times you can question yourself.
Have I made the right choices in life?
Have I, should I have done this?
- Continue on. - Should I have done that?
But when you have something this good,
then you realize every one of your memories is footsteps
leading up to here, realize you've done the right thing.
Please, don't you.
(loud duck quacking) (dramatic music)
- Keep talking. - This is what is called
love and tolerance.
Love is patient, love is kind.
- I don't think he wanted to give this to me,
if I'm being honest right now.
- No, but I've tolerated it.
(dramatic music)
(melodic humming)
- Why does food taste better
when you take it from someone else's plate?
- I don't know, let me try. - No.
(peaceful techno music)
(loud bell clanging)
Round three, eat, we're going of the last stage;
where you do the same thing
with a little bit of green onions,
a little bit of wasabi, a little bit of the nori.
And then you have this little tiny teapot here
and inside of it is their own house dashi;
which is just Japanese soup stock,
which we've talked about before.
We're gonna pour that on top
with everything else inside of it
and kind of mix it up a little bit
and you're eating it almost like an eel stew.
- Oh, let's see how this one is.
(peaceful techno music)
Oh my God.
- I feel like that's made to mix all the flavors
together in the end.
Because you have that soup stock feeling
that kind of absorbs into the rice.
The rice has already got the tare on it,
got that salt flavor left over from the eel.
Almost becomes like a noodle,
the rice tastes so flavorful, right?
- I'm speechless, I'm just...
- Are you in a moment right now?
- I'm in a moment. - Yeah.
- All of this, which is delightful,
delightful moment with the dashi.
You now feel the whole dish at the back of your tongue,
a savory bomb of delicious meaty fish.
(dramatic music) (hearty laughing)
I'm starting to functionally shutdown here.
This is the biggest piece of eel
that I've ever had at a restaurant.
I think that's the specialty of this place.
God damn, I'm full, but momma didn't raise no quitter.
- That's right. - I will eat all of this.
And eat all of yours and I will eat all of the szechuan.
- Okay, well I can eat mine,
so don't worry about me,
you can leave me alone, it will be fine.
(loud bell ringing)
We've reached the last phase of our eating experience,
it's quite sad actually.
You're going through it bit by bit
and you're thinking to yourself,
wow it's coming to an end,
and I didn't think I would be able to eat this much food,
but I am slowing down here on purpose
because I want it to last a little bit longer.
- For real, I'm amazed
that you've been eating all your food.
And you actually stole a piece off of me as well.
- What? - It's that good.
I'm appreciating this a lot more
after going to the fishmonger
because it's almost like a farm to table experience.
We see where the eel is coming from,
you learn so much about how it's all done and you come here
and you get such a better appreciation of it.
If you are an unagi fan like I am,
you have to come to Nagoya and try this out
'cause this is a beautiful food experience.
(peaceful techno music)
- The traditional walk.
So I take it you're happy?
♪ Unagi, unagi, unagi, unagi. ♪
Thank you so much today for watching this video.
They want you guys to come out and visit Nagoya in general,
it's not just about these particular shops
although we recommend that it's gonna be an easy win
if you come here.
But I feel like we've learned a lot more about eel
even though we loved it to begin with.
- Right? - We didn't really know
so much nitty-gritty.
If you guys want to come visit Nagoya
and you want to check out all the delicious things
they have to offer, check out the info box,
we have some helpful links that might help you
with booking a hotel or traveling up here.
I think I just need to be carried away.
I feel so full.
- Do they do take away, just something?
- How, how can you take it away?
- This experience can't be over.
- It has to be.
- It can't be over.
I feel like a kid being kicked out of Disneyland.
- Okay, unagi ice cream?
♪ Unagi, unagi. ♪ They have some over here.
♪ Unagi, unagi, unagi, unagi ♪
- [Simone] That's a real song from a supermarket I go to.
Anyhow, if you want to see more,
click on the bloopers right here.
Or if you want to find out about Nagoya's chicken wings,
they are amazing from Yamachan,
click on the video right here, it's so good.