We stumbled upon to this one. Well, you know that a place is good if there is a line outside. We chose this one since there were only five groups waiting outside. I thought that this was a manageable number, we were really hungry. As group by group preceding us went into the shop, my mouth started to water. Finally, we were the next ones to be seated, so we thought. My stomach churned in anticipation. A group came out of the shop which meant that we were the next ones in. We were pretty stoked................., We opened the door to see............. the people immediately in front of us were sitting down on benches that lined the corner of the shop near the entry. We saw the same five groups in line behind two more, now seated on benches.
In Japan, good restaurants are marked by long waits in line. This place had to be good.
As we waited inside, a older man dining with a younger man in a Happi Coat (probably working at the festival) caught our eye. We saw them get their set meal of unagi, which made us even hungrier. Little did we know that this pair would irritate us to no end during our wait. The man enjoyed his unagi taking one bite, having a beer and talking to his younger dining buddy for a few minutes, have a sip of beer. This repeated itelf about five times. The younger man finished his meal. The older man, was half way done. To our irritation, he had a lot to talk about. We became frustrated as he at we realized that this local man was pre-occupied with talking story rather than eating. Five groups served after them finished their meals before the man finished his bottle of beer, he was not done with his meal. He ordered another bottle. Our hunger burned through our bellies as we continued to watch the old man eat and the younger man listened.....
In total, we waited one hour and fifteen minutes. The duo was still dining when we got seated.
The interior was wood. There is a raised tatami area seating four groups and tables.
Unajyu consists of a kabayaki over rice. Kabayaki is broiled eel basted with a tare (shoyu based sauce).
In venerable specialty shops such as this, it is normal to wait half an hour for your meal. The unagi is prepared to order. The unagi is kept alive until an order is received. The chef fillets the live eel, then cooks the prepare eel on a hibachi to seal the juices.
The result is a juicy, flavorful unagi that is basted in the perfect complement, a subtly sweet sauce.
The set came with an Unajyu, Oshinko and Kimosui (A clear broth made with the intestine of the unagi).
Ogawakiku is located in Downtown Kawagoe.
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