Unagi Tokitou

Unagi Tokitou (うなぎ時任)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Unagi / 📍 Azabu-Juban

📓 Visits: 4 (2020-2021)

 

The difference in taste between excellent and ordinary unagi is like the difference between excellent and ordinary sushi.  It's very difficult to enjoy ordinary unagi when you've had the best, especially when you're still paying several thousand yen for it.  Getting good unagi in Tokyo can be something of a mission.  The top-ranked unagi restaurants Kabuto  and Tsugumi-an  are indeed great but reservations are difficult to get and the course menu is a very rich, long and expensive meal.  I once went to Kabuto and sat next to someone who just ordered unajyu and had sit through the entire course until the kabayaki was served to everyone at the end.  (I felt so sorry for her I shared some of my food with her.)  If you don't want to eat a course then Uomasa is probably the best for unajyu, kabayaki, shirayaki and tennen but it's expensive, you need reservations usually well in-advance and it's a little way out from the centre of Tokyo.  You'll be kept waiting there too: the eels are kept live until you place your order meaning it's a minimum wait of 45 minutes.  On my only visit to Uomasa I arrived an hour before my booking but despite the fact the restaurant was already open and the waitress said I could still come in I was kept waiting for at least an hour and a half before I was served.  Obana is one of the other more famous unagi restaurants in Japan.  Obana doesn't take reservations and they too don't prepare anything until you order.  I have a 'fond' memory of my early days in Tokyo of queuing up there in the boiling summer heat for 2 hours and then having to wait another 45 minutes once I was in for them to dispatch and cook the eel.

Unagi Tokitou is currently the fourth-highest ranked unagi restaurant in Tokyo (behind Kabuto, Tsugumi-an and Uomasa).  Tokitou's USP is course menus of creative unagi dishes but they also do unajyu for JPY 6,000 at lunch and on both my visits that's what I had.  The restaurant is conveniently located in Azabu-Juban.  Bookings are taken for the same day and the waitress speaks a few words of English.  The restaurant was very warm in winter, especially when sitting directly in front of the charcoal grill.  The big thing that sets apart Tokitou from the other unagi restaurants I've mentioned is that chef pre-cooks the unagi so it's only 15 minutes wait from when you sit down.

In my opinion the unajyu at Tokitou is excellent: the skin falls apart, you can taste the charcoal flavour and the sauce is not too sweet.  Kimosu is included in your meal and with a serving of an entire 300g eel you'll be full for a while.  You can't order a portion of shirayaki unless you go for the course menu.  This is a little disappointing but the unajyu is filling enough anyway that you don't really need it and not being able to order it keeps the cost of the meal down.

Prices went up a little earlier this year but right now, while restaurants are being asked to close by 8pm, there's a time-limited offer of unajyu for take-out for just JPY 4,500 when you bring your own container, a whopping 25% off the eat-in price.

It may not be the very best but Tokitou is the most convenient choice for superior unajyu in Tokyo.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130702/13224663/ 

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0

📱 Booking: 🟩 Same-day or advance bookings taken via Tabelog or phone.  Advance bookings via TableCheck.  Take-out same-day or in advance via phone.  Update July 2022: you can only book courses via Tabelog or TableCheck now so you'll need to phone to reserve a seat for unajyu.  Walk-ins are possible and the smallest unajyu, served at lunch only, for JPY 2,800 cannot be reserved.

📍 Location:

2F AZABUMAISON201, 2-5-11 Azabu-Juban.  2 mins from South Exit 2 of Azabu-Juban station, Oedo Line - head for Exit 7 then bear left and go through the car park building; or 5 mins from Azabu-Juban station Exit 4, Namboku line.  2F multi-tenant building.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit June 2021 (take-out)

💴 Damage: 4,500

📅 Visit May 2021 (take-out)

💴 Damage: 4,500

📅 Visit January 2021

💴 Damage: 5,400
⏱️ Time taken: 30m

📅 Visit November 2020

💴 Damage: 5,400
⏱️ Time taken: 30m