When I met my friends in Nagoya, Japan’s 4th populated city, located in the central part of Japan, they took me to the popular Japanese restaurant called ATSUTA HORAIKEN あつた蓬莱軒 opened in 1873, which specialized in Unagi freshwater eels.
Unagi eels are one of the most popular foods in Japan. There are a few ways to be served. Unagi eel sushi, Unadon or sliced eels placed on cooked rice are my fav items. In the Nagoya region, they eat eels in their own style, which I found it so interesting. It is called Hitsumabushi ひつまぶし which is a local delight in Nagoya.
Of course you can eat it as you like. But I want to introduce how the Japanese eat this. there are 3 ways to enjoy this meal. Let me show you the Japanese way to eat eels in Nagoya style, HITSUMABUSHI!
Use the paddle to divide the rice into 4 servings.
First: Please enjoy the original taste of grilled eels. When you are eating it, it draws in air laden with the savory smell of the charcoal grilled eels. I loved it.
Second: Add finely chopped Welsh onions and dried seaweed served as condiments on the second serving, which I found it interesting as you can see the subtle difference from the first serving.
Third: Pour the clear soup from the lacquered small flask over the rice after adding a bit of Wasabi horseradish. This is my favorite serving to eat Hitsumabushi. Lastly: Enjoy your last serving in your favorite style.
I was so happy to have a great meal in Nagoya! Satisfied 
Believe it or not, we waited for 150mins to have this meal. We had to spend our time at Atsuta shrine, which was a good sight seeing spot. ATSUTA HORAIKEN has been very popular for the Japanese people. We started to have lunch around 3pm. But I can tell you that it was worth waiting to have a local delight in Nagoya.
We left the restaurant around 4pm. There was still a long queue to wait for a meal at this restaurant, which is really unbelievable.
I don’t want to see the longer queue when I visit next time, but this place was one of the best eels served in the Nagoya style.
★★★★★ ATSUTA HORAIKEN あつた蓬莱軒 7 mins walk from EXIT4, Tenmacho (伝馬町) station. Operation Hour: 11:30am – 2pm, 4:30pm-8pm Closed on regular Mon. 3100yen for a regular set meal. Address: 503 Kanbecho, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya city.
http://www.houraiken.com/ (Japanese only)
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