Roasted Eel on Steamed Rice (Unagi Donburi)

Posted August 2nd, 2008 in Food 2 Comments »

Here is another easy Japanese meal tip:)

Donburi means “food arranged on steamed rice”.  The bowl which is used for this style of serving is also called Donburi. (or Donburi bowl)

Some people don’t unagi (eel)  as they look like snakes:p  But it tastes really delicious!

In Japan unagi is quite expensive, especially the natural ones.  The unagi which was grown in a fishery and raised by humans are much less expensive.

Hamana Lake (Hamana-Ko) in Shizuoka prefecture is one of the famous place for unagi.  You can enjoy the fresh, natural unagi for quite reasonable price.  If you want to eat fresh natural unagi elsewhere in Japan you will have to pay more than 10000 yen per head!  … expensive :p  but that’s the price range for unagi.

In Perth you can only get frozen unagi (cooked and vacuum-packed) from Asian grocery shop.  All the Japanese restaurant in Perth (to my knowledge) uses those frozen, vacuum-packed ones for their menu anyway, so why not just buy those from a shop and enjoy the unagi at home!  It costs much much cheaper 🙂

What you need to do is just heat up defrosted unagi in a microwave or hot water, and arrange on steamed rice.  Garnish with takuwan (yellow coloured radish pickles) and nori (seaweed) if you like.

Then you can enjoy Unagi Donburi!  How easy is it!!  Itadakimasu.


2 Comments on “Roasted Eel on Steamed Rice (Unagi Donburi)”

  1. 1 Kitty said at 8:34 pm on March 17th, 2010:

    Hey there! Could you tell me where you get your unagi from in Perth? I usually buy mine at Nippon Fare (I think that is the name – the Japanese grocery shop at Crossways Subi) but would like to know where else you can get unagi in Perth.

    The other thing I have been searching for is uni. Do you know where I can get some? I used to buy it from the food court fish shop at David Jones, but they have since closed 🙁

    Also, have you got any recommendation for good authentic Japanese restaurants in Perth which you go to? I have been going to Zen in Subiaco for many years as they seem to be the most authentic.

    Thanks and regards, Kitty

  2. 2 umepontarou said at 9:24 pm on March 17th, 2010:

    Hi Kitty,

    Nowadays you can buy unagi at many shops, including Maruyu (Barrack St. Perth), Super Fuji (Vic Park), Nippon Food (Subiaco & Freo), and other Asian grocery shops such as Emma’s Seafood, Lion Oriental, Yee Seng etc.

    I don’t know about uni (sea urchin)… sorry (><) I guess some seafood shops may sell. Zen is nice, I think. Other places I can recommend are: Sado Island (Claremont), Jun (Perth), Toraya Sushi (Subiaco), Nao (Perth) ... Hope it helps 🙂


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