Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in Yanagawa on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan. This city is famous for its canals and it's famous for its eel or unagi and so today we are gonna spend a day touring the city. We're gonna take a boat ride. We are going to eat at one of the most famous Nagi restaurants that dates back over 300 years ago.

We're gonna have a chance to see some of the cooking as they prepare the eels. Oh, Unagi is one of the great dishes of Japan and I'm gonna share all of the food with you and this entire day in Yanagawa, you're not going to want to miss any of it. It's all coming up right now. Good morning from Fukuoka While we're actually walking to the train station, it was snowing this morning which I think is pretty rare in Fukuoka It's very cold.

We are at the Tenjin train station in Fukuoka. We're going to take the train to Yanagawa today and originally I believe we were supposed to take a car but then they said there might be ice on the road so that's why we're taking the train. We're on our way gonna maybe stop for a quick bowl of noodles for breakfast. We're on the train to Yanagawa.

it's going to be about a 45 minute ride. Everything is just so efficient and so to the mark in Japan Welcome We made it to the city of Yanagawa and Yanagawa is famous for two main things: eating unagi which are eels which I can actually smell it in the air. But it's also famous for its extensive network of canals and so the first thing that we're going to do today is take one of the traditional boats through the canals. Very cool.

We are at the boats now and this is called a Dongon Bune. Oh nice. Oh and they even have have a blanket for you on the boat you sit on the ground. Oh and they have a blanket which I think we're gonna need.

Actually it's really cold outside, but because of this table and there's a heater I think under the table and then the blanket. it's so warm. it's just so so beautiful and so peaceful. And you can just imagine life just hundreds of years ago along the canals.

Thank you! It's so peaceful, so natural. and I bought this warm tea at the train station before coming. So relaxing. He rose by hand, he sings and I mean partly because it's no motor.

That's what makes it so peaceful, so tranquil. And Uncle who is our our captain who was also mentioning that there's over 900 kilometers of canals in Yanagawa going down the canal on the boat. I'm definitely getting a romance of unagi wafting from restaurants on the side. Oh man smells so good.

There's no less than 24 restaurants in Yanagawa serving Unagi I Think that was about a 15-20 minute ride. So peaceful. but my desire to eat unagi eel has never been so high in my life. Oh I can't I can't wait.

foreign The first restaurant that we're going to. It was actually recommended as his favorite from our captain and it's called Fukuryu I know but thank you thank you Hello! This place is just so warm and cozy. Immediately served some green tea and you can choose a number of different sets. I mean everything is Unagi but they have the full size and they have the the half portion small size I Went pretty simple: I Just got the I mean focusing on the unagi with rice in the box and then I think served with some some soup on the side.

But again, this is just the first eel place we're going to uh, like the original place later on this afternoon. This restaurant itself is really beautiful. You can choose a number of different seating areas. They have a main dining room where they have full tables, but then they have Japanese style dining with little private compartments as well as more of an open area on the tatami, the traditional mats with a beautiful Japanese Garden in the center it has arrived.

There are a few things few gifts in the world I'd rather see than a lacquer wooden box full of grilled eel and rice. Okay, here it is. The Aromas are already coming out. Let's reveal the Box oh oh that steam that comes out.

Oh the eel. the sauce, the flavor, the aroma of the smoke. oh that just smells so good, the aroma of the fire on the eel and this technique that they prepare the eel here I know is unique to Yanagawa and to this region of Japan where it's steamed I believe and then it's grilled and then the sweet sauce the rice is below and then they. What's also unique is they serve uh some very chopped very thin egg.

Okay so you have the shaved egg on top and very thin like a extremely thin thin omelette and then the rice appears to be fully coated in the sauce. but this is what we mainly came for. I mean this eel is the star of the show. we have to try that.

just so oily and Rich and fatty and just melts in your mouth. and then you've got the the sauce which has a I mean it's Smoky and it has a bit of a sweet caramelized taste to it as well. just grilled to Perfection I Think what's good also is it's not overcooked. it's really remains really juicy and moist on the inside.

I Gotta combine that with some of the egg, some of the rice and scoop into that that Rice basket. Okay oh all the race is incredible. The rice is so hot and fresh and it's just like fully evenly coated with that sauce which again is sweet and sticky and it's so aromatic, so warming and it really is better when you pair the eel with the rice with each bite because they just blend in your mouth in a Harmony of textures. It's sweet but like a really beautifully balanced sweetness.

sweet and salty and this is from a different side of the eel. I think from the the tail section, all that Rice Okay and then also for the side dishes we have some pickles and I think it's the liver soup. There we go. let's try that pickle side pickle that's really good, just salty and juicy and then that kind of totally changes the flavor of your mouth from that.

Sweet Sticky Rice In Unagi it's very clear, very aromatic. you smell a little bit of a citrusy Aroma to it. Let's try that liver. foreign that is so pure, so clean, has this smokiness with just this hint of citrus and the liver itself is just so silky that melts on your tongue.

Oh that one is a bit more sweet and has a real crunch to it. maybe some type of a radish. Okay back to the Box um the soup is so good. it has this amazing smokiness, the flavor of the eel and then I think maybe that Citrus is Yuzu to just balance it but that combination of citrus and smoke that was delicious.

We still have a lot more to eat and we have another eel place which is the legendary which is one of the original places serving this style of grilled EO and Yanagawa. but before we go there we are going to another place. Ayanagawa is also famous for alien fish. It really is called the Japanese alien fish.

This place is so cool. It's a whole fresh fish market where they have the Fresh Catch from the coast of Yanagawa and then again one of their Specialties is the alien Fishel we've got to try that. We might have to try some other Seafood too. And then they have a little restaurant in the back so if you can order the fish, they slice it up fresh or they prepare the dish of your choice and then you eat it in the back.

Those are the alien fish and it looks like they're kind of like two different types. I mean they almost kind of look like eels. They kind of like wiggle around. very worm-like but they have huge teeth comparable to their body size.

I mean that's something that's famous here on the coast here in Yanagawa. He recommended that Sashimi is the best way to eat alien fish. Okay, so we're in the kitchen now and he's gonna prepare the alien fish. Sashimi There we go.

Yes, thank you. No wonder they call it an alien fish. It has such a unique structure and then also the meat is really red and then so he's just delicately deboning them. We got two.

Well wait, this is for the sashimi and then we're also getting it deep fried which is a way they they recommend it as well. It's not a lot of meat on this fish. It's a little smaller than I expected, but it is quite a unique fish for sure. Alien fish.

okay decorations, decoration. yes that is as fresh as possible. Here we go my first time Japanese Alien fish and this is as fresh as you could possibly get just sliced up to Perfection and just that Precision in which they slice it for sashimi. Sort of just completely pure, but with wasabi here we go.

Such a such a strange and bizarre fish. It's so red and was so bloody like red meat almost I'll taste it first with nothing on it to get the true Taste of the alien. Wow. it's definitely fresh, kind of does have a little bit of a bloody taste to it and it has a bit of a crunch to it.

a unique texture. Wow. that is definitely an otherworldly fish and as you keep on chewing it kind of gets like spongier in your mouth. Okay, this one next this one looked like an eel but with an alien face texture.

so kind of like almost crunchy. And then I mean So Fresh So Clean Tasting Wow. Really good, but definitely a little bit different. and Slightly bizarre.

Okay, we gotta try it with some of the soy sauce And wasabi. Okay, I'm gonna add some of the Wasabi over here. Get my soy sauce. Okay with the soy sauce in wasabi, that kind of tames the the bloody taste to it.

that's what makes it. Oh that combination. and then you hold the wasabi and then and then what comes out is the texture, that amazingly fresh texture and the clean Taste of the fish. Wow, it is actually excellent.

But before moving on to the next dish, you just have to look at this structure. this alien extraterrestrial creature. Look at that head and mouth, the bone structure, the oh the fins. It's so unique.

Okay, let's move on to the fried. Okay for this, you can see how it's just lightly battered and then deep fried. I'll squeeze on some lemon. Oh wow.

Oh the fried version is amazing. That brings out the oily fattiness. At first I thought they were going to be crispy all the way through, but instead it's more moist and juicy on the inside. Oh with a nice salty finish and just a very light batter.

Okay definitely if you are a little squirmish of blood or raw fish, the fried is the way to go. Fried is just like a next level. All those cheeks are so gooey. Come on.

Okay, this one is just fried. crispy all the way through so you can eat the bones and everything. Hmm. deep fried Alien fish.

So tasty. It's really good. Okay I think these are mantis shrimp and just in time the sushi has arrived. but these are really tasty.

I think they're filled with rose so it makes it like when you bite down, it's so creamy on the inside. you could snack on those all day long. and because they have the shell on them I think that makes the flavor more intense. crispy all the way through.

and I Also couldn't resist a Mixed Plate of sushi coming from the Fresh fish that they have here and coming directly from the water from the waters off of Yanagawa. And again, alien fish is something unique and a delicacy here. They also serve you a piece of alien fish Sashimi which will be a first for me. Oh man, this might be an entire alien fish on one bite.

Yeah, I think it is. Oh, check it out. They put the red, the red one on the top and then they put the white ones on the sides. Is that right? Well that's a lot of alien fish in one bite.

Gonna go for a dip. The freshness, the wasabi, the crunch of the alien fish, the vinegar, and the rice. all of that in your mouth at once. that's a Harmony as fresh as possible.

ultimate freshness. This place is so cool! Um and I love when they have all the fresh seafood. They have things in the tank, they slice it up for you and you just sit right here in the back. Family run, great place and the place to come to try the unique alien fish when you're in.

Japan Oh that miso soup is wonderful! Gotta try these little shells too. the box shell. how do you even so this is a another alien looking green shell? Pop them open and you can eat. You can eat that inside of the shell we clam and then you can eat kind of that that foot as well which is crunchy and crispy and leathery.

Oh that's tasty. Very small and just a little. Tasty Bite I Love the flavor of the shiso leaves. like slightly peppery, slightly minty and so refreshing that sea urchin like sweet cream.

The owner here is so free yo I Could Jack come here to eat alien fish? Thank you thank you! Oh that was so cool. We're doing a little bit more walking around and he for the bridge the the captain. he jumped over the bridge, he let the boat pass underneath and then he jumped over and then he jumped back onto the boat. That was acrobatic.

Not quite sure why we decided to have ice cream when it's starting to snow again a little bit. Uh, but we have like 30 minutes between our next meal and there's a lot of ice cream shops here too. Oh that's pretty good and very milky. and I Have heard lots of people say that they love eating ice cream even when it's cold.

Not so sure about myself. I Think that just makes you colder, but yeah, it does taste pretty good. Welcome to the final location. This is going to be a big eel meal and this place is called Ganso Moto Yoshiya.

Beautiful restaurant location. You can immediately feel just how peaceful how just beautiful it is with the leaves with the natural wood with the garden surrounding. So let's go inside and let's eat another eel here in Yanagawa! Okay, this restaurant is absolutely spectacularly beautiful. So on the actual menu it says the restaurant dates back to 1681 and it really originated this style of Nagi preparation which is called Unagino Siromushi where it's steamed first in bamboo basket, steamed and then grilled.

um, and then with the sauce and that's the preparation and hopefully going to be able to see back in the kitchen. But for now, just to enjoy this, this restaurant is spectacularly beautiful. the tatami panels and doors and the Japanese garden outside. It's a spectacularly beautiful restaurant, so it actually says that it's steamed unagino Siromushi prepared by steaming and Acero which is a wooden box and then the fillets of eel are charcoal broiled okay and then on.

On the menu here they have a variety of different uh, eel boxes that you can order, but I went with the huge the ultimate meal that you can get here which is the combination the 8200 Yen combination which includes vinegared eels as well as uh, the ceromushi eels as well as a variety of soups and it's going to be spectacular. So it's a true honor to be in the grill room where they are making the eels with the eel master and it's grilling over a bed of charcoal and it just girls it so methodically, so precisely, keeping accurate account for every piece of heel and kind of like flipping them over and then also taking out, deboning them at the same time. I Mean is a true a true art here? Once that eels are drilled to a certain point is when he flips them over and then he dunks them into the big pan of sauce which is their secret blend of sauce mixture that gets a full dunk and then he kind of like shakes off the excess and it goes back onto the grill so that sauce caramelizes onto the eel and you can really start to hear the fire hiss at that point. Then he flips them over a few more times from what I See, they dunk it again, then back onto the grill.

that slow process letting that that sauce just cake onto the eels and caramelize on. and then at the precise moment they get one final re-dip and into the pan they're done, they're ready to be combined with the rice and steamed in the Box. But what a What a dedication. What a focus! Once the eels are finished, you come over to the rice station and the rice is delicious and the rice is mixed with that same eel sauce fully coated in that sauce and it's placed into the wooden box.

It's steamed. I Mean the rice is already cooked, but then it's steamed again to combine with that sauce and to mingle it fully together. Then the eel goes on top of the rice with the egg and the whole box with the grilled eel and the steamed rice is steamed again so that it steams together and all of the Aromas Infuse with each other and that's how it's served to you. That's the special cero Mushi That's the method, the origin from here in Yanagawa.

You have no idea how bad I Want to lick that cutting board. Oh man, the flavors built up on that cutting board must be insane. Wow. and that finishing preparation was just absolutely spectacular.

The Japanese have figured out a way to make things so beautiful, so precise. and just I mean that matters. that truly matters. the decoration, the presentation, and so they get steamed really fast together then into the the more presentable lacquer box.

I've never been so excited to eat all in my life. Let's go back to the table. foreign back from the kitchen. this smells unbelievable.

Oh man, this presentation is so beautiful and so incredibly aromatic. This is something truly special and to be able to see that entire process of How It's Made the Mastery the art, the Precision and that final steaming to just bring the flavors together. And I got the full combination set with three different types of eel. But you have to start with that hot and fresh steamed eel.

So we have to begin with that eel right off the grill and again just the way that it is sticky, glistening, just oh look when you lift up your chapsticks it it has some elasticity to that secret sauce. First we definitely just have to try the eel with nothing else. Oh man look how oily and just soft and tender it is. A restaurant that dates back 300 to 400 years of History Foreign.

Oh wow oh that is just melt in your mouth. The complexity of it the perfect Grill the gooey tenderness, that smokiness and the sauce is like it's not over anything. it's just a perfect harmony that blends into the eel and just absorbed into that eel. and the rice in the that is something like truly balanced and truly perfected.

Okay combination with the rice and with a little bit of that egg maybe? but I gotta scoop into my box for that rice. Oh the rice. look at that steam still so hot underneath there and again it was steamed. um and it was mixed with that same eel sauce and then steamed again with the eel.

with that rice. that makes all the difference that that combination because you have a gooey like melt-in-your-mouth eel. plus the rice that's sticky and again is absorbed with that same sauce but with a different texture and a different feel in your mouth. that together all mingled inside of your your mouth with your taste buds is just happiness.

Wow that is extraordinary. I Have to have another bite immediately before moving on to anything else. I Think something that truly stands out is that the the sauce is just perfectly balanced to the point. Oh yeah I Almost forgot.

Wait, you have to come take a look. There's a piece of eel which he buried in the bottom of mine that was like a secret. a secret piece of eel that's buried in the rice. and that's what they said for the combination special when you get a secret piece of veal at the bottom there which is even steamed more within the rice.

Oh man, it was just scooping down. I Totally forgot about that. That might be the best piece. it's just buried so it even retains more of that Steam and juice and just infused into the rice.

Their sauce. like it's almost like a subconscious sauce. like you really don't know where the sweetness ends and the saltiness starts. It's just like flowing together and yet neither of them is overpowering.

It's not overly sweet, it's not overly salty, it's just like the sticky glaze that makes your mouth happy. Okay, another specialty they have here is the vinegared eel. So I think the eel is just grilled and then it's combined with this vinegar on the bottom of vinegar sauce with egg as well. The eel is gooey and crispy and then you've got the vinegar which is not too acidic but just a good like punch of sourness.

Along with that that richness of the eel that is delicious. Okay and then the final eel. The third type of eel is with Dashi adashi stock and then there's some radish on the top. oh some Wasabi too nice.

Okay let's try this and then you do want to go in there and get some more of that. Dashi again I think it's just grilled and then combined with that Dashi you've got the refreshing factor of that Japanese radish. There's like another totally different flavor. time for a pickle to change the the mouth again all the texture and flavor crunch that's sweet and salty.

And then we have the soup. Okay, the soup. Yes this is the eel liver soup. You can see the that's the piece of liver there, a broth, you smell just some light herbs and spices in there, but this is there's the whole eel ever.

Oh the liver is so incredibly silky that just crumbles on your tongue protection. Hmm. and the broth is just so pure it's a little bit smoky, maybe made with some of the bones as well. It has a smokiness and then just a light like herbal finish to to bring it all together.

That liver is extraordinary. What a bite! Back on over to the eel box that's sticky Rice's sensational. I mean of course of course the eel is the highlight, but even that rice is just sensational. like ultimate comfort food.

We just made it back to the train station after just that was by far the highlight of the day at Moto Yoshiya. I mean they've been making that recipe since 1628. talk about a time proven recipe. but thank you to them for allowing us to see the whole process and to see that art of making Yanagawa style eel steamed with rice.

that was just a sensational meal. And Yanagawa it's really a beautiful place. I Think it would be also incredible to visit during the summer or during the time when the Sakura the cherry blossoms are blooming, but it was really nice in the winter as well. I mean this place is quiet, it's peaceful, people have so much respect and again you come here for the eel and I'll have all the information everywhere that we went in the description box below and I want to say a big thank you also to Kyushu Tourism for arranging this trip and helping with the planning for this trip and we are actually traveling all the way around Kyushu We're going to be eating some of the local Specialties A lot of delicious food that you are not going to want to miss.

so make sure you continue to watch this entire Kyushu Japanese food tour and that's going to be it for today. We're heading back to Fukuoko from here I Want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video? Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below I'd Love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos. Good night from Yanagawa! I'll see you on the next video.

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