Unagi Sakuraya

Mishima's eel reputation rests on its spring water, which the shop describes as Fuji snowmelt filtered through lava laid down about ten thousand years ago. Sakuraya keeps each eel in that cold water for three to four days before it reaches the grill, and the shop says this clears the muddy taste and firms the flesh. It has cooked eel on the same corner by Mishima-Hirokoji station since Ansei 3, the year 1856. The jubako box with one eel costs ¥5,500 and the two-eel box ¥9,900.

Seating runs to about a hundred, mostly on tatami, and the shop closes when the day's eel is gone. Plan a late-morning arrival from Mishima station, a ten-minute walk. Between 15:30 and 17:00 the kitchen may pause to prepare, so phone before an afternoon visit.