The other evening my wife and I went out to celebrate a birthday. Nothing too fancy this time, just unagi at a well known place in Kanda, Kikukawa. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, which isn’t usually a problem. Unless, that is, you want to eat the extra-large serving of unagi, which tends to sell out early.
The place being close, and the weather dry but with rain forecast for later in the evening, we rode our bikes over, arriving just after 5:00. As I pulled up to the restaurant I saw a badly injured karasu (Japanese raven) in the street at the corner, the bird’s body twisted with only a slight bit of movement of its head and beak. Poor guy, I thought, as I like birds, including karasu as well as American ravens, both of which are quite intelligent. They can also be very loyal, especially to their family. This was obviously true for the injured bird and two others that were nearby, cawing loudly in pain for their injured buddy. Just as my wife pulled up on her bike one of the birds swooped down from behind, barely missing her head. My wife didn’t notice that near attack, but did a few seconds when the same bird came in from the front, barely making contact with my wife’s head despite her ducking.
After that we locked up our bikes and asked about the extra-large portion, which happened to already be gone. We were led upstairs to a dining room, the window open so we could hear the poor birds outside. After a pedestrian was hit in the head, the restaurant managers were concerned enough that they called the police who after quickly arriving, really had no idea of what to do. A few minutes later, when I looked out the window, the by then dead bird and the cops were gone, and all was back to normal. We had no idea what had happened to the bird, but it was likely hit by a car while swooping down for something to eat.
Kikukawa opened back in 1946 and still retains a lot of the Showa-period atmosphere, updated a bit to accommodate corona procedures. They do take-out from the first floor, something they have been doing for many years, not just recently. As for our meal, it was great. After ordering a beer and a small bottle of sake we started ordering some appetizers, beginning with unagi ham (my first time—it is steamed unagi rolled and then sliced, served with wasabi), then unagi kimo (liver), quite a few packed onto one skewer each, then shiroyaki unagi in ponzu, which was delicious. Since it would take another twenty-minutes for our main unagi to be prepared, we ordered one unajū (lacquer box of grilled unagi over rice, all covered in a sweet tare sauce) and to tide us over until it was served, pickled cabbage and a small serving of hotaru-ika in a shōyu sauce. I wanted to try the unamaki (omelet rolled around unagi) but it would have taken just as long as the main course, which would kind of defeat the purpose (killing time).
It turned out we ordered just the right amount of food. We ate everything, but could not have eaten anything more. Not until some birthday cake at home a few hours later. As for the price? My wife asked me to guess, and I said ¥10,000. I was close: it was ¥9,740. A great deal, in my opinion! And with an interesting story to remember as well.
http://www.kanda-kikukawa.co.jp/
Tokyo, Chioda-ku, Kanda Sudachō 1-24-2