My quest for the best Unagi in Singapore continues with a stop at Unazen, located in B1 of the Takashimaya Shopping Centre. It opened a while ago - October of 2021. Haven't had the chance to try it yet.
After making the reservation, I looked at some of the reviews on Google and blogs, and boy, this restaurant gets bad reviews!
Knowing the price of the Unagi in this restaurant, I was pretty shocked!
Having low reviews on a high-end restaurant isn't a great strategy!
While I understand that 30% of reviews are fake (by employees or competitors), I was still quite surprised.
Spoiler alert; I didn't think it deserves such bad reviews. Quality-wise, it was actually pretty good. Let's dive into it.
So here we go for dinner for two on a lovely weekday night.
Unazen at Takashimaya Shopping Centre
Address: 391 Orchard Rd, #B2-33 Takashimaya Shopping Centre 238872
Web: https://www.facebook.com/Unazensg
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Yd7VfYcGFxhjmAmp7
It's a small restaurant next to Tampopo. It seems like they are under the same group. However, they target an entirely different price range than their sister restaurant.
The entrance looks almost like a hidden secret hideout.
It's a small but relaxed restaurant inside. Very clean and not too crowded. I suppose it would be quiet as well, but unfortunately, a baby girl was screaming and crying at the top of her lungs, which was tough to bear.
It was going on and on, and the parents weren't doing much about it. We couldn't even talk because it was so loud. We had to wait until they left. Fortunately, they left before our meal was served. That was an unfortunate collision with an inconsiderate customer.
Anyways, here's the menu.
Sorry for the glare on the photos.
Unagi Kabayaki: SGD $50.80 ++
Unagi Hitsumabushi: $55.80 ++
Overall, you can see the prices are pretty high. Much higher than other high-end unagi restaurants.
There's a notable mention in the menu. It might be a little challenging to read from the picture, but it says that Unazen uses "Shinko" Unagi for their Unagis.
If that is the case, it would explain the price difference.
What is a Shinko Unagi?
Let me go into this briefly, but it's a special Unagi that is meaty, tender, and yet with thin bones. In short, it's a delicious but expensive Unagi.
So, here's how it's produced.
99% of eels are bred. You rarely catch natural eels in rivers for eating Unagi these days. These Shinko Unagis are also created during the breeding process.
Since Unagis are such delicate animals, breeders take special care when they grow them. Each batch of eels will have weak specimens and strong specimens. This is how nature works.
Unagis are vicious animals fighting for food even as they are bred inside these artificial environments. When the strong and weak are mixed together, the strong start to overpower the weak, and the weak specimens begin to die.
To avoid this, the farmers will periodically re-group the eels based on their size to bring balance to each water tank.
After several rounds of re-grouping, happening across several months, the premier group will become a cluster of exceptionally large Unagis.
This is essentially the cream of the crop. The Unagis in this group are called the "Shinko" Unagi.
While a typical Unagi would require a whole year to reach the eating stage, the Shinko Unagi are ready to eat in less than 1 year.
Since the "Shinko" Unagi are big and strong, the meat is exceptionally tender and delicious. However, since they're still very young, their bones have not developed and are very soft. You don't have to worry about the Unagi dish being bony at all!
So that's what this Shinko Unagi is about.
It's relatively rare to find Shinko Unagi, but they will be expensive if you find them.
It's excellent that Unazen provides Shinko Unagi. But yes, it's undoubtedly reflected in their price.
Another thing about the menu, is that it lacks some of my favorite 'Unagi side dishes'. I'm talking about dishes such as Uzaku, Umaki, or Unakimo.
When I walk into an Unagi restaurant, I like to 'celebrate' Unagi. For me, it looses some of that eventfulness without these side dishes.
Anyways.
As I always do for first-time Unagi restaurants, I went for the Unajyu. (In the menu, it's the Unagi Kabayaki)
As expected, the taste of the Unagi is excellent. The meat of the Unagi is cooked very tenderly.
Some of the high-end Unagi restaurants in Singapore end up burning and hardening the meat. This is because they try to make the skin crispy, but Unazen managed it very well.
As advertised, the bones are thin, and you can enjoy the tenderness of the meat all the way down to its tail. As you would expect in a restaurant of this caliber, there is no fishiness or muddiness in the taste at all.
I think you can tell from the picture that there aren't any visible bones sticking out.
I liked how the sauce wasn't overly applied, so you could enjoy the taste of the eel and the rice.
One of my crucial evaluation points of the Unagi quality is the rice they match it with. The quality of rice at Unazen is outstanding.
I would say that the size of the eel was relatively small.
It could result from using Shinko, but it feels considerably more expensive than other Unagi restaurants compared pound-for-pound.
They provide an Osuimono. This is also a legit one, certainly one of the better ones I've had in Singapore.
The guru rating
For the Unagi
8.5 / 10
I ended up rating this as an 8.5 out of 10. Whenever I rate over "7.5", it would mean that it is in the list of places I recommend if I'm asked about an Unagi restaurant.
So, for this restaurant, if someone is looking for a good quality Unagi and isn't worrying too much about their budget, I think it's an option I would direct that person to.
You can experience the Shinko unagi and see if you can tell the difference or not. That in itself may be worth it.
However, it is expensive compared to other fantastic Unagi restaurants you can find in Singapore. There would be other restaurants that would top my recommendation list. So that's why I gave Unazen an 8.5.
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