It's Eel Season At Japanese Favorite Ito

As a food writer, you always have a list of go-to places up your sleeve. Places that have affordable and delicious dishes made of quality ingredients, chef and staff you trust, and a decent sake list. The kinds of places that when you’re “off duty”, you could bring your friends and family without hesitation. Ito Restaurant at Fangcaodi is such a place.

Walking through the tranquil alley near Parkview Green, you know you are getting close when you see the red lanterns along the tiled wall. If you’ve been to Japan, you might know that Japanese are serious about seasons and seasonal food, such as having the cherry blossom flavored drinks and sweets in spring, and slurping sukiyaki (Japanese-style hot pot) and going to hot springs in winter. Since it’s the season for eel, the revamped menu contains lots of eel dishes, including their deluxe unadon (eel with rice) set, grilled eel, eel cooked in olive oil, as well as salad with crab, futomaki (thick sushi roll), lunch sets (RMB 58 and above).

We started with omelets (RMB 45), which have grilled eel as a filling, and topped with fresh basil leaves. The dish has herbal aromas mixed with rich and sweet flavors from the eel. We like the grilled eel in two way – grilled eel with salt (shirayaki); and grilled eel with special sauce (kabayaki). It's a joy to bite into, starting with the crisp fish skin, then the fat and soft fish meat combined well with the sauce (made of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar) and sansho powder (a Japanese pepper) to cover the fishy flavor, and the homemade pickled ginger is perfect to cleanse the palate.

The king dish here is the eel gomoku gohan (五目ご飯), which is Japanese mixed rice and served in a ceramic tagine pot. Go means five, and gomoku means five items, so gomoku gohan literally means mixed rice with five items. The rice is mixed with needle mushroom, shitake mushroom, carrot, and onion, and seasoned with stock and special sauce, then steamed, topped with a whole eel in kabayaki style. A pot is a big enough portion for six people, and every bite is flavorful and hearty. To finish, you can order their handmade ice cream, which is seasoned with sea salt and sliced almond to give a nutty and slightly savory flavor to balance the sweetness.  

After a recent renovation, there are several private rooms (each has a TV, an air purifier, and air-conditioner), several tables in the other area, and seats around their famous robatayaki (fireside cooking, similar to barbecue). Ito Restaurant is great for its solid dishes, at a spot around the robatayaki bar to eat and drink alone after a back-breaking day, or a joyful group dinner at one of the private rooms.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure

Photos courtesy of Ito Restaurant, Tracy Wang