Iiyama, Nagano, Japan｜Honda

Visiting from Australia in Nagano region and I decided to do cycling around Iiyama-city. The staff at Iiyama station recommended Honda as a very popular restaurant for Unagi (smoked eel), so I stopped by Honda for a late lunch at 1pm (which was less busy and had less diners at the time). I wasn't too hungry so I only ordered Aoi (1 portion) - the lovely illustrated menu would tell you the differences of the portions, how the shop prepared the eel and homemade seasonal pickles, and how the rice was sourced directly from local farmers at the nearby Kijimadaira village. The eel was perfectly smoked and charred on the outside while very soft tender in the inside. Beautiful side of homemade seasonal pickles. But I think the rice and the sauce were such perfect match, even better and more delicious than the eel itself!!!! While it was slightly on the pricey end, it was truly a farm-to-table experience and I would definitely recommend or visit again - thank you.

Came here for lunch as Honda is known to have the best Unagi-don in Iiyama and I wanted to try it out! There is a wide variety of choices on the menu ( not only unagi-dons ) and they have many different size options ( whole eel, 1/2 eel etc. ) which I thought was really cool. The service was great and the restaurant had a really nice ambiance! The unagi took awhile to come but I did not mind although I wish the unagi had more flavour, still yummy though! They have both an English and Japanese menu which is helpful for those who are unable to read Japanese and the menu also includes information on how to eat the Unagi!

Heat unagi, eel, ever!!! If you go there for skiing or snowboarding, this is the place to be before you go. It will be crowded in the lunch time, so avoid it for an hour or so.