Ota, Gunma, Japan｜かわとみ 上州太田焼きそばのれん会

The place is famous for its "Natsu No Kabayaki" made out of Eggplant that resembles Unagi (Eel). Of course honestly, the taste didn't taste like a real unagi, but the presentation was close^^ . Please be aware that this is not a vegetarian Unagi since they used chicken under the eggplant. The store was on national TV for its uniqueness! The place however is so far from the closes station. It takes 25 minutes by foot ( there was no taxi or bus around when I was there). If you lived in Gunma or have a car, it will be more preferable. If you like Unagi like me and curious about it, I would say give it a try. They also sell it in bento in some stores in Gunma( check the websites). However, those stores are also located pretty far from the closes station! So since this is the main store, I would recommend to go here if you wanna try! The service from the old ladies were very chilled, like they are very cool. The toilet was surprisingly clean too (western style toilet with buttons ). Overall, it was an interesting experience. But because of the distance, if you don't have a car, it is hard to recommend this place. Unless you like walking like me. Also noted: the train that goes to the closes station comes every once in one hour.

The eggplant kabayaki juju was very soft and the sweet sauce was the best. I also like that it is served with sansho pepper so you can add the sauce to your liking. It was also great that there was chicken underneath the eggplant. I also had Ota Yakisoba and it was great, so I took out two Ota Yakisoba.

“Eggplant kabayaki ju” that I wanted to eat as a topic of conversation for a long time. I couldn't come because I couldn't eat in due to the new corona measures, but I was finally able to come. It's complete when you wait while enjoying conversation with the friendly shopkeeper! Yeah, it looks just like Unaju from a distance (laughs). Sprinkling Japanese pepper makes it even more like that. When I took a bite, I thought, "Yes, this is an eggplant! 🍆" But don't worry. Yakitori and seaweed are spread all over the bottom of the eggplant. The yakitori is cooked just right, so it's not hard and delicious. It comes with miso soup and costs 1,000 yen excluding tax, so it might be more cost-effective than Gunma's specialty, “Nobori Taira no Torimeshi.” It was delicious until the end (^_^)v