Seirin, Hamamatsu

Seirin is a top Japanese restaurant in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, winning Tabelog Gold award almost every year and currently holding a Silver award. While Shizuoka is famous among foodies for Sasue Maeda affiliated restaurants by the Suruga Bay, the metropolitan city of Hamamatsu also has a plethora of top restaurants which I'm curious about.

Seirin is quite interesting, because the kind of cooking they do varies greatly depending on the season. In general, they will become a fugu restaurant in winter, a tempura restaurant in spring, a hamo restaurant in summer, and an unagi restaurant in autumn. However, this summer the hamo catch weren't that good and wild unagi were available earlier than usual, and so I went during the unagi season.

They feature 98% local Shizuoka ingredients, and as you can see, the cooking is very rustic and simplistic, kappo-style cooking rather than a kaiseki meal.

• Umi-unagi shirayaki: This is an unagi that is caught in brackish water near the sea. It is quite a lean eel and it had quite a chew, however I prefer my shirayaki with a bit more crisp.
• Aji namero, nori: The nori was harvested one hour away by car. This dish was ok.
• Yamato hamaguri: No seasoning other than water and shoyu. Excellent broth, plump, perfect hamaguri. Very high quality.
• Ayu from Maze river, Gifu: Said to be the best in Japan. It is large and had juicy meat. Even the bones were pleasant enough.
• Uzaku (unagi with kyuuri and mozuku): I preferred the unagi with tare here, compared to the shirayaki
• Hamamtsu corn: Each grain is battered and fried individually instead of being clumped together like a kakiage. This resuls in an sweet and oily explosion when eaten, and extremely crispy and airy.
• Unadon: This rice was excellent, and the unagi was quite lean. The accompanying kimosui (liver soup) had lots of chives and was excellent
• Ice cream and peach compote

The taste and texture of unagi can vary a lot, depending on season, year, and even individual differences, and it just happens that that day's unagi did not fit my preferences.

The course price was 33k + 3k yen due to the inclusion of the wild unagi. I recommend this restaurant if you want to try high quality seasonal ingredients cooked in the most straightforward way, but the price stings a bit too much for me for such a rustic cooking. I'm glad to have went here, but rather than coming in another season to re-evaluate I would rather just go to another restaurant that specializes in unagi or tempura.