Kamanza: Enjoying the Taste of Unagi in Ninenzaka, Kyoto
I wanted to try unagi while I was in Kyoto. So I went to Kamanza in Ninenzaka, Kyoto (before this, I also had some great unagi at Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa in Kanazawa and Okafuji Unagi in Nagoya). It was inside an old house. The restaurant was on the first floor, behind bamboo slat curtains.
Condiments and tissue papers sat on the counter and customers could order whatever they wanted by simply pressing a button.
I ordered the unagi rice. Freshwater eel was a delicacy in Japan. It was really popular and it was served with a soy based sweet sauce that almost tasted like teriyaki.
The dish was served on a tray, along with a variety of sides. There were some noodles in a clear broth.
I could also see some greens and some soup.
Apart from the unagi, I ordered some mixed tempura. It had some shrimp and vegetables. The juice that I had ordered on the side was refreshing and cold.
I had ordered shrimp tempura separately as well. The batter was so light and fluffy. I just couldn’t wait to taste the food. The servers brought all the food out very quickly and the service was very prompt.
Menu
The menu for Kamanza was huge! There were a ton of local dishes and the variety was staggering. I was quite confused about what to choose.
Cold soba noodles or buckwheat noodles were served separately or as part of a set meal. There were sides like prawn and vegetable tempura or tofu skin sashimi served along with the soba noodles.
Other set meals included mains like tofu curds, assorted tempura or hot pot soybean curd. There was a side called simmered herring which looked really interesting. I read through the menu with great attention.
Another great option at Kamanza was one of the rice bowl dishes. Of course there was the unagi rice bowl that was so popular and famous. There was a choice of full portion or half portion. There was also the chicken teriyaki rice bowl.
For those who didn’t eat fish or meat, there were vegetarian rice bowls. The tofu skin rice bowl, also called yuba, looked really good. As did the namafu or grilled wheat gluten bowl. The half curdled tofu was a unique dish that I hadn’t seen before.
For cold noodles, there was a choice of udon or soba. They were served with a cold dipping broth and sides like tempura or tofu skin.
The noodles could also be served with wild vegetables on top. I liked how many different kinds of set meals there were. Customers could choose all kinds of combinations, according to their own taste.
The restaurant didn’t just have cold noodles. They had hot noodles as well, served with simmered herring or with roast duck.
Chicken was another option that customers could ask for. The prices for everything were written right next to the dish.
I saw that some of the hot noodles were only available in winter.
You could also order things from the a la carte menu. Not everything was part of a set meal.
Beer and Japanese sake were some of the drinks on offer.
