Sakana kun and eel bowl

Today, I saw the person below! Yes, he is "sakana kun(さかなクン)." He was a guest of an event for children organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. If you don't live in Japan, you may wonder who sakana kun is. Sakana kun means "Mr. fish" and he is active in both the show business and academic field in terms of fish as he has wide knowledge and expertise on fish. He is popular because of his good and cheerful character and I also found he really seemed a good person!

Sakana kun (right side). We can identify him by seeing his fish hat.

Living in a country with rich culture of fish eating, we can always and easily access to fresh fish dishes not only as sushi but also as many types of dishes. One of my favorite is eel! This year, the price of eel has been increasing due to bad catch.  

Entrance of "Hokkori"

Inside of "Hokkori"

Eel bowl in Nagoya style

Near my office, there is a Japanese restaurant named "Hokkori(ほっこり)." Hokkori has two aspects as a restaurant at lunch and as Izakaya(居酒屋), Japanese style pub at night. The restaurant comprises a lot of small private rooms that we can be relaxed without caring others eyes and voices. When I found Hokkori offered eel bowl at lunch, I tried it. The result was... so so. Eel itself is not so high quality and it seemed they made the bowl ahead due to many customers at lunch time. The volume of eel was also small. The price was JPY1,900, a bit expensive as lunch and accordingly I was a bit unsatisfied. My conclusion is that we definitely should go to eel specialized restaurant when we want to taste eel! My rating is 2 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Hokkori(ほっこり) http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g840427/