In shortAged eel (AGED EEL) grilled over binchotan, three minutes from Kobuchizawa Station. You can book it online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request the table for you.
Price
Set meals ¥5,500–6,050; AGED EEL dinner course from ¥15,000, with pairing ¥18,700–23,100 (tax included, no service charge)
Hours
Lunch 11:00–14:30 (last order 13:45); dinner 17:00–20:00 (last order 19:15)
Closed
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, plus irregular days announced on the house calendar
Seats
Around 30 — tables and a six-seat counter
Payment
Cards accepted (Visa, Master, JCB, Amex, Diners) and PayPay; no service charge
Getting there
JR Kobuchizawa (Chuo Line), about three minutes on foot; five minutes from the Kobuchizawa interchange
Izutsuya is where the Chuo Line meets the mountains. Kobuchizawa is
the station travelers change at for Kiyosato and the Yatsugatake
highlands, and three minutes from the platform, in a private house
built in 1927, this eel specialist has quietly become one of the
most‑searched addresses in Yamanashi. The house took its name from a
post‑war sweet shop that once stood here; what it does now is its own
invention, trademarked as AGED EEL — eel rested before cooking so
that its savour deepens, then handled the Kanto way. Tabelog has
listed it among the country’s hundred best eel houses in 2024 and
again in 2026.
What you eat
The house firms its eel in groundwater drawn from beneath the
Yatsugatake foothills, steams it by its own method and finishes it
over Kishu binchotan. The signature is the takemeshi: eel and rice
served in a length of bamboo that the owner cuts and works himself,
eaten straight, then with condiments, then with broth poured over, in
the manner of hitsumabushi (¥6,050). A “ninou” version splits the
bamboo between glazed kabayaki and plain shirayaki, and there are
salt‑grilled and lacquer‑box versions at ¥5,500. In the evening a
seven‑course AGED EEL dinner (from ¥15,000, two guests minimum) runs
from an eel‑and‑kale salad through jellied eel and shirayaki to the
aged eel on rice, with an optional sake‑and‑wine pairing.
The booking reality
This is one of the easier books in the region, and it rewards a
little planning rather than a long campaign. The calendar opens
30 days ahead on TableCheck, in English as well as Japanese, and
the house also takes the telephone (0551‑36‑5990, in Japanese). Dinner
courses and pairings must be booked by 22:00 two days before the
visit; a lunch course or a party of nine or more goes through the
phone. Set meals can also be walked in for — reviewers report queueing
before opening and being given a one‑hour slot — but on summer
weekends the eel can sell out and the house closes early, so we
would not gamble on it.
A few rules matter. The kitchen starts cooking to your reservation
time, so a party more than 30 minutes late without a call is treated
as a cancellation; tables run to 90 minutes when busy; courses carry a
cancellation fee whose rate the house does not publish; and a
no‑show can mean no future bookings. Children are welcome, with four
high chairs. For guests abroad, our desk calls the house in Japanese
to settle a lunch course or a larger party and to confirm the day’s
calendar, which the house posts on its website and Instagram.
You can book it online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request it for you. Request this table →
Go if you
Travelers heading up to Kiyosato, Hokuto’s wineries or the Yatsugatake
trails who want the first proper meal of the trip within sight of the
station — and anyone pairing this with the harder books nearby, since
Izutsuya is the one you can add a month out.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Izutsuya Kobuchizawa: common questions
Can you book Izutsuya Kobuchizawa from abroad?
Yes. Online via TableCheck or by phone, up to 30 days ahead; dinner courses by 22:00 two days before. You can book online yourself, or our Tokyo desk can request the table for you; our ¥6,000-per-seat fee is charged only if we confirm your table.
Some of these links are referral links: if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Restaurants never pay us to be listed or ranked. Editorial policy
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Facts on this page were checked by our Tokyo desk. You are welcome to quote them with a link:
