tenfuku

I've had Tenfuku bookmarked for some time, and then a television show recently had their tendon featured, so we decided to check it out.

They have been in business since 1959

20 minutes before opening we were 14th in line. 

Well 15th, because this woman just "oozed" her way into the line, I overheard she woke up late, so she was late meeting up with her friends, whatever, she is a line cutter...and at this point, there were at least 10 people behind us...

Since the shop only has 14 seats...we had to wait for the 2nd seating...ha! line cutter also had to wait

At lunch time they only have 4 choices...tendon (1500 yen), ebi tendon (1700 yen), half anago tendon (1700 yen) and anago tendon (2000 yen)

"please refrain from using strong perfumes or scented products when visiting"

There are many eateries that have this rule...especially soba shops, know before you go

I ordered the tendon...this comes with 2 ebi (shrimp), 3 veggies (bell pepper, tomato and eggplant), chicken, fish (sillaginidae), nori, egg...1500 yen (tax included)

that egg!

I ordered my lunch without miso soup, but the lady taking the orders did not write it down, so there was confusion when I refused the bowl of miso soup that they tried to serve me...

loved their tsukemono, I think it was housemade (takana, ginger and shibazuke)

Satoshi ordered the half anago tendon...half anago, 2 ebi (shrimp), chicken,  3 veggies (bell pepper, tomato, eggplant), nori and egg...1700 yen (tax included)

He enjoyed this.

We enjoyed watching the owner and his son (I think) fry up the tempura in such a teeny space!

I would’ve knocked stuff over!

go early or be prepared to wait, the line was long when we came out

Lunch time is the only time you can order tendon (cash only), and dinner time is strictly course style (reservations needed & credit cards accepted)

we enjoyed their tempura and will be back

Tenfuku

1-26-2 Oomori Kita

Ota, Tokyo

Closed: Mondays

Hours: 11:00-14:00 (lunch), 18:00-20:00 (dinner)

hachimaki

Sunday we got out and about early so that we could be one of the first ones in line at Hachimaki, a popular tempura shop in Jimbocho.

I had marked this place when we first moved to Tokyo back in 2018 when I had walked around this area while waiting for Satoshi to finish an errand.

We finally got to try them and it didn’t disappoint.

In business since 1930, this place is popular with famous literary people as well as celebrities.

I ordered the tendon 1000 yen (tax included) comes with 2 shrimp, 1 piece of squid, 1 piece of kisu (sillago), 1 piece bell pepper, 1 piece renkon (lotus root)

I was happy the waitress asked if I wanted more of less rice, I ordered less rice.

Satoshi ordered their ebi tendon 1300 yen (tax included) comes with 3 shrimp, 1 piece kisu (sillago), 1 piece bell pepper and 1 piece renkon

All came with miso soup and pickles.

The pickles were on the table and were housemade ginger.

On a side note: While we were eating, I was disappointed with the 3 people at the table next to us, who took off their masks to “talk story” while waiting for their meal.

Still, I'm glad we got to check this place out.

We'll be back.

ps While I was taking the picture of the shop, Satoshi saw the cute cat...can you see it?!

Hachimaki

1-19 Jimbocho

Chiyoda, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3291.6222

Open daily 11:00-20:00

pps if you are interested in seeing more pictures and a video from this area, please click here

tempura suzuki

We've been wanting to check out Tempura Suzuki for some time now and we finally got to go yesterday, since Satoshi had the day off.

We tried their hirunomi set (lunch drink set)...1000 yen (tax included) each,

It comes with one drink, if you want beer it is an extra 200 yen (tax included).

I chose the shiso chuhai, Satoshi had the ume chuhai.

Choice of one otsumami (pupu) from the list of about 8 on the wall.

I chose sweet potato salad, Satoshi chose their miso cream cheese.

Sweet potato mixed with grainy mustard, a little mayo & pepper, gonna try to recreate this.

Satoshi’s cream cheese was marinated with some white miso.

I was surprised he chose this, I thought he would choose the anago (salt water eel) or the pupu with wasabi…and when his choice came out he was disappointed…

The set also comes with 4 pieces of tempura (shrimp, eggplant, megochi (big eyed flat head) and broccoli)

There are also tsukemono (pickles) on the counter that you can snack on too.

The tempura is not served with tsuyu (tempura sauce), just salt or black shichimi

Everything was fried perfectly and is served right out of the oil.

I wish they had tendon (tempura bowl) on their menu but they only have teishoku (set menu), so we’ll be back to try, especially the set that has a tempura soft boiled egg.

Tempura Suzuki

7-64-1 Nishi Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6424.4442

Open daily : 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 17:00-22:30 (dinner)

tempura makino

Friday, Satoshi had an appointment and would finish early, so we met up in Umeda for dinner at Tempura Makino.

This is part of the Marugame Udon chain except that this place only does tempura.

I ordered a beer while Satoshi ordered cold sake...boy, do they fill the container up to the rim!

Closer look.

In fact, when Satoshi moved to pour some into his ochoko (cup for sake), he spilled some...mottainai (what a waste!)

Satoshi's dinner had 8 tempura items plus asari-jiru (clam soup), while mine had 7 tempura items.

Satoshi had some different tempura items, so what I'm showing you is the ones I got to try.

Total for our dinner with our drinks was about 4200 yen (tax included).

A nice feature of our meal was this sakura salt...dehydrated sakura blossoms and salt...crush and use with your tempura, so delicious!

First up...shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves) with tiny shrimp...fried perfectly!

Sayori (half beak) & madai (red seabream)...forgot to take a photo before I started eating the madai...oops!

Highlight of the meal...tempura-ed...soft boiled egg!

Crisp around the edges and oozy yolk! so good!

bamboo shoot & nanohana(rape blossom).

Bummer that the bamboo shoot was on the tough side!

There was also a perfectly cooked shrimp but I forgot to take a photo of it...eep!

And Satoshi's asari-jiru (clam soup)..so many clams!

We really enjoyed this dinner. Everything is fried to order and comes out pretty steadily as you eat.

We'll be back!

Tempura Makino
Sanbangai 2F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6372.0501
Hours: 10:30-23:00

fishcake tempura

Remember the ikamenchi we had in Tohoku?

Well, when I tasted it, it reminded me of something my mom used to make for parties...

Luckily, the recipe for it was in one of the cookbooks I have...

Fishcake Tempura : "Recipes Please" makes 18-24 more or less depending on how you scoop the mixture

3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1/2 cup fishcake (kamaboko), minced
1/4 cup green onion, minced
oil for frying

Combine dry ingredients
Add egg to water and beat until foamy
Mix into dry ingredients, stirring only to moisten dry ingredients
Add kamaboko & green onions
Drop by teaspoonfuls into oil heated to 365F
Fry 1 minute or until delicately brown
Serve with meal or as pupu (appetizer) while hot

NOTES: super close to ikamenchi!
The ikamenchi was on the sweeter side...closer to the flavors mochiko chicken has.

I love how it all came together quickly.

I'm making this again.

vegetti

After seeing Deb's post, using spiralized veggies.

I was intrigued in getting a spiralizer for myself.

Of course, not wanting to invest too much money into the gadget, I looked online as I was debating between the vegetti and the microplane versions.

What sold me on the vegetti was the safety cap.

It helps you spiralize the very end of the veg without having to put your fingers in danger.

After washing half a zucchini and a small carrot, I used the "thin" side and came out with a l-o-n-g piece of zucchini and a l-o-n-g piece of carrot.

Even though this was "thin" the "noodles" seemed quite thick.

Satoshi was impressed at how you can use almost all of the vegetable.

We cut the remaining parts of the vegetable and tossed it in with our "noodles".

For our first experiment, we tried making kakiage (vegetable tempura).

Besides the zucchini and carrots, we added some red onion, okra, shiso, myoga and shrimp.

The bulk of these came out limp because a) the recipe for the koromo (batter) didn't instruct needing an egg, so it didn't hold anything together and b) my "helper" was impatient while frying these up.

After adding the egg to the batter and waiting a little longer while they fried, these came out quite crisp.

I'm glad we tried this, and look forward to trying different experiments with other vegetables.

blog friend

On Saturday, we got to meet a blog friend, Michelle of Desperately Seeking Crab.

She's not blogged in awhile and over the years we have kept in touch through FB.

She had contacted me that she would be in Osaka and if I would like to meet up.

Luckily, we met on Saturday, so that Satoshi could also meet her and her family.

After a little shopping, they treated us to tempura for dinner at Naniwa Hyoten.

And then we went up to the Floating Sky Garden, to see the city lights.

She was also kind to give us these new Tim Tam flavors and some kinkan(kumquats) from her relative's tree.

It was nice to finally meet up and we hope they had a nice time too.

Thank you Michelle for a great time!

Naniwa Hyoten
Umeda Sky Building B1F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 050.5787.3213
Lunch: 11:30-15:00, Dinner: 17:00-22:00

sobakiri masa

Friday, I met up with a friend that I hadn't seen for quite some time, Mari.

She took me to her neighborhood soba shop...Sobakiri Masa.

This shop seats about 20 and fills up fast during the lunch hour.

After ordering you need to wait awhile for your food, so if you're in a rush, it is probably not the place for you.

This shop makes their noodles by hand and cooks them after you order them.

While you wait, they give you some futomaki (a type of sushi), hand rolled by the owner.

I ordered the Tenzaru Kuro, this was soba (buckwheat noodles) was made not only from the ground buckwheat grains, but also the hulls, which gives it a darker color and nuttier flavor.

This came with assorted tempura, light and crispy eaten with sea salt.

Mari ordered the Tenzaru Shiro, this soba was made solely from the ground buckwheat grains, so her noodles were much lighter. Her noodles also came with an assortment of tempura.

Everything was delicious and it was nice to catch up with her.

Thank you for a great day and for lunch, Mari!

Sobakiri Masa
1-16-12 Utsubohonmachi
Nishi, Osaka
Phone: 06.6225.3030
Closed on Mondays
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11:30-14:00, 17:30-21:00
Sunday 11:30-14:00

tempura tenya

Yesterday was the 7th, which means it was nanakusagayu day for us. My blog friend, Martin, recently wrote an article about nanakusagayu and mentioned us (Thank you!).

If you are interested, I have also posted about nanakusagayu here and here.

Satoshi had the day off yesterday, so after our breakfast of nanakusakayu, tsukemono (pickles) and tea, we watched some of the shows we recorded over the New Years break and walked to a nearby area for lunch. Tempura Tenya is a tempura shop located in a house about 15 minutes walking distance from our house. (I actually found this place by accident one day while on one of my walks, then googled around to find out more info.)

The young couple who own the shop, uses vegetables from Japan to create crispy, delicious tempura as well as side dishes and tsukemono (pickles).

We both ordered the lunch set, 1350 yen each(about US$13.50) which comes with one side dish, miso soup with lots of veggies in it, 3 choices of seafood tempura, 4 choices of vegetable tempura, rice and tsukemono (pickles).

I chose ebi (shrimp), tako (octopus), hotate (scallop), nasu (eggplant), kabocha (pumpkin), renkon (lotus root) and gobo (burdock).

Satoshi chose ebi (shrimp), mongo ika geso (large sized cuttlefish leg), kisu (sillago, Japanese whiting), nasu (eggplant), tamanegi (yellow onion), shironegi (scallion) and eringi (a type of mushroom).

After ordering, they brought out several side dishes from which we could choose one. Satoshi chose a marinated eggplant and I chose a salad made from vegetables and bi-fun.

Then a big bowl of miso soup filled with lots of veggies came out with some tsukemono (pickled veggies).

Tempura came out as soon as it was ready, so it was hot, crispy and delicious. The one thing I noticed was that when our bowls of rice came out, mine was really small and Satoshi's really big. At first, I was kind of shocked, but after eating most of my lunch, it ended up where I didn't really need much rice after all and ended up giving some to Satoshi (who by then already had a second bowl of rice!)

In Japan, a lot of shops serve flavored salts as well as tsuyu (dipping sauce) with their tempura. This shop had yuzu shio (citron salt), sansho shio (Japanese pepper salt) and matcha shio (green tea salt).

It was a nice lunch and we were full, so we took the long way home.

Tempura Tenya
5-6-27 Sakuragaoka
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.725.5040
Closed 1st & 3rd Thursdays

udon yamato

A couple of months ago, I received an email from a guy named Blake. He wanted me to check out his favorite place that served an awesome tempura curry udon. He was worried that customer traffic was down and that if they didn't have much business they would close and thought that maybe my blog could help.

Well, the marketplace was deserted by noon, but not to worry Blake, the udon shop was packed. We got there at about noon and there were several people waiting in front of us. The seating was small, only about 12 seats. Since there were only the two of us, we had to share our table with two other guys.

The restaurant is called Udon Yamato in an area called Daikokucho and located inside the Kizuichiba (Kizu Marketplace). They are only open until 1:30 p.m. and not on Sundays, Mondays or holidays.

When you line up, a waitress comes out to ask you your order, listening to what everyone ordered you'll realize that there is really only one item worth ordering....ten kare udon (tempura curry udon).

They give you a paper bib (which you REALLY need). Sitting across two people we didn't know, I was nervous. My chopsticks skills aren't too good, and I've been know to have food "fly" from my chopsticks.

They serve the ten kare udon in a LARGE bowl and top it with 2 shrimp tempura, a scallop tempura, eggplant tempura, lotus root tempura, asparagus tempura and a kakiage(tempura with mixed veggies), and there is more...a nice serving of gyusuji (seasoned thin slices of stringy beef), lots of green onion and kaiware (radish sprouts).

I was surprised at how thick the curry was, usually other shops "water down" the curry with their broth. The curry starts off temperature hot but not spicy and then the spices kick in and makes you perspire buckets!

The price is a bit high for curry udon (1570 yen--about US$13), but the volume and the toppings make it worth every yen(penny)!

If you get a chance to visit this area of Osaka, be sure to check this place out! Be sure to bring a little towel to wipe the perspiration off your forhead.

Udon Yamato
located in the Kizu Ichiba

Take the Midosuji line to Daikokucho, get out at the #1 exit.
From the #1 exit, turn around and walk to the corner and turn right, go straight until the road ends, this is Kizu Ichiba.

As you face the building, the entrance to the building is on the left, enter the building and the shop is the second one from the entrance.

Open Tuesdays to Saturday, 4:30 am to 1:30pm.
Phone: 06-6632-0494

Thanks for the tip, Blake!