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I try to fit in a
tempura (天ぷら) meal every time I’m in Japan, and this trip I decided to check out
Fukamachi (深町), which have themselves a little
macaron. The location was pretty convenient and we ended up there for the second half of the lunch session.
They open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Arriving at 12:30 p.m. gave us less than 1 hour for lunch, and the staff asked to make sure that we were OK with finishing a little earlier. Psychologically I felt a little rushed from the start.
I chose the most extensive menu, which gives you 2 prawns, 3 different types of fish, 5 types of veg, and a bowl of rice topped with a prawn cake. Pricing-wise, the addition of the prawn cake over rice costs an additional JPY 2,000… which seems kinda steep to me.
Prawn heads – two prawn heads arrive to tell us that the tails are coming next.
Prawn (車海老)
Icefish (白魚) – I nicked a few of these from my friend who opted out of prawns.
Prawn (車海老) – second piece.
Japanese angelica shoots (たらの芽)
Butterbur bud (蕗の薹) – a huge one, curiously served whole. I took it in one bite and had a little trouble chewing on it. Bitter as expected.
Japanese sillago (鱚)
Bamboo shoot (筍) – from Kyoto (京都). Very young and sweet, nice crunch.
Scallop (帆立貝) – very, very nicely done. Mi-cuit!
Lily bulb (百合根) – took a piece from Hello Kitty.
Shiitake mushroom (椎茸)
Green asparagus (アスパラ) – very nice as it’s in season.
White asparagus (白アスパラ) – stole a section from Hello Kitty. Very, very nice.
Conger eel (穴子) – pretty good.
Tencha (天茶) - we had a choice and I would always pick this option. The
kakiage (かき揚げ) is served over rice
ochatsuke (お茶漬け) style.
Apple sorbet (りんごシャーベト) – pretty nice, actually.
We managed to finish just around 1:30 p.m., but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. The ventilation was poor and I walked out smelling like I’ve been deep-fried. And there were times when a second piece was placed in front of me before I had a chance to pick up the previous item. So in that sense, it’s a little like being at
Tempura Kondo (てんぷら 近藤)... and that's not a place I would return to anytime soon.
P.S. Hello Kitty took the vegetarian option and was very happy with her meal of fresh, seasonal vegetables.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing!
I found the vegetables are the biggest challenge for a tempura joint. I somehow found it was relatively easy to do good meaty/ fishy ones, but good veg ones are much fewer and far between.
I always go for a full veggie meal when I find a good tempura shop. You have less of the oily "blurp" afterwards.
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