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.
Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI 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.