A note on the words: tendon is a bowl of rice topped with freshly fried tempura and drizzled with a savory-sweet tare sauce, and teishoku is a set meal served with rice, soup, and sides. Kisu is Japanese whiting, a tender white fish prized in tempura, anago is saltwater conger eel valued for its soft, fluffy texture, kakiage is a crisp tempura fritter made with shredded ingredients such as tiny sakura shrimp, and taranome are the delicate, mildly bitter spring shoots of the angelica tree.
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Tensei on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Originally I intended to go to Paul Bocuse at the National Art Center, Tokyo — but the whole museum was closed.
Well, nothing to be done about that! So I started wandering, strolling alongside Aoyama Cemetery. Just as I was thinking I would end up all the way in Gaienmae, a tempura restaurant called “Tensei” appeared. Checking the lunch menu, they had tendon (tempura over rice) and tempura teishoku (set meals) — a real godsend!
I decided to head right in.
Heading up the stairs and into the shop, I was the first one there! When I told them I did not have a reservation, they said it was no problem at all!
What a relief. A little later, a reserved group and a party of two arrived in turn. It sits quite a way between stations, but it is clearly popular.
Tendon — 1,650 yen
Jo tendon — 2,180 yen
Tensei tendon — 2,640 yen
Tempura teishoku — 2,860 yen
Tensei teishoku — 5,060 yen
Lunch consists of set meals and tendon bowls.
I wondered what to go with, but the Tensei tendon seemed like the best fit, so I ordered that!
Waiting a little while, the pleasant sound of tempura frying was lovely.
By the way, there were two of us, and my companion had chosen the tempura set meal, ha, so pieces were brought out one by one over there.
First came a charming little salad.
And then, the bowl arrived.
The bowl itself is lovely and has a great feel to it — the style with the lid fitted tightly shut.
Oh, that looks delicious!
Shrimp, green beans, renkon (lotus root), along with kisu (Japanese whiting), maitake mushroom, and anago (conger eel) — a tendon packed with toppings. Truly luxurious.
The shrimp is plump, sweet, and delicious. They had even fried up the legs properly and included them.
The renkon is sliced exceptionally thick, a wonderfully crisp tempura. The kisu and anago are tender, fluffy, and delicious.
The tare sauce is fairly sweet and mild on salt, making this a tendon that eats quite lightly. There is plenty of rice underneath, making it properly hearty too — honestly, 2,640 yen for this feels like an absolute steal!
This was not my order, but I was allowed to photograph my companion’s meal, so I will introduce it here too.
Shrimp — two pieces came with it.
Eggplant. It was quite a large eggplant, and apparently it was very juicy and fluffy.
Sakura shrimp kakiage (tempura fritter). I had just a little bite, and it was wonderfully crisp and delicious!
Onion.
Taranome (angelica tree shoots).
Maitake mushroom, and
Anago (conger eel).
This is also a very substantial set meal!
Honestly, for a place I just dropped into on a whim, it turned out to be truly wonderful.
Even compared to the tendon at far pricier tempura restaurants, it did not fall short in the slightest — in fact, the quality felt like it might even surpass them. It was truly delicious. It is a bit of a trek from the station to get here, but on the way out I was given a 2,000-yen discount voucher for the dinner course, so perhaps I will come back for dinner sometime.
Tensei (Tempura / Gaienmae Station, Omotesando Station, Nogizaka Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
