A note on the words: kisu is Japanese whiting, often dubbed the “queen of the sea” for its delicate white meat, anago is saltwater eel, manganji pepper is a mild, sweet chili pepper from Kyoto, tencha is a bowl of rice topped with tempura and served with a hot broth poured over, tentsuyu is a classic dipping broth brewed from dashi, soy sauce and mirin, and shijimi-jiru is miso soup simmered with small freshwater clams.
Tempura Mikawa Roppongi hiruzu ten on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Well, thinking I’d like to eat some delicious tempura, I searched for places. Among the results, I realized I hadn’t yet been to “Tempura Mikawa” in Roppongi Hills, so I went ahead and booked a table. I had been to Zezankyo once before. I had a rough idea that the shop was around there, but when I actually arrived I was surprised, ha — this was it!!
I had walked past it many times, wondering what kind of shop this was. It looks lavish and hard to enter, ha. When I walked right up to the front and looked closely, it said “Mikawa” on it.
A value lunch tempura course to enjoy live kuruma shrimp and Edomae tempura ingredients — 7,700 yen
The lunch tempura course is this one for 7,700 yen. There are also options like sea urchin wrapped in shiso for +3,850 yen, or replacing the final small eel-tempura rice bowl with one topped with a mixed tempura fritter for +2,750 yen, and since I was here I went ahead and added all of them.
And so, the course began.
First, an explanation of the seasonings on the table. Grated daikon radish is provided generously, and it’s delicious even on its own, ha. When it runs low they bring more, so you can use it without holding back.
Man, what a shame not to be able to drink alcohol at lunch!!
Here is the shrimp. Tempura begins with shrimp and ends with shrimp, after all! An artfully presented shrimp, fried to a crisp. They recommended salt, so sprinkling a bit of salt and taking a bite: naturally, fantastic!!! The batter is light and fluffy-crisp, while the shrimp inside is plump, sweet, and practically melts away. In the end, I ate it right down to the tail. Truly supreme! This is it!
The shrimp heads fried up crisp. The hard parts of the head have been removed, so the texture is light, and the tomalley and morsel of meat inside are so delicious! This really makes me want some sake!!
A fairly large piece of kisu tempura. It’s on another level compared to the everyday tempura you usually eat. Crisp and fluffy goes without saying, but the white meat flakes apart gently in the mouth. Delicious — it truly deserves to be called the queen of the sea. Edomae kisu tempura, the best.
The eggplant: they recommended tentsuyu broth for this since it’s hot. Sure enough, if you popped this straight in you’d burn yourself in an instant, ha. Dipping it into the tentsuyu, letting it cool just a bit, and taking a bite: piping hot. Even after dipping it’s still plenty hot, ha. That juicy burst of eggplant is irresistible!
There are two of these, so one with salt and one with tentsuyu broth.
The extraordinarily good aori-ika squid. Incredibly tender, savory, sweet! It disappears the moment you eat it. The recommendation was one with salt and one with tentsuyu, but the salt was unbelievably delicious, so I ended up eating both pieces with salt. Man, this is delicious, truly delicious. It made me want to eat all my squid as tempura from now on!
Anago! The one I saw on TV. They chop through the fried anago eel right before you with chopsticks. The meat toward the front is piping hot and exquisite, eaten with the tare sauce. Then I sprinkled salt on the tail end. The tail end is crisp, making the contrast in texture fascinating. This too was just too good.
At +3,850 yen, I hesitated a little, but Zezankyo had this dish too and it was wonderfully delicious. If I came all the way to Mikawa… so I went ahead and ordered it. At Zezankyo it was served whole, but here they cut it open before serving, which adds serious visual punch, ha. And while over there it was gone in one bite, here you get to enjoy it in two bites. The first bite with nothing on it. Delicious! The sea urchin is so sweet! And the uni has real body to it. Incredibly tasty. For the second bite, a light sprinkle of salt. Delicious. Outstanding! Just too good!
Myoga ginger! Having it with a light pinch of salt, the aroma of the myoga fills the mouth.
Summer is here. The tender tip with salt. The plump root with tentsuyu broth. Delicious.
At the end, they said I could choose between tendon and tencha, so I went with tendon.
Looks amazing! Taking a bite, the tare sauce coats it beautifully and it is so good! The shellfish meat in the fritter is incredibly flavorful. I could easily eat about three bowls of this.
And this shijimi clam soup is remarkable too. What makes it remarkable is how big and plump the clams are. Clams this substantial, I haven’t come across since I visited Lake Shinji!! Ah, pure bliss!!!!
Mikawa really is delicious. It doesn’t take a backseat to Zezankyo at all. The price is high, but I think it is the ultimate lunch to match. I added all sorts of options, but even just the 7,700-yen lunch set alone would be quite a value. For anyone wanting to enjoy a leisurely, luxurious lunch in Roppongi, I really recommend it. I want to go again!!!!
Tempura Mikawa Roppongi hiruzu ten (Tempura / Roppongi Station, Azabu-juban Station, Nogizaka Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
