Tenkin in Hamamatsu is a seriously good tendon (tempura rice bowl) place. The flavour is pretty distinctive, so it turned out to be a great spot to bring tourists to as well.

Miso soup

They said there was egg in it, though you can’t see any. Either way, it was rich and delicious.

Side dish and tea

Simple.

Tendon

Lovely bowl.

This is the tendon

It’s pure art. Loads of shrimp in there, too. The tempura is great, but what really makes it is the sauce and rice underneath – not sweet at all, just full of savoury depth. Absolutely delicious.

Shrimp and shiso tempura

They brought out one more as a bonus. The service is good too. At this level, I think it’s fair to call it one of the restaurants that represents Hamamatsu.

Round two: an izakaya inside the station

We went because there was nowhere else to go in the middle of the day, but honestly it wasn’t great. You’d probably be better off at a touristy standby like Ishimatsu Gyoza.

Round three: a coffee shop called Sakuranbo

A kissaten absolutely steeped in Showa-era atmosphere.

A place like this…

The problem was that the owner had gone out somewhere and wasn’t there. I mean, leaving the doors wide open like that and just heading off… We waited five minutes, nobody came, so we left. Apparently the place has a real character to it and the coffee is good, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

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