June was a really busy month for me. There was work, of course, but I was also exercising and dieting at the same time, and I got hooked on reading as well. So I neglected my eating out and barely touched the blog. You need time to recharge, but if you get too wrapped up in your own little world you lose the space to look around you. So last week, partly to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen in a while, I went on a food trip to Tokyo. This time I got in touch with one of the real experts from the food club I’m part of, and thanks to his recommendations I was able to make the rounds of some of the best places in Tokyo. I feel it all over again, but there aren’t many cities that can satisfy a gourmet the way Tokyo does. And once again I came back amazed by new levels of flavor I never saw coming.
Shinbashi, right next to Ginza, is a neighborhood lined with bars and eateries because so many salarymen live out their days there. There are so many restaurants that there are plenty of great ones among them, but for the same reason, unless you actually live there, even reading guidebooks you can hardly tell which ones are the real gems. Without the help of the expert who joined me this time, I would have walked right past these hidden treasures without ever knowing they existed. I’d like to take this chance to thank him.
Osaka is a tempura specialist located a little way from Shinbashi Station. On weekdays they are famous for a 1,300 yen lunch set, which is apparently so cheap that there’s always a long line. This was a Saturday lunch, so we ordered the 3,990 yen set, and the quality was so high that even that price felt far too cheap.
The entrance
It’s pronounced the same as Osaka the city (大阪), but written with different kanji (逢坂). The sign doesn’t really stand out, so it isn’t all that easy to find. Inside there’s a small counter and a few tables, and the interior is neat and clean. Behind the counter, the tempura fryer and a big pink block of rock salt were giving off some serious presence. We took seats right in front of the fryer, which I think is probably the best spot for eating tempura at its most delicious.
Beer first
In Japan there’s a custom of always ordering beer for the first drink so everyone can toast. On top of that, beer is the perfect match for rich, piping-hot tempura, so at tempura places people usually order beer. The draft beer was nice and cold, just right for refreshing the palate on a hot day. Plus it had been ages since I’d had a daytime drink, so I was having the best time. That said, the tempura here turned out to be far more delicate and refined than I expected, so it went better with sake than with beer. So from the second glass on I switched to a dry (karakuchi) sake called Hanaizumi.
The basic setting
There are two dips, rock salt and tentsuyu with grated daikon, and you just pick whichever you like. The lemon is for squeezing over the tempura (anago tempura and so on), and the salad was ordinary. Of all these, the salt was really good.
The shrimp legs
First they fry just the legs of the shrimp and bring them out. The freshness of the ingredients goes without saying, but at a glance you could feel this place’s frying skill. The batter is translucent and light, with a crispness like a cracker all at once. With skill like this, you can’t help but agree that this is a first-class tempura house.
The shrimp body
That rosy color and bashful look set your heart racing. Two came out in a row, so I’m only posting one photo. The tempura here is delicacy taken to the extreme. If you’re someone who likes a tougher style dripping with oil, there’s a chance it won’t be to your taste.
Asparagus
I love asparagus, and this tempura, which brings out asparagus’s distinctive flavor while keeping its fresh, crisp crunch, was tastier than any French dish I’ve had so far. I no longer have any reason to go to a French place just for an asparagus dish.
Kisu and white fish
Up to now I’d been dipping in salt, but this time I dipped in the tentsuyu with daikon oroshi (grated daikon). It really brought out the mild flavor of the white fish, which can come across a bit flat with salt alone.
Onion
On the outside it looks like an ordinary onion tempura, but piping-hot steam rose from the oil-kissed insides. It’s nothing special as ingredients go, yet it tasted exceptional. Around this point I had already finished one go of Hanaizumi and ordered another.
Peas
From the look of it I thought it was something like muk (a Korean jelly), but it was tempura made by stacking small snow peas, the kind you eat pod and all, one on top of another. So this is how mildness and nuttiness come together. I felt it with the asparagus too, but turning into tempura seems to bring out the ingredient’s natural flavor even more. And this skewer is fun to eat, pulling the pods off one at a time. As a light snack with a daytime drink, I don’t think it gets better than this.
Squid
By this point I was pleasantly tipsy, so I don’t remember the squid all that well, but I dipped it in tentsuyu and enjoyed it. I think it was once again an ultimately clean, refined flavor. How many things in the world are more fun than drinking in the daytime on a weekend? Chatting about life with the expert (Tokyo is a paradise for food, and so on), I mostly spent a happy time being envious.
Anago
Honestly, at first I didn’t expect that much since it’s not an expensive set, but out came two big pieces of anago just like that. After this, I’d feel too guilty to even mention places like Tsunahachi, where I’ve been going all this time, for a while (sorry, guys~). I squeezed a little lemon over it and dipped it in salt. I figured beer might go well with something as rich as anago.
Rice
Finally come rice, miso soup, and tsukemono pickles. In Japan too, a course ends with rice or noodles.
Ebi kakiage
Of all tempura, I especially love ebi kakiage (shrimp kakiage), and the kakiage here was exactly to my liking. The key to a good ebi kakiage is the balance between bouncy little shrimp and crisp vegetables, and this place nailed it. Taking small bites and dipping it in tentsuyu, it’s perfect with rice. These days, when I go to a really good place, more often than being moved I end up feeling a bit sad. Ah… from now on I won’t be able to eat tempura that’s worse than this, I think to myself… In that sense, for the Kobe/Kyoto food tour planned for next week, I swapped out every tempura place on the schedule for somewhere else. For a while I won’t be satisfied anywhere I go.
Dessert: vanilla sherbet
It’s nice for a light palate cleanser, but it’s true it feels a little lacking. Ginza is just nearby, so we headed straight there for a proper dessert.