If you read my review of Hanabi Japanese Cuisine, you know that tempura can be material for fine dining. Japan is full of high-end tempura restaurants. Tempura Fukamachi is one of these and has been consistently awarded one star in the Tokyo Michelin Guide.
One of the unique features of the restaurant is the two fryers (behind a copper screen) kept at different temperatures to better match different types of food to be fried. This should give you an idea that this kind of tempura has really little to do with the greasy stuff you may find in overseas Japanese restaurants as an afterthought in a long menu.
The visit
I had a reservation at 1.15pm, the second turn for lunch, during my October 2019 trip to Tokyo. I arrived early and I killed a quarter of hour in the museum of the national lottery, just next door.
There were 11 counter seats and two tables for two people each. In my turn at 1.15pm there were only 6 customers including me. To my question, a waiter said that walk-ins with no reservation are ok. If you wish to avoid the hassle of making a reservation, just try to show up at 1.15pm and see if they have a seat.
The store-front in a side street of Ginza with the potted plants and the yellow curtains cannot be mistaken.
My workstation had the classic tempura sauce, shredded radish (most people will mix the radish with the sauce, but not me), sea salt and lemon.
There were three lunch menus and I made my choice upon arrival. The most expensive also included a dish with sea-urchin, while the less expensive did not have he final rice dish. There was also a vegetarian option, but including prawns. In the end I had menu n. 2. Here’s an account of the dishes.
1. Two prawns heads: very crispy, we were recommended to use salt.
2. Two prawn bodies, again with salt and then with sauce.
3. Gingko nuts.
4. Chestnut, with salt. Unexpected, it was very good.
5. Kisu (white fish). One of the best dishes for its tender meat. A would say that it is a tempura classic.
6. Lotus root.
At this point customers with the highest-priced menu got a sea urchin dish. It was fried inside a nori and cut in two. There was a lot of sea urchin, perhaps worth the extra 3,000 yen. Sure it looked delicious.
7. Hotate (scallop). A very meaty specimen.
8. Shiitake (Japanese mushroom).
9. Asparagus.
10. Anago (saltwater eel).
11. Hot tea and vegetables as a palate cleanser (carrot, radish, zucchini, napa cabbage or hakusai).
12. Miso soup.
12. Rice dish with shrimp tempura on top (tendon).
There were three options for the rice dish: Ten-Don, Ten-Cha, or Ten-Bara. The Ten-Don is a fritter served on rice with some soy-based sauce drizzled over it. The Ten-Cha is a fritter served over rice and then tea is poured over it. The Ten-Bara is a fritter chopped up and mixed into the rice. My tendon was excellent and totally worth the differential with the cheaper menu. The Ten-Cha also looked very inviting.
13. ice ceam scoop.
The chef would dip gently the food in the flour and then in the liquid batter, then use one of the two boilers, with different temperatures, to fry it.
I would say that the main difference with a regular tempura was that the frying did not kill or overwhelm the original flavors. Sauces were not particularly useful from this point of view. The food spoke by itself.
The 13 dishes took around 90 minutes, I had paid by 2.50pm.
The check
After tax, I paid 11,550 yen (105 USD). It was an excellent meal and worth the hefty check, even if I am not big on tempura course menus. If you visit Japan, I would recommend to try this kind of cuisine at least once so you can compare it with more regular tempura. I also spent 1,500 yen for the reservation service from Japaneazy.
Where in Tokyo:
2-5-2 Kyobashi.
In Japanese: 東京都 中央区 京橋 2-5-2 A·M京橋ビル 1/F.