Tempura-licious!

Tokyo, Japan



Sometimes following your hunger instincts can turn out to be a pleasant serendipity, as it played out when my travel companions and I wandered haphazardly around the vicinity of Asakusa, Tokyo after visiting the popular Sensoji Temple. We were craving tempura and came across Aoi Marushin with its inviting plastic displays of the variety of the tempura dishes they offer (yes, as weird as this sounds, the Japanese plastic replicas of food bear an uncanny 99.9% resemblance to real food and thus totally whets your appetite!)




We flipped opened the menu and saw the variety offered and this helpful pictorial explanation of how tempura is made. The menu comes with English descriptions. I know, I know, this usually screams "tourist trap!", but hey, the restaurant is located in the vicinity of the tourist-friendly Sensoji Temple after all. So we let this red herring pass and because we had a good feeling about this place, we gave it a vote of confidence and splurged on the prime tempura set.



Vote's all goo....oood. This has got to be THE best tempura we've ever tasted! The Prime Tempura set consists of Saimaki prawn (never had it before, but having tasted it, I just want more of it), sea eel, white fish and some vegetables - special mention to the eggplant (my favorite vegetable to be done tempura-style). The seafood and the vegetables were fresh and covered in just nice a layer of the crispiest, most fragrant batter (sesame oil at work here)! Light, delicious and simply lip-smacking with just a touch of the dipping soyu sauce or a squeeze of lemon or a sprinkle of salt here and there. Oishiii.... more tempura please!





And we can't resist ordering one of our favorite Japanese side dishes - Tamago, Japanese omelette. Also, delicious. Nicely done and served with garnish/topping of grated daikon (white radish).



And if the tempura doesn't fill you up. Their sushi is decent as well. All in all, a terrific meal and a terrific find! Our tab for the above three dishes added up to 5100 yen (USD 49, SGD 67), with the prime tempura set going for only 2650 yen (USD 25, SGD 35). It ain't cheap but my companions and I concur that it's money well-spent on a quality meal!



Of course, later when I'm back home and surfing online, I found posts on Aoi-Marushin and apparently it's been serving tempura for half a century already! See http://www.asakusa-e.com/shoku/a_e.htm for map, address and contact details of Aoi-Marushin or go to the restaurant's official website at http://www.aoi-marushin.co.jp/top.html for an alternative map. It shows Aoi-Marushin as only 60m from the Kaminari 雷門 (Thunder) gate of Sensoji.

More good & cheap eats in Osaka

Endo Sushi (ゑんどう寿司)

For fresh, good and cheap sushi, you can't go far with Endo Sushi, located at the Osaka Central Wholesale Market. This venerated sushi joint has a history spanning 100 years and is a favourite with locals. The location can be a little out of the way for most travellers as it's not located near any tourist attraction or shopping district.

But it makes for a worthwhile trip to start your day right with platefuls of fresh, delectable sushi. Do take note that the staff hardly speaks any English, save for the affable owner, who speaks at most, a smattering of phrases such as "Set?" (to enquire if you're having the sushi set, which comes with tea, miso soup and sushi), "More?", and "Where are you from?". You get the idea.

The sushi comes served as a mixed plate of 5 different types. The chef takes note to change the variety of sushi with each new plate ordered, keeping only the toro (tuna belly) consistently available on each plate. Each plate costs ¥1000 (approx USD 9, SGD 13). The sushi is served slightly different from what we were used to, as the rice was still warm (apparently a testament to the popularity of the sushi. To meet the orders, there is simply no time for the rice to cool.) and there is no wasabi (grated horseradish) available on the tables, only soyu (soy sauce which you apply with a brush. It's communal, so the "no double-dipping" policy applies here) and gari (pickled ginger).

Eating the sushi becomes a fun challenge as each new plate of sushi gets stacked on top of the emptied plates, letting you keep count of the number of plates, hence the number of pieces you've devoured. We noted that every other diner ate a minimal of 3 plates each. At this point, my travel companion, having enjoyed his sushi so much, joked that he would ask the owner what is the most number of plates anyone has eaten at one sitting, so he could issue a challenge to top that number and leave his mark on Endo Sushi (and possibly have his picture taken and framed up on the wall, alongside that of the Japanese celebrities).

After much wild gesticulation to communicate our question across, we received the answer from the owner: 30 plates. The ravenous culprit in question? A sumo wrestler. Needless to say, my travel companion wisely forgo his proposition.

Endo Sushi Restaurant is located near the car park to the left of the Central Wholesale Market. It's about a 10-minute walk from Noda Station on the JR Loop line. It's also accessible via subway on the Sennichimae Line, exit Tamagawa station. The market can be a little tricky to navigate, but you can do what we did and pop into a hotel or police station along the way to ask for directions (please carry a map and it'll probably help to note down the hiragana characters of Endo ゑんどう寿司 and the kanji name of the Central Wholesale Market 中央市場).

Address: 1-1-86 Noda, Fukushima-ku.
Tel: 06-6461-7773.
Opening hours: 5am to 2pm (closed on Sundays).
Website: http://www.endo-sushi.com

Picture taken from www.endo-sushi.com, showing the Market façade and the location of Endo, indicated by the red arrow.