This afternoon, just before boarding the Shinkansen back to Fukuoka, we wound up at Tenkou Honten for one last fine meal in Hiroshima. This restaurant is a highly-regarded tempura specialist in the city, and also the sister restaurant of the original and older Tenkou restaurant just streets away. The term 'honten' means main or flagship restaurant, and indeed the one we visited today has outshone its older sibling; despite having been around for less than four years, it has already gained two Michelin stars. Chef-owner Higuchi Kenichi worked in Ten Ichi tempura restaurant in the posh Ginza district of Tokyo for many years, before returning to Hiroshima to set up shop with his wife.
Tenkou Honten is extremely conveniently located off the major covered shopping walkway that ultimately leads to the Peace Park, and as a bonus, it was just a few steps away from our hotel! Reservations were surprisingly hassle-free, and our hotel managed to help us with it at short notice.
We were warmly received into the small restaurant by Higuchi-san's soft-spoken wife, and immediately sensed what an oasis of calm and elegance this was, amidst the hustle and bustle of the shopping street outside. The perfect midday respite, I must say. The beautiful hinoki (cypress wood) counter was particularly arresting, exuding an air of austerity and sophistication. Everything in the restaurant happens along this centrepiece that seats no more than 8 at any time; Higuchi-san cooks and his wife attends to customers' other needs. No other helpers necessary, and the atmosphere was very cosy and intimate. Additionally, we found out to our pleasant surprise that we would be the only customers for lunch today, enjoying the undivided attention of this lovely couple! Higuchi-san's wife appeared to be having a slight flu but this didn't detract in the least from her genuine hospitality.
Lunch omakase here is an extremely reasonable affair at a fixed price of 4,200 yen including taxes. Tenkou Honten serves edomae (old Tokyo)-style tempura, with particular emphasis on the locality and seasonality of ingredients. The deep-frying technique involved in making tempura is not actually indigenous to Japan, and is thought to have come to the country via Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century. I believe anyone who has had Japanese food outside Japan will be familiar with tempura as a side dish, but in Japan it often takes centre stage in specialist restaurants like this one - a first for us, and we were eager to experience what a truly fine and authentic tempura meal would be like.
We started with a whitebait salad with sesame dressing. The concentrated umami of dried whitebait (known as shirasu in Japan) was perfectly matched by the deep roasted nutty flavour of the sesame dressing, while the extremely fresh and crisp salad leaves provided a pleasant sweet edge. A most delightful way to begin - though I must confess to being partial to anything dressed in Japanese sesame sauce; the more the better!
Then, to our suprise, a variety of condiments was laid before us, supposedly for pairing with specific items throughout the meal. There was curry powder, sea salt, fresh lemon juice and oroshi (grated radish). With the exception of the last condiment which is added into ten-tsuyu (the standard tempura sauce made with soy sauce, mirin and dashi), we had never seen the others used with tempura. I was rather intrigued by how the different flavour combinations might work out.
First up on the succession of tempura items: kuruma ebi 車海老 (Japanese imperial prawns). The two prawns' legs were served before the prawns themselves, and all these were to be eaten with lemon juice and sea salt (separately).
The prawns were plucked live from a tank, deftly prepared and thrown into the hot oil by Higuchi-san all within the space of a minute. They don't get fresher than this! The legs were surprisingly crisp and aromatic while the prawns were really sweet and succulent. Dipping in lemon juice enhanced the freshness of the prawns, while dipping in salt enhanced their natural umami.
I had read about how edomae-style tempura uses a slightly heavier batter compared to other regions of Japan, but even so I was struck by how light and thin the batter was here compared to tempura typically found outside Japan. As you will see from the subsequent courses, if there was one revelation from today's meal, it was that tempura items are not meant to be drowned in batter, unlike the deep-fried mess that is fish and chips in Britain. Quite the contrary - their natural colours, textures and flavours should be allowed to shine through the batter as much as possible, with the brief frying process (sometimes lasting for just a few seconds) enhancing their characteristics, instead of negating them with excess grease. The koromo or batter cloak should be almost transparent, this being a test of the chef's craft. The batter itself is always made in small batches just before frying in order to ensure freshness and crispness, and items are dipped (not thrown) into the hot oil only one or two at a time in order not to disturb the oil's temperature. The quality of the oil (a combination of vegetable and sesame oil) is obviously paramount - here there wasn't any trace of an oily stench, which often results from inferior and constantly re-used oil (just think of how fast food restaurants smell). We were really looking forward to what might come next.
Taranome タラの芽 (new shoots of the deciduous Japanese angelica tree). Taken with curry powder.
Particularly prized by the Japanese for tempura in spring, this morsel was very crunchy and juicy (like asparagus), with a bitter edge characteristic of mountain vegetables. Curry powder not only matched this bitterness very effectively, but also intensified the delicate flavour of the shoot appropriately.
Shiitake mushroom, layered with scallop and minced prawn. To be dipped (not soaked, as many foreigners erroneously do) in a bowl of ten-tsuyu with oroshi.
One of my favourite items in today's lunch, and so tempting to look at! Underneath the crisp and feather-light batter that barely covered these large chunks, plump and aromatic mushrooms were combined with sweet and juicy seafood to generate an incredible explosion of textures and flavours, as my teeth sank through the different layers. Dipping into the ten-tsuyu made this gem even more tasty, while oroshi contributed a clean aftertaste to each mouthful. This was comfort food at its most luxurious and sophisticated.
Kisu 鱚 (Japanese whiting), also to be dipped in ten-tsuyu with oroshi.
This generous and beautifully symmetrical piece of fish had a delightfully soft and moist texture, and a delicate sweet flavour that was effectively enhanced by the gossamer batter and the frying process. Utterly delicious and satisfying.
Asparagus, cut in two halves and taken with sea salt and ten-tsuyu separately.
This typical spring vegetable was amazingly sweet, juicy and crunchy. Taken with a pinch of sea salt, its sweetness was immediately heightened; dipped in ten-tsuyu, it acquired a lovely deep aftertaste. Of course, the crisp batter could not have been more texturally apt. Shame that we could only have a single stalk each!
Megochi めごち (flathead), taken with lemon juice and sea salt separately.
Higuchi-san proudly announced this fish as 'saikokyu' 最高級 - the finest offering of our lunch. This was quite similar in texture to the earlier whiting, but its flavour went far deeper. Paired very simply with lemon juice or sea salt, in order not to detract from the taste of this highly sought-after premium fish, its freshness and intensity were immediately evident.
Soramame 蚕豆 (broad beans), taken with ten-tsuyu and oroshi.
These spring beans were remarkably sweet, crunchy and delicate, and given a pleasant freshness and depth of flavour by their dip. However, I couldn't help feeling that this course had been somewhat spoiled by its relatively heavy and chunky batter, compared to everything that had come before. Perhaps it was necessary in order to 'connect' and 'stick' the beans together, but still..!
Nasu 茄子 (eggplant), taken with sea salt.
I am familiar with the Kyoto dish of nasu dengaku (roasted eggplant with a miso glaze), and knowing the quality of Japanese eggplants I was quite excited about this one. Indeed, this baby eggplant was very sweet, with a rich and juicy texture that contained no traces of grease whatsoever - very impressive considering how easily this vegetable absorbs oil (I'm just thinking of the typical Chinese dish of claypot eggplant and salted fish - very tasty but artery-clogging!). This was astonishingly clean-tasting despite having gone through the fryer. Almost as memorable as the earlier mushroom course!
Anago 穴子 (conger eel), each half to be taken with either curry powder or ten-tsuyu & oroshi.
Though not quite as melt-in-the-mouth as the one we had in Nakashima two nights ago, this was still pleasantly tender and moist, with a delicate sweetness, underneath the fragrant and translucent batter. Curry powder was of course a good flavour enhancer, while you can't really go wrong matching the natural umami of seafood with ten-tsuyu. On the whole, another substantial and satisfying course.
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| A short break as we waited for the last savoury course. |
We finished the savoury part of the meal with a rice dish, as is customary for fine meals in Japan. Remarkably, four options are offered, but Higuchi-san recommended the ten-don and ochazuke, which we gladly accepted.
Ten-don 天丼, rice topped with a shrimp and scallop kakiage (a kind of tempura). Served with miso soup and pickles.
This was my choice and Higuchi-san's primary recommendation for people with healthy appetites (such as yours truly!). Steamed rice lightly seasoned with ten-tsuyu was topped with a kakiage (fritter) of prawns, scallops, onions and other vegetables, all finely cut/sliced before combining roughly with batter and setting into a disc-like shape in the fryer, turning back and forth to ensure even cooking and browning throughout the thick piece. The main difference between kakiage and standard tempura batter is that the former uses whole eggs for better texture and taste (due to its longer frying time), while the latter uses only egg yolks to keep the coating very delicate and unobstrusive to the main ingredient (as you have already seen).
What pure comfort food this was! The kakiage had an incredibly sweet taste from the succulent shrimps and scallops, while the onion and batter contributed truly lovely aromas. On the whole this fritter was not quite as crisp as the previous items coated in standard tempura batter, but this is to be expected generally, considering the heavier usage of batter as well as its slightly different composition. The seasoned rice, firm and slightly sticky, was tasty and obviously of very high quality, while the miso soup had a really deep and intense flavour. Crunchy and clean-tasting pickles finished this opulent rice dish on a very fresh and light note.
Ochazuke お茶漬け, similar to ten-don, but with hot green tea poured over the kakiage encasing a smaller ball of rice, and topped with shreds of nori (seasoned dried seaweed).
This was what Higuchi-san recommended to my partner, who had wanted something lighter after all that fried stuff. (No accompaniments for this one.) This was remarkably delicate despite the fried topping, and each mouthful was perfumed with the fragrance of a superb green tea that had minimal astringency and a pleasant umami. Texturally, however, this bowl was rather less appealing; the rice in tea was alright (just like a porridge) but the kakiage had all but turned pale and soggy from having had the tea poured over it (and then partially submerging in it). I'm sure this dish was authentic but I would probably not order it for myself. My partner liked it though for its overall lightness and the sheer quality of the green tea broth.
Dessert was simply homemade yokan 羊羹, a very traditional Japanese jellied red bean delicacy typically shaped in long rectangular blocks, to be portioned at one's discretion. This was delightfully thick in texture (more like a solidified paste than gelatinous), bursting with the concentrated goodness of red beans, and to our pleasant surprise not cloyingly sweet, like many inferior versions are in order to mask their lack of real substance. One small chunk was all we needed to feel extremely contented.
In the meantime, our final drink was being prepared:
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| Higuchi-san whisks our matcha while we're having dessert. |
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| Beautiful tea bowl |
Maccha 抹茶 or powdered green tea is a digestif of sorts in the Japanese fine-dining context, usually coming after dessert to mitigate the immediate effects of the tea's characteristic bitterness. Traditionally, it is also the focus of the Japanese tea ceremony, which involves whisking with a bamboo brush to frothy perfection (that's much harder than it looks!) and presenting it in a highly ritualised manner. Of course the atmosphere was much more casual here, but the tea was still no less precisely executed - beautifully green and foamy on top, fresh and bitter in taste, and in just the right amount to cleanse the palate in three mouthfuls. We finished this sumptuous lunch feeling extremely fresh and rejuvenated.
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| The lovely couple! |
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| The small and elegant hinoki counter - reservations are probably a good idea if you're thinking of dinner. |
It had been a very restful midday break and we really enjoyed the attentive and warm service of the couple. They had been somewhat reserved at the beginning, but warmed up to us quickly during the meal as I spoke to them about my love for Japanese food. We felt very much at home. Little details from the ever-watchful Higuchi-san, such as providing a new sheet of absorbent paper on our serving dish every few courses once he noticed the oil spots accumulating, were not lost upon us. Our teacups were also being constantly and discreetly refilled by his wife standing at the side.
I suppose this place would be much more popular at dinner since people have to work during the day, but lunch is incredibly good value for money if you can make it. Portions were good and the quality and variety of ingredients were beyond doubt. It had also been a novel experience for us to pair different dips to different ingredients, instead of just using one generic sauce with radish for the whole meal.
Higuchi-san is very humble and friendly, and he speaks enough English to tell you what you're eating and how to eat it, but you'll get so much more out of the experience interacting with him in Japanese like I did, despite not being entirely fluent. We talked about various things such as his love for Chinese dim sum and Japanese food overseas. I also mentioned what fantastic value fine meals in Hiroshima were compared to, say, in bigger cities like Tokyo, and Higuchi-san answered that cost prices of high-quality ingredients and operating costs notwithstanding, chefs should always set their prices reasonably ('it is a matter of conscience'), instead of going all out to profiteer especially with the advent of the Michelin Guide in Japan - a reply that spoke volumes about his noble character. He even offered to waive the customary 5% tax for us - a small but kind gesture. Finally, we were sent on our way in the same manner in which we had been received two hours ago - very warmly and gently - by his wife. The whole lunch had been such a feel-good experience, and I will certainly be back if I am ever in Hiroshima again!
Address in kanji: 広島県広島市中区堀川町4-2
Tel.: (81) 82-249-8665
Open daily for lunch (11:30 am - 2 pm) and dinner (5:30 pm - 11 pm), except Sundays and over the New Year period.
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