Before there was Tendon Ginza Itsuki, Tenshin was the only restaurant specializing in tempura. I have long read about Tenshin, but only managed to make my first visit in October 2015 for a weekday dinner.

And with the recent openings of Tempura Kohaku and Tempura Tsukiji Tenka, I decided to head back to Tenshin for their ten-don (tempura donburi). Oh yes, I was on my quest of deciding which was good. Not better.

For both visits (at Tenshin), reservation was made with less than 2 hours to actual dining time. Yes, impromptu meals. And yes, by myself too! =) However, if one prefers table seat, one should make reservation a few days earlier. For my recent lunch at Tenshin, I was informed they only had counter seats left.

And it’s a 15 to 18 minutes walk from Orchard MRT station. Do bring an umbrella if the sky threatens to rain as it’s a non-sheltered walk. I was sweating much under the hot sun though. Yeps!

And from the lunch menu and dinner menu, I ordered:-

1) Tokusen tendon, $55 (lunch) comprised of:-

(A) Pre-appetizer, $3 (above) – Beancurd skin.

(B) Salad (above)

(C) Pickles (above)

(D) Assorted tempura on rice (above) – With tempura comprised of prawn tempura cake, asparagus, pumpkin, eggplant and mushroom. For the prawn tempura cake, the prawns were cut into smaller pieces. And although it was served as a ‘cake’ in a big piece, one could easily break it up and enjoy the prawn in its individual (smaller) sizes since every piece was also coated with batter. Interesting! And it’s strongly recommended to consume when the dish is warm. I got distracted (on my phone) towards the end of finishing my ten-don. And when I tried my (remaining) prawn tempura cake, the batter was no longer as crisp after it had turned cold.

(E) Miso soup (above) – Soup of tofu and mushroom.

(F) Dessert (above) – Lime sorbet.

2) Yuki (tempura course), $180 (dinner) comprised of:-

(A) Pre-appetizer, $3 (above)

(B) Appetizer (above)

(C) Salad (above)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

(D) Tempura (above) – Comprised of 6 kinds of seafood and 5 kinds of vegetables. I chose this particular set course because it was the only set which included the sea urchin tempura! =p And one could enjoy the tempura in different ways; With the various powders (chili salt, sea salt, matcha salt and curry salt) or by dipping it into the dipping sauce. Grated radish was placed separately in a bowl for one to add it portion by portion into the dipping sauce, according to one’s preference.

(E) Rice bowl & pickles (above) – With options of tea on rice, scattered rice, rice bowl with small prawn tempura-cake or special tuna on rice for my rice bowl, I went for the latter cause I needed my tuna. And it didn’t disappoint. The texture of the marinated tuna was really smooth, with its taste enhanced. It was a refreshing change after all the deep fried food too. Not that the tempura were greasy. In fact, the batter was light and crispy. Really commendable.

(F) Miso soup (above)

(G) Dessert (above)

My conclusion to my quest of good ten-don? The one at Tenshin didn’t disappoint!

I also noticed the tempura pieces at Tenshin was slightly different in the sense that the batter was really thin; Pieces were not heavily coated. And though drizzled with sauce (in my ten-don), the batter stayed crispy! The way it should be! =)

When I made payment for my ten-don (lunch menu’s), I enquired if it was available during dinner. Since I didn’t take note of the other available options when I came in October 2015 because I went straight for the set which had my sea urchin tempura. Haha. And the staff informed dinner menu’s ten-don was slightly more expensive at $70, but come in a bigger portion with additional fish. And it’s also with that I compared the current dinner menu with pictures of the dinner menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) which I took back in October 2015 that I realised Tenshin has since increased the price for all courses except Yuki (the one which I had). Price increase ranges from $5 to $20. Hmm…

Nonethless, I would still recommend Tenshin for tempura!

Related posts:

Lunch @ Kogane Yama Lunch @ Sushi Mitsuya Lunch @ Tendon Ginza Itsuki Lunch @ Aoki Restaurant [Revisit] Lunch @ Hashida Sushi [Revisit]