どくだみちゃん
I received an invitation from a friend I often go out to eat tempura with! It's a 5-minute walk from Shinjuku West Exit. It's on the 3rd floor of a building with many food and beverage establishments. The restaurant mainly has counter seats, but also several private rooms. This time, we sat at the counter where we could watch the tempura being fried in front of us. The restaurant was fully booked that day. We had the chef's special course, which included: eel's rich soup, bonito tataki, shrimp, asparagus, red squid, raw shiitake mushrooms, sea bream with broad beans, three types of sake dishes, horse mackerel sushi wrapped in bamboo leaves, corn tofu, shrimp and salmon roe hand rolls, conger eel with plum, yam, scallops, eggplant, conger eel tempura, and shrimp tempura rice bowl or tempura tea. We had tempura tea with salt, curry salt, and lemon as well. The final eggplant and conger eel are eaten with tempura dipping sauce. The course was very fulfilling. We started with the soup to warm up our stomachs. The sashimi was fresh, and the three sake dishes were perfect for drinking. The tempura, which we were looking forward to, had a light and crispy batter. My favorites were the flavorful raw shiitake mushrooms, fresh asparagus, rare scallops, and melt-in-your-mouth eggplant. Despite the many dishes, the tempura had excellent oil control, making it an ideal tempura that didn't leave us feeling too full. The inclusion of hand rolls with seaweed in between was also a fun course structure. We finished with tempura tea to cleanse our palates. My friend had tempura rice bowl with red miso soup, which also looked delicious. It's impressive that the restaurant was fully booked in an area with a lot of food and beverage establishments, especially in a location that isn't very noticeable. By the way, I remembered while writing this review that "Yokota," a famous restaurant in Azabu-Juban, supervised this place. Oh, speaking of "Yokota," they are known for their curry salt!