Tempura Miyashita is a restaurant in Kanazawa which serves a tempura omakase around a U-Shaped counter where you can watch the chef prepare each course. There are a couple of choices with the main difference being some have fish while others are prawn and veg only. “In the moment”, it was an amazing dinner. I was enthralled by the traditional Japanese dining room, being in Kanazawa, and having tempura omakase which is not readily available in the city I live in. However, while reviewing my photos for this post, with the euphoria gone, the meal was just OK. I went with the prawn and veg course as I don’t particularly like fish tempura. I think fried fish is best in the UK. The meal started with a salad:
…and then the tempura started. The first piece we were given was the fried head of the prawn to come. It was a good start to the meal, crispy, well seasoned and delicious.
The prawns themselves, the only real protein in the meal, were disappointing. They were tiny.
The next pieces were the vegetables; mushroom:
Onion:
Then another salad course:
Eggplant:
My favorite course was the lima beans. The flavor was unique and delicious. Served with baby corn.
Then beans:
The meal ended with a tempura mixture of shrimp and various other pieces on rice served with pickles and miso.
Then jelly and strawberries for dessert:
Overall, service was good. The whole place is basically run by one guy. The food was just ok. The tempura was good but not the best I’ve had. I think that the shrimp was disappointing because they were small. I would of liked to see more meaty larger prawns. I value quality over quantity, but I think many of the courses could of been more substantial. The batter was a bit thin on some pieces. I don’t know if traditionally, it should be thicker or as it was served to us, but I prefer the former. I would not return, but would recommend to someone who was in Kanazawa and wanted to experience tempura omakase and has not had it before. However, its not a “must try”. Prices are generally lower than what one would pay in Tokyo so if in Kanazawa and looking to try tempura in an omakase setting, this would be a good option. Note that this place only takes cash.
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ogres unite! welcome to the club fft. you had kushikatsu where it was invented. I love how they fry up the jammy quail eggs whole, bursting in mouth. imagine if they could get some coarse crunchy salt inside the yolk for that burst moment
Dropped $150 on tempura omakase in Tokyo, and as you mentioned, it feels like the experience at the time is top-notch, but looking back, sentiment changes to “just okay”, and have concluded that 1 time would be the last for me.
Tempura omakase is a bit of a scam, but interestingly, it feeds off of sushi omakase. So, frying up food as a sophisticated culinary approach is debatable (my personal preference is to fry everything, but I am an ogre) but it feels like chefs would want to apply more sophisticated techniques to present food, like with all the foams and domes and micro greens landscaping and such. So, the focus goes to the quality of ingredients, and the omakase could consist of seasonal items that are artisanly sourced, fried 1 by 1, to ensure the best state of the course within seconds of consumption. Sitting there and having a chef within 1 metre of my seat, coat a green bean in tempura batter and deep fry it, and present to me at the peak of crispiness, is exactly what one should expect for a tempura omakase.
Sushi omakase applies even less cooking to each course, allowing for more subtle techniques to shine through, like marinades and charcoal smoking. Tempura omakase is simply following the sushi omakase template.
The scam is the ingredients.
Sushi omakase is better value because the range of seafood, with most omakase including cuts of blue fin tuna and uni which are costly, and other less common items being costly to acquire and prepare, such as puffer fish, caviars and scallops. I would walk if a sushi omakase did not include blue fin tuna (still an ogre just likes buttery otoro). However, for tempura omakase, if you dared to deep fry an expensive ingredient, like blue fin tuna, most would agree that you have stripped the sophistication from that luxurious cut of fish. So, there is no incentive to include costlier ingredients. And no matter how artisan, you can’t justify the existence of a luxury green bean.
Your post made me think – skip tempura omakase altogether. The best tempura experience is ten don. In Tokyo, a good place will involve the chef personally bringing out the freshly fried tempura to your table to indicate peak condition for eating with umami-exploding dipping sauce. Maybe not the cachet of omakase, but you still get the bespoke experience
Actually, one of the most memorable meals I’ve had was fried. It was Kushikatsu or kushiage, at Kitashinchi Kushikatsu Bon, in Oska. I have a review here: https://foodfinancetravel.com/2024/12/16/kitashinchi-kushikatsu-bon-is-a-must-eat-in-osaka/
The problem with Miyashita is because I used to run a food service business, I am aware of when a place is “cheating” with ingredients. I have had good tempura omakase before, but I agree with you, its harder to find than a good sushi omakase.