 When you are questioned about the Japanese representative foods, what do
you reply? Probably, Sushi, Sukiyaki, Tempura, etc. will come across your
mind. These cuisines are so popular and common that you can get ready-made
Sushi and Tempura even in the basements of the department stores in Japan.
On the other hand, they will be transformed into four-star meals at the
classy restaurant. For Japanese, eating freshly-fried Tempura at the counter
table in front of the cook is one of the most precious things to do. It
takes a lot of courage to go into those kinds of restaurants because it
will cost a lot. Therefore, we are going to introduce the restaurant that
you can have freshly-fried Tempura at the counter table at the reasonable
price.The name of the restaurant is "Ten-asa", which is located along the calm street near Ginza. The numbers of the seats are just 10 and all of them are facing the counter table. It seems to be a cubby restaurant, but it should be enough size that one cook can manage. When we eat Tempura at the counter in Ginza, we have to be prepared ourselves to pay more than 10,000 yen, but the price range of this restaurant is quite reasonable. For example, the price of the course dinner starts with 4,800 yen, medium course costs 5,800 yen, and even the most expensive course is 6,800 yen. The ingredients to be used for the course dinner are vegetables and fishes of the season. This time of year, we can have the sprout of butterbur and angelica, the springlike vegetables. The tastes of them are soft and gentle, a little bit bitter though, as if they have the energy to push out new shoots. Therefore, we feel we can get the great energy from them. Thus we can enjoy various kinds of seasonal foods at different seasons of the year at this restaurant. Regarding the fishes, we can have the whitebait and shrimps and pond smelts, and so on. Such white flesh is excellent with the crispy deep-fried coating. And the sweetness of the white flesh is drawn when you have it with a little salt.  As for the finish of the dinner course, you have the three choices, Tencha,
Kakiage-don and Kakiage with rice. Tencha is Tempura and rice in the soup.
The taste of it is so light that you can eat it smoothly. Kakiage-don is
rice served in a bowl topped with Tempura. As the sauce poured over it
is properly sweet and salty, it fits together well with the rich taste
of the Tenpura. If you love the plain rice (a lot of Japanese love it),
choose the rice and Tempura.The master and mistress are gentle and kind and the prices are reasonable; "Ten-asa" is the restaurant that you may want to visit from season to season.
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