Tempura Asanuma (天ぷら浅沼)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
🍤 Tempura / 📍 Nihombashi
📓 Visits: 1
There was a good balance of vegetables and fish. The best pieces in the set were the broccoli, which Asanuma-san slightly burned to enhance the flavour, the shirako and an outstanding hotate - fat, sweet and very fresh. Asanuma-san wants you to enjoy the batter so intentionally leaves a little more on his tempura than most quality tempura restaurants but it's not heavy. The meal reminded me very much of Ten Yokota: high quality ingredients perfectly cooked, courses identical in price, but nothing unusual or super-expensive. That said I'd rate Tempura Asanuma above Ten Yokota. Although the course doesn't include appetizers there were a couple more pieces of tempura in the set and unlike at Yokota the tempura didn't have a prevailing taste of sesame oil. Megochi was included in the set today rather than anago so be sure to request anago when booking if you want to eat it.
The counter seats eight. Asanuma runs the restaurant on his own. On my visit I was the only diner so the course finished relatively quickly but once the place gets busier Asanuma-san will need to hire an assistant otherwise hospitality will suffer.
The restaurant gets good natural light from two sides depending on the time of day and is so clean and new you could still smell the cedar wood interior. Asanuma-san doesn't speak any English but did chat a little (in Japanese).
Fault-free tempura, reasonably priced, easily one Michelin Star. Will possibly go back in another season.
📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1302/A130202/13275655/
❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.1
📱 Booking: 🟧 Was easy, now not so. Last year you could book the day before or the same day for dinner. By the first week of April 2023 they were full for the following two months. New reservation periods open on the 1st of every month. You can book via Tabelog but not if you're dining on your own. No English spoken.
📍 Location:
6F Ordin Nihombashi Building, 2-10-11 Nihombashi. 6F multi-tenant building behind Takashimaya Nihombashi SC Annex.
Map data ©2022 Google
📅 Visit October 2022
Hatoshi
Ebi tama x2
Ebi x2
Broccoli
Kisu
Maitake
Hotate
Shiitake ebi
Shishamo
Shirako
Renkon
Megochi
Nasu
Satsumaimo
Kakiagedon
Akadashi
Kurimushi-yokan
💴 Damage: 17,280 inc tea and one bottle of water
⏱️ Time taken: 1h30m but see note
I guess Tempura Asanuma must be getting a loyal following. My hotel concierge tried to book me a seat in four weeks and was told they are fully booked.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so apparently he is indeed full for April, May and June. Seats were available via Tabelog on 1st April but all got taken in a few days. There was a slot available for lunch on 4/28 when I called earlier today. He does get cancellations. Bookings for July will be taken on 1st May. Surprised how this suddenly jumped in popularity!
DeleteHoly crap, tried to book Asanuma again for early december and was told he' fully booked into 2024. Tokyogourmet, any recommendation for a solid tempuraya that is not too hard to book at lunch? I've been to: Sonoji (my favorite, but now impossible to book), Fukamachi (good but not great), Kondo (meh), Motoyoshi (love it, but not open for lunch), Shimomura (love it, currently my #1, but wouldn't mind trying elsewhere). Thinking about trying Nakagawa in Tsukiji - have you been? Would love your insights. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNakagawa is a bit heavy for me but if you like Mikawa-style tempura you might like it. I'd recommend Kusunoki (super difficult to book as well but he does open for lunch on Fridays and Satudays) or (at the other end of the price spectrum) Yukimura. Yukimura is very casual and not omakase-style but it's way above average for the price. Shunkeian Arakaki is on my list and open for lunch on Sundays and public holidays only. Can be reserved via Pocket Concierge. You could try Miyashiro as well. The cheapest lunch course is 15K now but it's pretty good.
DeleteThanks for the info, @tokyogourmet. Forgot to mention I did visit Miyashiro for dinner back in May of this year. Can't say I loved it: too many non-tempura items throughout which were hit and miss to me. Ended up booking Shimomura again, can't go wrong there. Will try booking Asanuma six months in advance next time. Thanks again!
DeleteHi, how to reserve a seat for Teampura Asanuma now ? I've asked my concierge to call, but no one response.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's pretty hard to book now. I've only been once.
DeleteTempura Asanuma appears to have a tablecheck page. You can find it if you look up the restaurant in the Michelin website. It appears they release reservations 2 months in advance on the first day of the month.
DeleteThanks, wasn't aware of that. Here's the link: https://www.tablecheck.com/en/tempura-asanuma/reserve/message. Hope he actually releases seats. I heard the next available reservation isn't until well into next year now.
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