Tempura Azabu Yokota Ginza Bettei (天冨良 麻布よこ田 銀座別邸)
⭐⭐⭐
🍤 Tempura / 📍 Ginza
📓 Visits: 1
The table below summarizes the lunch options. All meals come with appetizer, chawanmushi, rice, akadashi and pickles. On my visit I chose the cheapest lunch.
The restaurant is in a windowless basement. Phone reception is fine. On my visit there were two other diners at the counter who arrived at the same time as me and two groups in private rooms. If you dine in a private room several items of tempura will be brought to you at once on a large tray for the room to share. At the counter, chef introduced each piece of tempura properly and knew the English names of some of the items. There was no other conversation and no atmosphere but that's fine for lunch. I nervously entered wearing rough shorts and T-shirt but it was fine.
A cold appetizer of kurage and kuri took 15 minutes to arrive. This was followed 10 minutes later by a cold chawanmushi. A minute later the tempura started. Full menu is below but highlights (and lowlights) were:
- Ebi - quality of frozen fish. 5/10.
- Renkon - oily. 7/10.
- Nasu - huge (half an eggplant rather than the usual 1/4 or less), mild taste from the oil. 8/10.
- Hotate - large but a strong vinegary taste. 6.5/10.
- Togarashi - large, very sweet, no string and less oily than renkon. 9/10.
- Young corn - along with the togarashi the best of today's tempura. 9/10.
- Satsumaimo - bit dry.
The tempura is served with salt, lemon and curry salt. No tensyu is provided. Rice was no better than the standard of rice you'd get in an average teishoku restaurant and I did not finish mine. Akadashi was excellent and I asked for a refill. Pickles were decent.
The final piece of tempura was served 20 minutes after the first so most of the time taken was waiting at the beginning of the meal. I appreciate chef has preparation to do, especially if you're the first guest of the day, so I was prepared to wait. But that's the point of the appetizers. Since these were all pre-made there's no reason these couldn't have been served more quickly and not literally a minute before the tempura started.
There was a definite lingering taste of oil on my palate as I walked out. Paper on which the tempura rested was not changed during the meal. The only picture you need is of how much grease remains on the paper after everything has been served. Since a picture of grease alone is not very appetizing I restrained myself and include a picture of the final piece of tempura. But you still get the idea.
There were some major faults in the meal as I pointed out (the shrimp, rice and scallop). Dinner courses range from JPY 11,000 to 16,000. If I'd dropped 10K on dinner and it was this quality I'd have been disappointed and that's how I felt when I had dinner at Tempura Yokota, which is about the same standard. But ten pieces of tempura of this standard for JPY 3,500 in Ginza is a pretty good deal and it's more than enough for lunch. The restaurant had only been open six weeks so hopefully service will improve over time. I'll probably go back for the cheap lunch again.
In December 2022 an Ebisu Garden Place branch opened and in January 2023 a Shinjuku branch opened with a slightly different (and more expensive) menu.
📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13272313/
❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.75 (would be lower at dinner)
📱 Booking: 🟩 Easy. Immediate via Tabelog, phone or just walk-in.
📍 Location:
Map data ©2022 Google
📶 Free WiFi? ❌ No
📅 Visit August 2022
Kurage, kuri (zensai)
Cold chawanmushi
Ebi x2
Kabocha x2
Okra
Young corn
Madai
Asparagus
Renkon
Nasu
Hotate
Togarashi
Satsumaimo
Akadashi
Pickles
💴 Damage: 3,500 incl. water
⏱️ Time taken: 1h
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