When you are traveling with adventurous minds, you never know what you’ll find… One evening, we walked over to a restaurant we planned to have dinner at, and then, we found out they were closed on that evening! Stranded in the dark, my gourmet sister suggested another spot that she found during her extensive searches before the trip. Now, she knows good food, and she has never been wrong. So, we decided to trust her (with pleasure) and followed her to this unknown restaurant. We walked through some quiet neighborhood with older houses, thinking “is there really an awesome (or any) restaurant in this residential area???” After walking in the dark for a bit, with concern on our faces, we found it!!! Yes, it was located in a residential area, like a great surprise, a hidden gem.

When we entered through the simple, dark-colored sliding door, the inside was like another world. It was sophisticated and classy, not some casual hang-out place. We were quickly met with the staff, who had kind of sad dace. Why? Because she knew we didn’t have reservation… But, after talking with the chef, and that we were willing to wait, and to limit ourselves to a particular course menu, they let us in! Thank you!

They have a shoe locker at the entrance, and here, you leave your shoes, lock it in a locker (you will keep the key with you the whole time), and use the slippers to walk around the restaurant. Very old fashioned. The main feature here is the large counter seats, surrounding the chef who was busy cooking up some tempura. I took the photo after all the customer has left, but it was full when we got here.

In addition to counter seats, they have three semi-separated rooms, each equipped with Horigotatsu. It is a low dining table placed over a large rectangle hole in the floor. You can dangle your legs there, the same way you would be sitting on a chair, instead of sitting on the floor which can be uncomfortable if you are not used to that. Even thought the atmosphere was all sophisticated rather than cozy, but their decor was really cute. I liked all the little cute accents everywhere.

We were taken to one of these rooms, nice size, spacious, and quite comfy. Each of these rooms had bamboo screen between the room and the main dining floor. This gave privacy without closing up the space, so that you still feel like the room is quite large and open.

Great thing about this restaurant is that all the ingredients are SUPER fresh. They get just enough amount and then plus alpha for the expected numbers of customers. Because of that, customers without reservation are not allowed to order from a la carte menu, but have to order the smallest course menu. I believe they had three course menu. Since we have never been here, getting a course menu was much easier, and smallest course menu was also the cheapest (of course) so that worked out well too. It was Seasonal Dishes and Tempura Course (4,350 yen including tax). The first up was the appetizer.

The appetizer was plated so beautifully and elegantly, our expectation was going up! Most of their ingredients come from local and nearby farms in Shizuoka. All seasonal so that they are their peak, the most delicious time to be eaten. They had Edamame and boiled peanut on the dish to the right. They had really nice flavor with the right amount of salty-ness. I don’t know how they made something so simple to taste so remarkable and rich…

The one in the middle was Mozuku and Tokoroten in Japanese Vinegar Sauce. Mozuku is the dark-colored seaweed that is edible, and Tokoroten is also made from seaweed, but they come out almost clear. By boiling the particular kind of seaweed for Tokoroten, it produces agar. Agar is then firmed and shaped into noodles for easy consumption. They were super refreshing with vinegar flavor, and had deep, earthy flavor.

The plate on the left had Umaki (unagi in egg omelette). It was the season for eels for sure! They had cooked eel wrapped in fluffy egg, perfectly centered. I have never had anything like it! It was small but the flavor was certainly big. Sweet and fluffy, super delicious!

Since it was a hot evening, we asked for iced Japanese Tea, and it came in a uniquely shaped glass. It felt like it was ergonomically designed? Either way, it looked hand-made, pretty cool glass. All the dishes they had looked really unique too, I really liked that! And yes tea was super refreshing.

I noticed they had a nice set of seasonings on the end of the table. They were salt for tempura, and had Anded Rock Salt which had slight pink hue. Then the Curry Flavored Salt, and Seaweed Salt which was black. Pretty cool!

After the appetizer, we each got Moroheiya and White Gourd Dipping Sauce for Tempura. Look how pretty the dipping sauce is! My goodness they do everything perfectly… We put all the different salt on the side plate for those salt, and waited for the tempura to arrive…

The first set of tempura arrived, elegantly placed on the plate. It had nice aroma of sesame oil, and I could tell they were just fried, fresh and hot! It had Angel Shrimp, Young Bell Pepper and Eggplant.

Young Bell Pepper was thick and meaty, great fresh texture with crunch. It was fat and firm but had nice softness to it too. Super fresh. I dipped it in the dipping sauce, which was awesome. The dipping sauce had a bit of slimy texture from Moroheiya, which helped grasp onto the tempura pieces. Cold and refreshing, went great with vegetable tempura.

Eggplant was cut thick too, and it was cooked to the point where it just melt in your mouth. So awesome! I like eggplant already, so this was a really great bite. Notice the portion of each item is small, but the quality is amazingly high. I take quality over quantity any day.

Angel shrimp was fluffy, I knew I was in for a treat with this one too. When you get some other cheap shrimp tempura made by non-professional, the tempura batter is so thick and under-cooked. Here, the batter is thin, yet offers perfectly crunchy exterior and extra flavor. What an amazing skill!

For this shrimp, I dabbed a little rock salt on it and went in. It was so juicy and plump, really delicious! Added salt enhanced the natural flavor of the shrimp.

The last thing I left on my plat was the top half of the shrimp. The whole thing was fried crispy, kind of like eating a soft-shell crab. Pretty nice. Angel Shrimp is one of the highest quality shrimps in the world, only offered at top-end restaurants. When using such incredible ingredient, you do not waste any part of it! I am so happy I got to try it, it was really amazing.

Then the next course, Pufferfish and Yariika Tempura. Now, Pufferfish can be deadly if not prepared correctly by the highly skilled chef. And for this reason, I don’t think I have ever tried pufferfish before… But, I knew the chef here was pretty darn skillfull, so I said why not!

The fish was so tender and juicy, just by looking at it I was happy… I tried it with curry flavored salt this time. It was tasty, flaky, melt in my mouth good. My first experience with Pufferfish was pretty incredible and memorable, all in a good way of course.

Yariika, which is a kind of squid, was nice and juicy too. I dabbed a little seaweed salt, and it was a great match also. A hint of seaweed flavor which brought out the squid flavor. The squid was cooked to perfect, firm but soft, chewy but not too chewy.

Then, we changed up and got Beef Tataki Salad. It is like a pallet cleanser before moving onto more tempura. Beef tataki is a beef that is quickly seared over high heat, leaving the center very rare. So, it is almost like beef sashimi.

It was super fresh dish, really refreshing and a perfect pallet cleanser for sure. The meat was tender and soft, melt in your mouth. The thick sesame dressing was so tasty and went great with the beef.

After that refreshing salad, we were ready for more tempura! It had Japanese Whiting Fish, Young Ginger Shoot, and Fig Tempura.

The whiting had its bone placed on top, cooked to crispy crunch. Great source of calcium. The fish was really tender, flaky and soft. It tasted great both with the dipping sauce and with salt.

Young Ginger Root was really interesting. I never had anything like this, I tell you, the chef here is very innovative and creative. It was fried lightly like all others, with thin batter and crispy exterior. It was very fresh and great texture. It was not soft but just soft enough.

Then the fig was most interesting. Frying a fruit? Really? Come on! And yes, he did, and he did so well… It was really good to my surprise, crunchy exterior with juicy fruit in the inside. Amazing! The chef brought out nothing but a pleasant surprise after another!

Then we got a green tea, a REAL deal green tea. Rich, deep and soothing. Of course in a tea mug that looked hand-made.

The last course had a choice between two donburi dishes. My hubby and I ordered different ones so that we can both taste them both. The first one was Corn Kakiage Donburi with Japanese Clam Soup.

This thing was AWESOME! Soooooo tasty! It was fried really crunchy with lots of sweet corn and dried seaweed. Inside was nice and moist, packed with flavor. Each bite was joyful. Went great with high quality white rice. Comfort food to the max! They came with a little side dish of pickled cucumber, fresh myoga, Japanese mountain yam and kombu. Each one was high quality, tasty and complimented the donburi and soup.

The other one was Sakura Shrimp Kakikage Donburi. This one was super crunchy and aroma of the shrimp was intoxicating. This one is served like ochazuke, but we were recommended to taste the tempura as is first, then pour the tea on top. I did exactly that and it was great! Super crunchy, party to my taste buds!

I poured the tea on top, and it was not regular green tea, but it was hoji-cha! I love the flavor of hoji-cha, which is a roasted Japanese tea. I never had ochazuke with hoji-cha before, I thought it was really creative. It went great with the shrimp kakiage, added roasted flavor from hoji-cha made it even more earthy and comforting.

Japanese clam soup was great, it had really rich dashi flavor. Just a hint of miso was needed since it has strong shell fish and katsuo dashi flavor. Nothing but quality here. I loved the cute bowl with rabbit with the moon in the background.

And it was time for dessert! It was Fresh Peach with White Peach Sorbet. It came in a beautiful glass bowl, presentation was perfect all the way to the end. At this point, we were all pretty full, so we were happy with a small dessert.

The peaches were really juicy, peak of its prime and just melted in my mouth. The sorbet had just the right sweetness, not overly sweet. It went great with the natural sweet flavor of the fruits.

The glass bowl was placed on a piece of Japanese washi-paper, and each one placed on different design paper. I thought it was a really lovely and fun touch.

They have a bathroom at the back corner. I loved the sign on the door, one says Princess and the other one says Lord. I gladly use the restroom with a sign Princess any day.

They have one bathroom stall for each, and it was really clean. They have a special slippers for the use of bathroom only. I knew they pay attention to detail in every way, but here I found that attention extends to toilet paper! Look how cute their toilet paper is…adorable, right?

There is one sink area between the Princess and the Lord bathroom (still kind of funny!). They had individually wrapped toothpicks for customers there in case anyone needs one.

It had cute little gold fish decoration there and also a frog on the wall, all made with fabric for softer and homey atmosphere. The decorations were fun and adorable, without being too much or too loud.

We had simply AMAZING dinner here, so glad my sister found this place, and so grateful that they allowed us to dine there without reservation. Now, reservation is NOT required, but very highly recommended. They have total of around 20 seating, including the counter seats. The chef, Masato Sato was really nice, he talked with us before we left, and even allowed us to take photos with us. He seems young but his skill sets, talent and innovative mind are over the top! I believe they are Cash only, so don’t forget to bring some cash! This is a true hidden gem. If you love (or just like) tempura, this is a spot not to miss, you would not regret it!

 

Tempura Shunsai Saichi – 2-14-21 Midorigaoka, Kakegawa City, Shizuoka, Japan

天ぷら 旬菜 佐いち – 静岡県掛川市緑ケ丘2-14-21