Ginza Istuki 銀座いつき – Finally a Tempura specialty store!

Ginza Istuki 銀座いつき

Near Tanjong Pagar MRT

 

Ginza Itsuki 銀座いつき has been creating the buzz for quite some time already; even into its one month of opening, the queue remains unabated. Starting to look more and more like a Japanese yokocho 横丁(tiny restaurants lined side by side along a street) with so many Japanese restaurants springing up in that enclave, Keisuke has just injected more vibrancy with its recent joint venture in Ginza Itsuki 銀座いつき. Its only menu – tempura don or tendon (天丼) in short. Have been a huge fan of specialty stalls or Sen Mon Ten 専門店 in Japan as they tend to be the most stellar performers in their own field and the excitement comes from the fact that we are finally getting some of these influences here!

 

And what keeps Ginza Itsuki so competitive lies in its pricing – $13.90 for the special Don set that comes with a bowl of tasty miso soup and silky chawanmushi, this could be the fiercest pricing war that we’ve ever witnessed. Despite being a Tendon senmonten, both its miso soup and chawanmushi were also beaming with the highest quality as the latter has a much heavier egg fragrance when compared to those sold outside. That has definitely helped significantly in further lifting the already high quality set!

 

A meticulous plating that you could still get over here even with just the seemingly monotonous-looking golden brown tempura, that is a huge testament to a real Japanese chef behind the fryer! And the types of tempura topped on your bowl of rotund Pearl rice: A large piece of tender chicken breast, really fresh and succulent prawns, long beans, naturally sweet cornlette, pumpkin and mushroom! All made perfect with a coating of the light and crispy batter lashed with the slightly sweet but savoury Tendon sauce.

When you continue to dig further, you get a beautiful tempura egg that looks all ready to explode!

 

My first tempura egg and boy, it was amazingly coated with a crispy crust while the yolk remains so runny, which makes the rice even more delectable!

And if you feel that you have a weak tolerance for queues, not to worry as it was about a 30min wait only and they have benches outside to keep you comfortable. And don’t worry vegetarians, as they have a vegetarian set as the only other set on the menu! Lets get more of such senmonten in Sg please!

Verdict: An excellent restaurant