Tempura Tensho Aoyoma てんぷら天翔 青山 (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

I can see everyone breathing a sigh of relief last night when yours truly finally touched down in Tokyo to join the party. There's a real sense of optimism in the air with the dining plans now fully under my guidance rather than Jelloman's. Everything (when it comes to food) should look up from now on.

Our first official meal since my arrival last night was arranged at Tempura Tensho (てんぷら天翔). Located just a stone's throw from Gaiemmae Station (外苑前) , Tempura Tensho is one of the few tempura restaurants in Tokyo that accepts reservation for kids and also opens on Sunday. The fact that they allow online booking via Tabelog for parties over four also made my life a little easier (and no deposit as usual). I found that a lot of restaurants in Japan do not accept online booking for parties over four. It has to be done over the phone for some reason.

I really like the way they organize the space here. A few tables right behind the counter bar. There were partitions in between to give everybody some much-needed privacy.

Of course, I opted to sit at the counter like I always do. And what a beautiful scene it was to see our chef showcasing all the fresh ingredients from our course meal right from the start.

Now I'll simply sit back, relax and enjoy.

Every now and then, I would take a closer look at what's going on behind the scene – deep-fried shrimp heads is coning up!

Shrimp head – One of the delicacies from a tempura meal. Crisp and full of flavors. At this point, I was also getting myself ready for the rest of the dishes with the two types of salt, sea salt and rock salt.

Tiger prawn (車海老) – Very nice and stringy, and the thin batter was perfect.

Young corn – Not my favorite in a tempura meal. Crunchy.

Tilefish (甘鯛) – The tilefish was a little softer than I have expected but I thought it was pretty tasty.

Eggplant (丸茄子) – Reasonably juicy but not the crunchy on the outside and soft, juicy inside type.

Okra (秋葵) – Quite decent. I had two of these with little nugget throwing his white towel on it.

Squash (南瓜) – Not bad.

Conger Fish (鱧) wrapped with shiso leaf – Liked the added flavors from the shiso leaf.

Maitake mushroom (舞茸) – Probably my third favorite dish just behind the shrimp head and tiger prawn. Very delicate and tasty.

We had a choice between a tendon (天丼), tencha (天茶) or cold Inaniwa Udon (天ざる稲庭); each would be served with a kakiage, made with small shrimps and vegetables.

A delicious tendon with a freshly fried kakiage on top was way too tempting to turn down so it was an easy decision for me. The homemade sweet soy was a pretty nice touch.

The rice was served with a small bowl of red miso soup.

A matcha ice-cream monaka helped to put the icing on the cake.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 1/F Hotel Allamanda Aoyama, 2-7-13 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0061, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Gaiemmae

Tel: +81 50-3184-3600

Website: www.tempura-tensho.jp/aoyama.html

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:30pm daily