Chuo City, Tokyo, Japan｜Tempura Kondo

APRIL 2023 Dined here with a reservation for dinner and had the basic course which included nine different ingredients and a choice of kakiage tendon, tencha, or kakiage with a bowl of rice on the side. Each ingredient was coated in the tempura batter and deep fried with precision, served one at a time as a pair so you can try them both ways with tempura sauce and grated radish, and salt and lemon. All the ingredients were fresh and delicious; tempura coating was thin, light and crisp, it was very clean tasting and not greasy at all. Tendon with the sweet sauce was also very tasty. The only downside to the meal was their specialty sweet potato tempura which can be added to the course; and unfortunately it was not soft and moist, but rather dry. The atmosphere felt very traditional with only locals dining during my session. The chefs have minimal English but were polite. Staffs were also friendly and attentive, refilling the tea as needed.

My wife and I went to Tempura Kondo last month. There are many good tempura restaurants in Tokyo, and only a few went above and beyond to bring outstanding dining experience for tempura lovers like myself. Tempura kondo is one of the two I had visited so far in Tokyo that brought great satisfaction to my quest for high quality tempura. I personally found their vegetable tempura particularly outstanding. Their sweet potato tempura was really tasty, crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. Their seafood ingredients were very fresh and carefully prepared before presented to the chef for frying. I found their 穴子 was very very delicious and nicely fried at the perfect temperature. However I personally found their 車海老 (tiger shrimp) can be better, the meat was a bit soft in the inside and outside can be crispier too. The batter for the head was slightly thinker than I thought, but overall was still good. This place is recommend for serious Tempura lovers. I would recommend to make a reservation early before your visit.

Food and service were excellent, I prebooked and went with the “Yomogi” set course, which includes a sashimi platter prior to the tempura starting. The tempura batter was very light and not too oily at all, they make everything fresh right in front of you and serve it to you one piece at a time. The chef carefully explained things to me in English as my Japanese is not great, as well as recommendations as to how to enjoy each dish. Servers were continually changing the paper on the plate in front of me so that there was always a fresh sheet to absorb any excess oils. I would highly recommend Tempura Kondo, although next time I would probably opt for the standard tempura only set.