Tempura Horikawa ほり川 @ Tokyo

Everyone loves fried food, and there’s a healthier choice – Japanese tempura. This set meal is 976 kcal, yes, that’s indicated on the menu.

Everyone loves Japanese tempura. Even though it was brought to Japan by Portuguese, the Japanese has perfected the art of deep fried food. The batter is thin and light, adjusted accordingly to each ingredient. Items are fried individually, with timing precision down to the second. It’s an art form in an of itself.

This method of frying food was introduced in the 1600s by Portuguese missionaries. The original dish has disappeared, but it was a meal meant for Lent, when many Christian denominations are forbidden to eat meat. In fact, the name tempura comes from the Latin ad tempora cuaresme, which means ‘in the time of Lent.

Outside of Japan, it is rare to find dedicated tempura restaurants. Tempura Horikawa is a specialised tempura restaurant located within the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo, offering a refined dining experience based on traditional Japanese cuisine. I was actually surprised to see a live tank of Kurama shrimps right behind the counter. The tempura shrimps are going to be really good!

The course contains a good mix of vegetables and seafood.

佐渡の深海塩 Deep sea salt from Sado is used. The salt is made by boiling deep ocean water pumped from about 3,600 metres off the coast of Tada and a depth of 330 metres in Sadogashima, Niigata Prefecture, in a flat kettle for 24 hours. They purchase it in a state of coarse salt and then grind them in-house to a fine grain for serving. They also provide 抹茶塩 matcha salt, which is matcha mixed with two types of salt.

小付 Appetiser

Appetisers are not a tempura restaurant’s forte and neither is sashimi. So I picked a deluxe course that does not have any sashimi.

One of the small bites are the heads of the tiger prawns that you are about to partake. Lightly enrobed in a crisp, golden batter that they call kitsune-iro, or “the colour of a fox’s fur, they were good snacks to drink cold beer with. The shrimp heads are only available in the best tempura-ya to show off the freshness of the shrimp used. Together with the prawn’s heads was a conger eel bone. This one I don’t appreciate as much. 

Tempura is typically served with tendashi, a soy-based dipping sauce. The tempura dashi is made with bonito flakes containing blood and Rausu kelp from Hokkaido, which has a strong umami flavour. Lightly dip your tempura piece into the sauce – just enough to flavour it, not enough to make it soggy. Instead of lemon, they also provide squeezed orange juice seasoned with sake and salt.

If you like me, really enjoy the sauce, you can put in more grated radish to soak up the sauce and enjoy the radish as a palate cleanser between tempura.. The radish is grated by hand and not machine so the texture is better.

活車海老 Live Kurama Shrimps

Our lunch started with kuruma ebi, aka tiger prawns live and fresh from the tank, and sizzling and crispy from the wok. This I was told to dab sparingly in salt, and then eat it tail and all. It was such a brilliant way to start the meal that you wish it could be repeated. Fortunately, it was – two more pieces towards the end of the meal.

Long time again I was told that the Japanese would first taste their tempura shrimp with salt because that would bring out the natural sweetness of the shrimps, especially if it is live tiger prawns. I have not change that habit since.

野菜スティック Vegetable Sticks

Next up, a plate of Japanese vegetables served with miso paste. Simple and yet nutritious.

特選魚介含む季節の魚 Shellfish, Variety of Fish

This is not presented sequentially as the chef would intertwined the fish with vegetable. The first piece was the 車海老 kurama shrimp followed by the さつまいも (satsumaimo) sweet potato. Usually the fish and seafood that will take the lightest touch of hot oil that are served first because once you raise the temperature of the oil it takes a while to go back to optimal temperature for the rest.

鱚 (きす/キス/Kisu) Sillago

鱚 Kisu, aka “kissing fish”, is a very common tempura fish in Japan that you seldom get in Singapore. Even if you do, they are the frozen type and would not taste as good. I didn’t know that its proper English name is Sillago.

After the onion, the next two pieces only require the lightest of touch as the ingredients cook or disintegrate very quickly in high heat.

貝柱磯辺揚げ Scallop seaweed roll

Isobe or wrapped in seaweed is a common way to serve scallops, but to see it used in deep fried scallop, this was my first time. Quite delicious as you get different types of umami from the two ingredients.

鯛の大葉巻き Sea bream wrapped with shiso leaf

It is one of their signature dishes. A small amount of cheese is sandwiched on the sea bream and wrapped in large leaves. The deep frying melts the cheese so you get a hot, molten centre when you bite into the crispy shiso leaf and tender, juicy sea bream.

In effect, tempura is like steaming the ingredient. As water or moisture in the ingredient is heated rapidly in hot oil, the resulting steam cooks the ingredient delicately.

稚鮎 Young Sweet Fish

We visited the restaurant early March, which is just about to turn to springtime. Ayu or sweetfish is a summer fish, and its appearance on dining tables heralds the arrival of summer. These are juvenile ayu fish, and as their bones are still soft, this is the perfect time to tempura them and eat them whole, bones included. PS: the fish was standing on its fin, but because I tried to get a good angle to take the photo, the fins broke and the fish was laying on its side. Not the fault of the chef.

鱧 (梅肉乗せ) Conger eel (with pickled plum)

Hamo or Pike conger eel and ume or plum are usually paired together whether eel is poached, grilled or deep fried. This is actually my least favourite piece of tempura, as I don’t appreciate pike conger in the first place.

紋甲イカ Cuttlefish

This was followed by wonderfully tender pieces of mongo-ika or common cuttlefish, almost rare at the core, but requiring only the slightest mastication. 紋甲イカ (Mongo ika) aka common cuttlefish is known for its unique strip pattern and firm texture. It takes skill not to overcook these mollusc, which can be rubbery and chewy when overcooked.

After the conger eel and squid, two more pieces of Kurama shrimps were served. We each got four shrimps, but only two heads?

穴子 Sea eel

The anago or sea eel was everyone’s favourite. Crisp and golden on the outside, sublimely light, fluffy and succulent underneath, this is as close as you’ll ever get to tempura perfection.

季節野菜 Seasonal Vegetables

Seasonal vegetables made their appearance between the seafood at a random sequence that I could not figure out why.

さつまいも Sweet Potato

Satsumaimo was the first piece of tempura after the tiger prawn which came as a surprise. They used 徳島産の鳴門金時 Naruto Kintoki from Tokushima.With the skin on, it is baked slowly in a low-temperature oven for nearly an hour, bringing out the sweetness like stone-baked sweet potatoes. At first it tasted like our Singapore goring pisang version of sweet potato, but then the quality and sweetness of these Japanese sweet potato beats the local boy by a mile. I can eat this anytime.

ブロッコリー Broccoli

Following the sweet potato was the broccoli.

小玉葱 Small Onion

Ko tamanegi from Awajishima, which is famous for their exceptional sweet onions, came right after the kissu fish. It was really sweet and perfect as a tempura.

蓮根 Lotus root

In a tempura course, vegetable comes between courses of fish as a palate-cleanser. Usually the vegetable in season is served. But the perennial availability of renkon or lotus root meant that we got this as one of the seasonal vegetables after the sweetfish (ayu).

アスパラガス Asparagus

Asparagus can be a bad choice if they are fibrous, but usually careful selection makes these a good eat. But I have not appreciated asparagus as a tempura ingredient.

生椎茸 Shiitake Mushroom

Unfortunately you don’t get to choose the ingredients when you order the course as everything is omakase. So I groaned when they served the shiitake mushroom. For me, the dried version is for stock. I never find the fresh version good eats.

早掘り筍 Japanese bamboo shoot

早掘り筍 Japanese bamboo shoots are in season, and they are crunchy and sweet when fresh. Bamboo shoots do not travel well, so you can only get the fresh ones where there are bamboo forests. We can only get boiled ones in Singapore. Anyway, don’t miss these takenoko as they are called in Japanese if you can get the fresh ones.

お好み天婦羅 Tempura A La Carte

After the tempura items from the course, you have the option to repeat some of the items or add more a la carte items from the seasonal menu on the wall.

舞茸 Maitake Mushroom

舞茸 Maitake mushroom is my second favourite mushroom, after the chanterelle mushroom. Literally the “dancing mushroom”, maitake mushrooms boast a deep, earthy flavour with hints of peppery notes, making them stand out in any meal. Their rich and woodsy taste is paired with a meaty texture, perfect for tempura.

ふぐ白子 Milt from Fugu

Fugu shirako is the testicle part of the pufferfish, and the white milt is especially valued and is known as a high-quality food. It is characterised by a creamy and rich taste, and it is in season from around January to March, before the spawning season. It is so rare that it is said to be the “jewel of the sea”.

You can enjoy a rich taste that cannot be put into words after you overcome your skirmish over the ingredient. As they said, once you tried you will never turn away.

蝦夷鮑 (Ezo awabi) Ezo Abalone

Since its feeds mostly on kelp, Ezo awabi or ezo abalone therefore has a lovely, sweet flavour of the sea, and a nice crunchy texture.

うに Sea Urchin

Next up after the abalone was uni or sea urchin wrapped with shiso leaf. The first time I tried this was at the one-star Tempura Mikawa. Sea urchin is an ingredient that showcased the tremendous skill the tempura chef has on controlling the temperature of the oil as well as the timing of getting the tempura skill crispy without ruining the uni inside.

While this version wasn’t as polished in terms of presentation, I was pleased with the amount of sea urchin sandwiched between the perilla leaves. It was really delicious.

海老かき揚げ Shrimp Fritters

After you had your fill of a la carte items, it’s back to regular programming as we continue with the shrimp fritters. You can have it served on the the side or as a tendon 天丼 on top of the rice and drizzled with special tempura sauce. I opted for the tendon.

お食事 Miso Soup, Rice, Pickles

Japanese always has 赤出汁 (akadashi) red miso soup and 香の物 (konomono) pickles with rice. I wished that their miso soup was hotter.

果物 Fruits

The seasonal fruits served were 静岡産のクラウンメロン Crown melon from Shizuoka and 福岡産のあまおういちご Amaou ichigo from Fukuoka. Japanese fruits are always amazing in terms of flavour and sweetness. These were no different.

The harmony of carefully selected fresh ingredients, the finest clear oil, and the batter created by the temperature and timing of frying creates a taste you can only get at a specialty tempura restaurant like Horikawa. My favourites were the kisu, fugu’s milt and uni wrapped in shiso leaves. Regardless of your impressions of tempura from outside of Japan, I would recommend trying a specialty tempura restaurant at least once.

Tempura Horikawa 天婦羅 ほり川
Japan, 〒102-0094 Tokyo, Chiyoda City, Kioicho, 4−1
ホテルニューオータニザ・メイン ロビィ階(2階)
Tel :+81 3-3221-4166 (Reservations)

Visited Mar 2025

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