Based on a traditional approach, Temmabashi Fujikawa’s menu takes you through a carousel of seasonal Japanese flavors, slowly building the momentum for the tempura courses. He pays careful attention to the balance of fish and vegetables as well as the precise timing to serve each course.

The meal starts with delicate dishes like steamed egg curd with cod milt. Creamy cod milt sits on top of the soft pudding and is covered with a thickened sauce made of clam soup and aonori seaweed.

Served in a beautiful small bowl is a mix of Akashi octopus and Hokkaido scallops, sealed together with vinegared egg yolk jelly. Tossed together with spring vegetables, the colors alone bring about the feeling of spring.

Next is an elegantly tiny morsel of steamed mochi rice, covered with generous slices of home-made karasumi, or dried mullet roe. The sweet rice and salt roe go together perfectly.

White tilefish soup warms your stomach with its deep broth. The lotus root dumpling bathes in dashi, made of fresh bonito flakes and Rishiri kelp and garnished with young sprouts and kinome herbs.

Best enjoyed between winter and early spring, winter yellowtail sashimi is layered with delicious fat. Young green onion shoots and grated daikon radish add a refreshing accent.

Following these dishes come the tempura, a cuisine that requires precise and careful mastery from the chef. Fujikawa carefully controls every aspect of the process like the thickness of the batter as well as the temperature of the oil. He observes the air bubbles on the surface and listens to the sound of frying.

The day’s tempura menu includes Japanese prawns, smelt and butterbur. For each ingredient, he makes a fresh batch of batter in a small Japanese bowl in front of the guests. The prawns are cooked to perfection with a thinner batter and at a higher temperature. Smelt is fried whole until lightly golden. Butterbur sprouts contain a lot of moisture so the batter is slightly thicker. What matters is that the tempura is cooked in a way that brings out the most important characteristic of the ingredient, the chef explains. Light, fluffy and flavorful, the tempura is served immediately on a piece of tenshi tempura napkin set in front of each guest.

INGREDIENTS
Every morning, Fujikawa visits the Honan market to scout the best catch from a fishmonger he’s known for years. Just like Tokyo, the Osaka market also attracts all kinds of quality ingredients from various regions. He also likes to source produce directly from farmers. The drinks menu features a rare selection of sake like Hakkaisan, Bon and Kokuryu, in addition to lovely Champagnes and wines. The important criteria is that each bottle pairs well with their signature tempura dishes.