Few dining experiences can rival the intimacy of a 10-seater counter restaurant where the only sound is the sizzle of frying tempura. This perfectly describes the setting of Tenshima, an omakase restaurant applying the traditional philosophy of kaiseki to tempura.
Before we get into it, here's a fun fact: tempura was actually inspired by the Portuguese. In a nutshell, three Portuguese men in the 16th century introduced Japan to a recipe for battered and fried green beans, known as peixinhos da horta. The Japanese then adapted this battered dish into what we now know as tempura.
As you set foot into Tenshima, the bustle of the outside world gently fades away, and you're welcomed into an enclosed corridor with traditional Japanese art and understated floral arrangements. The light scent of Japanese keyaki and sugi wood fill the air and the soothing, muted brown hues of their wooden grains create a serene ambience.
Enter the main dining area through the next door. Here, you’ll find that the setting very much resembles a traditional Japanese ryokan (Japanese inn). You’ll be greeted by Tokyo-born owner-chef Takahiro Shima who carries over 15 years of culinary expertise. Starting as a kaiseki chef in Osaka, he later explored other culinary forms – tempura, sushi, and teppanyaki – before relocating to Singapore to continue his culinary journey in two tempura-focused restaurants. Now, with his all-rounded culinary background, he brings the art of tempura to life at Tenshima.
The essence of kaiseki is all about respecting seasonality through the selection of ingredients and tableware, as well as following a designated flow with fixed ingredients. The experience begins with a visual feast – witness the preparation process over the counter where the ingredients of the season are first revealed to you. Then, the meal begins with three different appetisers: first, a beautiful bubble-glazed porcelain dish holds the chrysanthemum ohitashi with marinated kinmedai (golden eye snapper), then we have the bonito sashimi with foie gras shoyu, followed by a warm ceramic pot of Matsutake mushrooms, hamo (pike eel) and seri (Japanese parsley) in a grilled hamo, seasoned to perfection with mirin and light soy sauce.
And this is the moment when the tempura takes centre stage. Chef Shima personally handles each ingredient, delicately dipping them in batter made of low-gluten cake flour for the best crunch. They are then fried in sunflower oil at a precise temperature to accentuate their inherent flavours. The ingredients go in one by one, just moments before they are served on kaishi paper atop sleek marble slabs.
We start off with the Japanese tiger prawn with its head and body separated, allowing the head to impart a delightful crunch in one bite, while the body offers succulent flesh in the other. Then, unassuming gingko nuts with a pinch of sea salt as recommended by chef Shima thrilled our taste buds, with a lingering bittersweet aftertaste. Up next was the shark’s fin tempura, boasting a complex medley of flavours thanks to an extensive preparation process of being marinated in a blend of ginger, sake, and spring onion, steamed for a full two hours, and then gently simmered in dashi for an additional 20 minutes.
Here, Chef Shima emphasises that despite his guidance on how to savour each dish to its fullest, the final choice of seasoning (sea salt, curry powder, plum sauce, tempura sauce, daikon and lemon juice) is entirely at the diner’s discretion.
The meal continues with succulent abalone delicately coated in its own liver sauce, with its natural sweetness heightened through being cooked in a blend of water, daikon, kombu, sugar, shoyu, and sake. Ice-cold soba noodles topped with grated mountain yam and karasumi (fish roe, salted and sun-dried) shavings offered a timely cleanse before we plunged straight into the A5 Miyazaki tenderloin dipped in sukiyaki sauce with egg and truffle. Then, creamy uni on top of nori tempura dressed with pretty Japanese snow salt flakes and caviar rounded off the lineup of tempura. Finishing things off, we were treated to a delightful dessert duet: deep-fried sweet potato alongside smooth milk ice cream.