7 Chome Kyoboshi

The best tempura in the world. I’ve been to almost all the top tempura places in Tokyo, and this is my favorite. The execution is perfect and the ingredients are interesting.

7chome Kyoboshi is among 17 or so restaurants that were worthy of making time to visit according to the 2012 Michelin Guide for Tokyo.
I really do recommend making reservations. The restaurant is quite small, seating 10 at the counter behind which 4^th generation tenpura chef Shigeya Sakakibara creates the most succulent, mouth watering tenpura you’ve ever had.
I think it is important to take into consideration that the Japanese view tenpura differently. Tenpura is absolutely a homecooking food as well as a fast/​convenience food, you can find it everywhere. However, they also feel that it can be haute cuisine, and that like sushi, its preparation, presentation, and cooking can be mastered. While the crispy coating is important, the Japanese use seasonal ingredients and coat and fry them in a way that brings out their inherent flavor.
Sakakibara-​sama is the product of 92 years of tenpura mastery, being the 4^th generation owner/​chef of Kyoboshi. The oil that he fries in is a secret, and he adjusts the batter’s consistency continuously throughout the meal, ensuring a perfect coat. Now here is where and why I think it was important to walk in to this pricey meal. The coating on Sakakibara-sama’s tenpura isn’t just lacy, it isn’t just light, it isn’t just crisp, it is barely there. The batter is just the thinnest barrier between the oil and the delicious seasonal ingredient in question. You can barely taste it, only getting it’s crispy texture before you meet the true texture of the seafood or vegetable.
After you are seated at the counter and your drink order taken, you are provided with two small appetizers — on our visit we had snow crab served with its liver/​fat in ponzu and a serving of Hokkaido uni. You are also to use the grated daikon to cool your mouth and cleanse your palate between courses.
Each course is coated and fried immediately before serving, out of the oil Sakakibara cuts the item in question in half and places it on your paper and tells you how to properly eat each course, with Sakakibara-​sama telling you to use salt only, yuzu only, both, or to mix the item in question. Sakakibara-​sama, perhaps because there were only 4 of us at his counter that night, took the time to see our reactions to each item. While each course is unique, please rest assured that you do get several servings of the amazing shrimp.
I think the courses, beside the shrimp, that really stood out to me were the following:
~ The whole, but headless small white fish: It was incredibly tender, it was also gutted and completely boneless. I don’t know how he de-​boned such a small fish, but it was amazing.
~ The rock fish: You get two pieces, one with a little fat and one that is more meaty. It is served with ponzu sauce and Sakakibara-​sama puts one piece directly in and leaves the other one next to it so it doesn’t get soggy. It was tender and delicious.
~ The cuttlefish: Sakakibara-sama’s cuttlefish is just cooked all the way through, so it is still tender. This was my husband’s favorite course. It was perfect.
~ The Wagyu: Sakakibara-​sama doesn’t always have wagyu on the menu, he told us it is only available for one week a month. We were lucky that the day of our reservation, his order for wagyu arrived from Kobe. When it is available, he lets you know it is an optional first finishing course. A large filet is coated in batter then fried until rare. Sakakibara-​sama slices it up and serves it. It was some of the best Wagyu I had in Tokyo.
Once the tenpura courses are finished, you get a choice of three tenpura+rice dishes to finish. Sakakibara-​sama even gives you the option of a small or regular sizes serving, having observed how full you are after the courses.
The final course is a dessert. I’m guessing it is always a seasonal fruit, simply cut. As we visited in winter, the seasonal fruit was strawberries. Two large, ripe, sweet strawberries were cut into fourths and served with hot green sencha tea (the same tea used in the ochazuke). This was the perfect finish, it was light and sweet and I really walked away from the meal feeling balanced.
After dinner was over, Sakakibara-​sama spends some time talking to his customers. Answering questions and asking some of his own. When you are ready to leave, Sakakibara-​sama leaves his tenpura station and joins you in the dining area, offering to take pictures with you, and then he and his wife walk you to the door and elevator where they say goodbye and thank you, bowing deeply from the waist.
Over the course of our conversation, Sakakibara-​sama confessed that he had only one child, a daughter, and that the restaurant would end with him. The mastery of four generations of tenpura masters will end when Sakakibara-​sama decides to retire.
What does this mean for you dear reader? It means that don’t let the best tenpura experience of your life at this Ginza institution slip away from you.