Kaneko Hannosuke

What I really love are restaurants that serve a specialty dish and thrives on a simple menu. This is a tempura restaurant, and trust me when I say it’s the best tempura I’ve ever had in my life. Out of all the fabulous meals I had in Japan, the tempura here is definitely one that still haunts my dreams.
We arrived early, about half a hour before they open, and made it into the restaurant by the 2^nd round of seating. We waited for about an hour. We were seated upstairs in a booth that we shared with 2 women friends. There were some condiments on the table and so we explored. In the pots for self-​serve are pickled radish and pickled burdock and ginger, which we made good use of during our meal! Not speaking any Japanese, ordering was easy – tempura don. Miso? yes. The tempura don was only 950￥ and it’s a very generous portion. And the miso soup was delicious!
The tempura is just perfect. Light and crispy and the tentsuyu sauce is cooked into the batter so it avoids any sogginess and gives it a fantastic umami and savory flavor. It was a variety of seafood – shrimp, some diced squid, a large piece of white fish served with a runny tempura egg (omg) and square of nori. And the rice – the rice was a star. Perfectly textured, fresh. And add in the pickled radish, burdock and ginger – HEAVEN.
For such a simple and cheap meal, it lands close to the top of my list of favorite meals in Japan!

KenScale: 9.0÷10
One thing that struck me on my restaurant tour in Japan is how patient Japanese people are in terms of waiting in line. Unlike in New York, there is no such thing as a receptionist taking your number and texting you once your place is ready. You just need to stand in line for hours if necessary. I debated whether I should line up at the famed Dai Sushi in Tsukiji Market where the line starts to form around 3 – 4 a.m. to get seated starting at 8 a.m. but decided against it. There was another place, however, that I really wanted to check out. Located on a quiet corner of Nihonbashi neighborhood, Kaneko Hannosuke has long been a famous tendon (an assortment of tempuras on top of rice) place where long lines are quite typical any given day. I showed up slight before the restaurant opens up at 11 a.m. and still there were at least two dozen people in front of me! I thought to myself, let’s see if this place is as good as it gets. I mean, how good can a simple tendon dish get? Well, this place proved me wrong by a mile. Yes, there is such thing as life-​changing tendon dish. It was that good!
There is just one dish at Kaneko Hannosuke, with tendon starting at 950 yen (with additional 120 yen if you want to add miso soup). The dish looks quite simple: just an assortment of shrimp, squid, white fish and some other vegetables all fried and on top of the rice. I don’t know what the kitchen has done, but the frying technique is just pure perfection. All the food was lightly battered and perfectly cooked. There was no greasiness in any of the pieces and, along with the perfect texture of rice and the deeply aromatic flavor of miso soup, the lunch turned out to be one of the highlights of my culinary journey in Tokyo. For such a simple dish to create such a sensational experience for my palate was marvelous!
As mentioned above, get there early by all means if you want to avoid multi-​hour waits. The line grew exponentially outside by the time I got seated at the counter. The tiny restaurant has a small counter on the first floor and dining space on the second floor; if you are alone, you’re more likely to get seated on the first floor where you get to see the kitchen staff in action. Kaneko Hannosuke is the type of restaurant that makes the food scene at Tokyo so wonderful. For an unassuming place that serves only one dish, it shows the dedication of the kitchen to the craft of making the perfect tendon, and such dedication clearly shows in one of my best meals of the year.

金子半之助 is good for their deep fried Tempura Don. For 950 Yen you would be served this huge bowl of deep fried goodness and it comes with a miso soup too.
Better comes hungry. Even as a big eater, you would not be disappointed with the portion. I was struggling trying to eat as much as I can but failed to finished the whole order.
I really like the Tempura Egg as it still has a runny yolk as it was deep fried perfectly.
But the star of the meal is definitely the rice. So fluffy and soft and still have a nice bite.
Line was not too bad as I waited for around 15 minute or so during dinner rush.
Highly recommended if you are on a budget and into deep fried food!

Great tempura place. Not a lot of variety but that’s not what you’re looking for in a place like this:
1. Tempura. The reason you’re here. It’s freshly battered right in front of you and served hot. Delicious.
2. Miso. Their miso soup is pretty damn good. It’s hard to do bad miso but I always appreciate the good ones.
3. Line. There will be a line to get in. We waited about 30 minutes but we were told about an hour. Well worth the 30 minute wait, but an hour would have been pushing it.
All in all this is a damn solid tempura restaurant. The staff speaks enough English to get by and the food is delicious!
Overall Grade: A–

Long wait, but the tempura was worth it! The egg was done to perfection. The tea was good, miso ok, but who cares when the tempura is that tasty. Also, they stay open longer than most for lunch.