Tempura Kondo

For half a century, this culinary artisan has spread the word of tempura around the world. By introducing vegetables, Tempura Kondo sought to establish tempura as a cuisine not only of Japan but of the world. Tempura, the chef explains, may technically be a fried food but its true nature is a steamed food. The flavour of each tempura piece is elicited by enrobing it in batter and using hot oil to draw out the moisture. The chef’s tempura of sweet potato, created to surpass the flavour of baked sweet potato, is typical of this.

• Tempura framed as steamed cooking: The kitchen treats residual heat and internal moisture as the real engine of flavour.
• Vegetables as the headline act: The restaurant’s reputation is built on pushing vegetable tempura into fine-dining territory.
• A clearly tiered menu structure: Published lunch and dinner courses with named sets and fixed pricing.

• Seasonal vegetables: The defining focus of the meal, chosen for texture and water content so they steam inside the batter.
• Sweet potato: A signature piece fried for around 30 minutes to concentrate sweetness and keep the interior creamy.
• Light, low-absorption batter: Built to stay thin and delicate, keeping oiliness out of the bite.
• Seafood in Edo-style rhythm: Still present, but balanced against the vegetable-driven structure of the courses.

Two-star tempura counter in Ginza where vegetables are treated as the centre of gravity, not a garnish. The house style aims for an ultra-thin batter that reads as crisp on the outside, steamed within. Set menus are published on the official site, with lunch courses listed at ¥9,900 (Sumire) and ¥13,200 (Tsubaki), and dinner courses at ¥16,500 (Fuji), ¥20,900 (Kaede), and ¥27,500 (Yomogi), tax included.