Tempura with style at Tentsuru

NEW RESTAURANT Tentsuru Level 2, The St Regis Singapore 29 Tanglin Rd Singapore 247911 Tel: 8113 3612 Open for lunch and dinner Tues to Sun: 12pm to 2.30pm; 6pm to 10pm.

THE art of tempura is not one to be taken lightly. And we don't mean the mass market variety where the crust is so thick you can put a leash around a prawn and drag it across the table intact. We're referring to the delicate crackle of a barely perceptible shell around pristine ebi and assorted fry-ables, the result of a magic batter created by a chef whose career literally comes down to the crunch.

In a sea of new sushi and kappo restaurants in Singapore opening every other week, tempura seems barely represented. So one up for Tentsuru, which bucks the trend as a rare high-end eatery where chef Takahiro Shima flours and fries some of the lightest and crispiest tempura we've had in a long while.

Set in quiet, almost austere hinoki-accented surroundings, with just a piece of artwork depicting cranes (as in the tsuru in its name) breaking the monotony, Shima doesn't say much but lets his hands do all the talking.

Almost stealthily, he works at a steady clip, dusting ingredients with flour, dipping them into a batter and sliding them into hot oil faster than your eyes can follow him.

Here, what you see is what you get - classic tempura with little showmanship, but showcasing quality and technique. And what sets Tentsuru apart is the length of the crunch. Shima's batter is lighter than what we're familiar with, such that it barely glazes the ingredients. While tempura tends to start with a crunch but end on a tender note, his version stays crisp throughout. So if that's your idea of fried bliss, Shima's your man.

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And lunch is good value for your money. For a light meal, the basic S$120 Yanagi set gets you an appetiser, 7 pieces of tempura, salad and tendon to finish off. For an extra treat, get the S$240 Sakura menu, which gets you 9 pieces, including one premium item which could be either uni or wagyu tempura. Dinner starts at S$280, or you can go for broke from S$400 up.

We don't know how Shima counts, but we like his maths - because our S$240 actually added up to 11 pieces for an overall hefty meal, especially with the tendon at the end.

The premium items are a nice-to-have rather than a must-have if all you want is to savour the tempura for what it is. We are perfectly happy with the "regular" ingredients that were attractively displayed on our plates, so we know exactly what we're going to get.

Before the show starts, a simple trio of appetisers lends some colour to the bland surroundings. Perfectly acceptable squares of ankimo and a dab of wasabi; delicate crab meat and spring vegetables in sesame sauce; and a bite of unagi sushi.

What follows is a mix of vegetables and seafood. A single prawn head is followed by the rest of its body - perhaps the separation anxiety accounts for its lack of flavour, although we love the crunch. A trio of firefly squid, in turn, is sweet and savoury from its own brine and marinade, forming a liaison of crispy and squishy.

Shima guides you in the matching of tempura and condiments, which include ume plum, curry and sea salt, as well as a dipping sauce.

Asparagus, for example, becomes instant buddies with curry salt, which in turn bonds with both types of fish - kisu (smelt) and tachiuo (belt fish). Of the premium items, the wagyu is more interesting for its presentation - cubes of pink-centred flesh wrapped in a crunchy coat, dipped sukiyaki style into sweetened soy sauce and a whole egg yolk.

The uni, on the other hand, is a half-hearted attempt at deep fried seaweed topped with fresh uni - that's not tempura, that's a canape with a fake Japanese accent.

The rest of the lot are bona-fide - fat, still raw-in-the-middle scallops, shiitake, lotus root, amadei with super crispy scales and melting soft sweet potato.

In contrast, the deep-fried fritter for our tendon is disappointingly deflated, having travelled to the inner kitchen to be bathed in sauce before being draped limply over a bowl of rice.

Don't expect to be dazzled at Tentsuru. It's a straightforward he-fries-you-eat relationship, but we don't need more. We have crunch, we have joy, we have reason to return. Enough said.

Rating: 7

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN

10: The ultimate dining experience 9-9.5: Sublime 8-8.5: Excellent 7-7.5: Good to very good 6-6.5: Promising 5-5.5: Average

Our review policy:

The Business Times pays for all meals at restaurants reviewed on this page. Unless specified, the writer does not accept hosted meals prior to the review's publication.