Randy S.
Yelp
Tokyo, Hiroo. March 2025.
Hiroo doesn't have a lot of fancy single dwelling homes but the area is upscale. The neighborhood sits between busier Ebisu and Roppongi, and middle class Azabu. Uchitsu is in a discrete low rise building along a main thoroughfare in Hiroo.
The name is written variously as Uchitsu, Tempura Uchitsu, and TenTempura Uchitsu. The Ten is the same kanji for "heaven" and "tempura" so it gives you an idea of what chef-owner, Takahisa Uchitsu hopes to offer you.
This is an intimate 7 seat counter. There is a full length window illuminated with seasonal greenery. A sparse wooden back counter with simple pottery. It is meant to immediately relax and lift your spirits when you sit down, and refresh your line of vision as you eat. The atmosphere is very welcoming, starting from the smile and greeting when you enter, all the way to the very gracious welcome and goodbye by Taisho Uchitsu. You can ask questions, take photo, ask for advice on the best way to season or eat any piece. They will anticipate your needs as they watch how you eat. This is not for novices, but extremely foreigner-friendly if you're looking for an upscale experience.
You will not be served a course of all the traditional tempura heavy hitters - there are ingredients not usually used in high end tempura. There is a basket display of all the evening's vegetables, and a cedar box of many of the proteins offered. You will notice a slightly individualized mix of tempura for each diner.
The course starts with a sakizuke trio of seasonal bites before getting a delicate prawn crack-like shrimp head followed by the rest of the shrimp. A couple of otsumami dishes are very creative - there is a nori wrap of a grilled winter fish, menuki, eaten with shiso leaf, shiso flowers, wasabi, and beer marinated pickled takuan - a shallow dish of kombu dashi on a small brazier to shabu shabu raw seaweed and first of the season hotaru ika. Kasugodai, baby sea bream, is served as a filet with the tail on - an indication of the actual size of the tai. Amadai is a simple and beautiful offering with the skin and scales - the skin keeps the piece together while the scales form a crunchy rough pattern on the piece.
The final course before dessert is a choice of kakiage tempura with rice or noodles. A delicate broth of somen noodles, a tempura donburi with tare, or dish of kakiage in chazuke. My tencha was rice in a smokey katsuo dashi with a bright green aonori, topped with a kakiage of kobashira, surf clam adductors - a wow ending!
As an indication of how much he values your presence, Taisho Uchitsu will walk you to the door or curbside to see you out.
high end sushi is familiar and available to us in America. But there are no equivalents anywhere back home to the higher end tempura establishments in Tokyo. if you want tempura that changes your perception of you think tempura is about you simply have to have it at a higher end place in Japan. Uchitsu is definitely a place to seek out without intimidation or pretension.
