Asparagus Tempura

After work yesterday, I grabbed my jacket and beanie and headed west to meet Ruwan in Himeji, where he’d been scaring Japanese people and taking photos of the castle for most of the day. I put the word out to the west-side-inaka crew asking about a place to eat and in the end it boiled down to either the excellent Turkish/Iranian restaurant near the castle or an Izakaya recommended for its hand-made Tofu. I figured the Izakaya was the more touristy option, so we went for that.

I love Japanese food but I don’t eat nearly enough of it as I should. In Kobe the lure of cheap(ish) foreign food is a particularly strong drawcard and I very often find myself shooting for a curry, a kebab or a burger. Last night made me realise just how much I’m missing out on.

We ordered four things and each was nothing less than superb. Home-made tofu so rich it was almost like fresh yoghurt, topped with cod roe and a light soy sauce. Eel wrapped around spring onions and fried in a light tempura. Fried chicken done in Japanese spices and with a hint of yuzu. Asparagus tempura with a special five flavour salt to dip in. It was so fucking good I almost died.

So, more Japanese food, less burgers. So it was spoken, so shall it be done.

Posted in Gastros on Wednesday November 16, 2005.