Since Ms YI's wedding is held in Okayama, we took the train to Okayama as soon as we arrived in Japan. We arrived in Okayama at around 6 o'clock that evening.
Ms YI was nice enough to come around to catch up for a short while (that was the night before her wedding) and she took me to a tempura restaurant, which she promised me would be very good. She can't stay with us for dinner but she ordered for us, so that we are getting the proper Japanese experience.
The small family-run restaurant is in a quiet residential area. It was not TOO far from the station and the hotel (15 mins drive?). But taking into consideration that Okayama is not really a city (more like a town), the area was considered suburban. There were no touristy things to do around that area so SP and I would not have ventured out to that area by ourselves.
We had some rice wine to begin with. I don't think it was sake, but I don't remember what it is anymore. And apparently, it is customary for the locals to start off with a beer. So we did both. hahaha
The food is prepared over the counter and it is freshly prepared as we go. The dishes arrived one by one, which included miso soup, tofu, tempura fish, tempura prawn, tempura mushroom(!!), eggplant with miso etc... The various tempura also have individual matching sauce/condiment, which is a new concept to me. One of the tempura fish is matched with Japanese curry salt while another type of fish is matched with special salt.
Tempura fish with special salt.
The tempura was definitely different from what I used to having in Hong Kong or Australia. It is far superior! The batter is light yet crunchy. The ingredients are fresh and is well-matched with the sauce/condiment and the Sake.
Now, what deserves a special mention is the Sake. We knew that Ms YI has ordered this especially for us and it is the good stuff.
We didn't know it was going to be this good. The Sake is the best that we've had, by far! And even though we tried a fair range of Sake during the rest of the trip (which were also very good), it can't be compared to this 'stuff'!
SP with his new love. We have never tasted Sake which is soooo good.
This is the bottle of Sake. It is from a small brewery and it is not available publicly.
Update (10 Mar 2007): The details of the sake: 翠露・純米大吟醸酒（生酒原酒）. Desc:: 気品ある舌触りに花の吟醸香、豊かな甘味が調和する高貴なる名酒（長野）
SP and I were contemplating whether to get another serving of the Sake towards the end of the meal. At that time, we were jet-lag and had already drank a fair bit. So, in the end, we decided to leave it, hoping that we would find other good Sake during the rest of the trip.
Now, this Sake can only live in our dreams!
Thanks you Ms YI and her mother for the meal! It has been the best tempura that we've had!
Update (10 Mar 2007): : I've found a slip of paper from Ms YI with the name of the place on it.
Here are the details:
Name: 天婦羅たかはし (Tempura Takahashi)
Address: 岡山県岡山市京町8-1
Telephone: 086-223-8452
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