Tendon is a food made by placing tempura on cooked rice and sprinkling it with sweet and spicy sauce.
Tempura is often eaten with Tentsuyu soup or salt, but Tendon is seasoned with sweet and spicy sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, and mirin, so you can enjoy a different taste than tempura.
Seasonal ingredients such as seafood, vegetables, and mushrooms are wrapped in a batter made from wheat flour, eggs, and[…]
Tendon specialty stores for the masses are very popular because you can eat them at a low price.
What is Tendon and can I eat it?
Materials of Tendon
Rice, seafoods, vegetables, mushrooms, wheat flour, and egg
Tare Soy source, sugar, dashi(seafoods, konbu(kelp)), mirin or sake(alcohol)
| Low-gluten | ||||
| with Egg |
| Restaurant |
A typical Tendon is rice with vegetables and seafood tempuras.
It is said that Tendon became available in Japan about 170 years ago.
Originally, Japanese food was usually eaten with side dishes and rice in separate containers, but among the common people, rice is put in a large bowl called “Donburi”, and side dishes are placed on top of the rice.
These meal became be called “Donburi-mono”. The one of Donburi-mono with tempura is “Tendon”, the one with eel (Unagi) is “Unadon”, and the one with sweet and spicy beef is “Gyudon”.
The kinds of tempura on top of rice in a bowl varies depending on the restaurant, but traditional Tendon often have two prawns on the top. This dish, which is now distinguished by the name “Prawn Tendon”, is the most expensive of all Tendon.
Common Tendon often have 2-3 seafood tempuras and 3-4 vegetable tempuras. Tendon may have a rank, and they are called “Matsu (pine)”, “Take (bamboo)”, and “Ume (prum)” from the top. The higher the rank of Tendon, the more expensive ingredients are used, but even “Ume” rank is delicious enough.
For those who are not good at seafood, there is also a menu called “Vegetable Tendon”. This is a Tendon that uses only vegetable tempuras and is offered at a relatively low price.
Try to eat Tendon!
How much ?
$ 5～20
Where can I eat Tendon?
You can find Tendon at popular Japanese restaurants, and fast food restaurants for Tendon are also recommended. Compared to the Gyudon restaurant, the number of stores is small.
You can eat Tendon at a much lower price than Japanese restaurants at the following Tendon restaurants;
Tenya
The price is cheap. For example, the signature menu Tendon is only $ 4.6 with prawn, squid, and fish tempura and two vegetable tempura.
There is also an English menu on the website, so you can check the contents in advance before you go. There are about 160 stores in Japan.
Santen
It’s even cheaper than Tenya, and the cheapest 39 (=thank you) Tendon is just $ 3.6, and the prawn Tendon is $ 4.1. The stores are mainly in the Osaka area and Saitama prefecture, not in Tokyo. There is also a tempura set meal.
Ebinoya
Large ingredients are used here, and the price range of Tendon is $ 10 to 15. There are 51 stores nationwide, often in AEON MALL. You can also eat tempura.
Precautions when eating Tendon
○For Muslims
Tendon does not use pork, so you can eat it with confidence. However, a small amount of alcohol may be used in the process of making Tentsuyu soup. Alcohol evaporates and does not remain in the Tentsuyu soup.
○For Jewish
The ingredients used for Tendon that do not fall under Kosher are as follows;
Prawn, squid, conger eel, and scallop
Please have them removed when ordering.
○For Vegetalian and Pescetarian
If you are a vegetarian, please order “Vegetable Tendon”. However, the batter of Tenpura may use small amount of eggs.
Japanese writer’s comment for Tendon
A giant size of Tendon is sometimes introduced on Instagram. Near Tokyo Sky Tree, the popular tourist attraction, there are stores that serves these tendon.
If your purpose is to take a picture, it is no problem, however I don’t recommend a giant tendon to eat. First of all, the amount is too large. It is two to three times as much as the average person eats. Next is the high price because it uses a lot of materials and expensive materials. You should prepared $ 20 or more. The last thing is to contain too much energy.
Tempura has high in calories. If you eat it occasionally, there is no problem, but if you eat too much, it is bad for you.
