Tempura is the star here. Your course will be a journey through seasonal seafood and vegetable flavors, showcasing the versatility of this cooking style. A single prawn with a sprinkle of salt. The smoky inviting aromas of eggplant tempura topped with grilled eggplant paste and tuna flakes. A pretty bowl of tilefish tempura topped with chrysanthemum flowers and mushrooms, dressed in a thick clear sauce. Each course will surprise you with its unique techniques and styles, warming your belly without weighing you down.

Chef Motoyoshi’s tempura is incredibly light and crispy, allowing you to focus on each ingredient’s innate flavors. His secret? The batter. But there are no secrets – just eggs, flour and iced water, mixed together entirely on intuition. The ratios vary by season, temperature and the weather, but Motoyoshi cannot say in what way or by how much because he just feels it in his hands. He transfers the freshly mixed batter to a rotund pottery bowl right next the oil, and assesses the consistency with his long, thick wooden chopsticks. Magically, the batter is arranged into three different levels of density within the bowl, and Motoyoshi decides where to dip an ingredient depending on type and purpose.

You can hardly even hear the ingredients hit the oil. Gently bubbling away, Motoyoshi checks and turns the pieces with long metal chopsticks. And then they appear before you, each tasty morsel a gift for your palate. Not least, the signature dish – a tempura shiso leaf topped with a generous spoonful of creamy uni sea urchin.

Your meal up to this point, except for the libations you have chosen from an extensive drinks menu, has been totally in the hands of the chef. Now to complete your dinner, you will be presented with a series of choices. Showing you seven bowls ranging from a tiny tea cup to a large noodle bowl, Chef Motoyoshi will ask what size you would like for your final course – a delicious fritter of plump prawns and scallops in a sweetish soy sauce dressing with freshly steamed rice. After you decide on size, you need to choose style. Would you like your fritter on the side or on top of your rice in a dish called tendon? Or do you prefer tenchazuke, which is tendon finished by pouring over either steaming hot green or roasted green tea? Whatever you choose, this is utterly luxurious comfort food.

INGREDIENTS
Arriving back from Tsukiji market, which he visits every day, Motoyoshi unpacks the fresh ingredients from the cooler box strapped to the back of his motorbike. You would never guess this is a one-star chef. A rainbow of vegetables fills the counter showcase: sweet potato, Kyoto-grown Takagamine peppers, gingko nuts, lotus root, burdock root, myoga wild Japanese ginger buds, asparagus, okra, eggplant, shiitake and other mushrooms, the list goes on.

The oil used is entirely vegetable based – a combination of canola and corn with a touch of premium sesame oil to enhance the natural sweetness of each ingredient. The tempura pieces are lovingly prepared one by one. It’s rather extravagant to cook small pieces individually in such a large pot of oil, but it ensures the best possible outcome in terms of flavor and texture. After all, as Motoyoshi sees it, would you be at your best after a luxurious ride in the spacious first class of a bullet train or the crowded commuter carriage on the Yamanote Line?

You can see how philosophical Motoyoshi is about his ingredients, too. He wants guests to taste the perfection in every bite, which means they should be eaten as soon as possible. The vegetables don’t get to choose who eats them and Motoyoshi feels sorry for them if they are left unnoticed when guests get caught up talking. He prepares a new piece so as not to compromise on the flavor and texture experience, hopefully making the diners more mindful in the process.