Let me apologize ahead of time for a very long post, I did not realize how many pictures I took! But hey, I want to show you the full experience. Chan and I were invited to a wonderful dinner at Tempura Ichika, I never heard of them before but they serve up a tempura omakase. Intriguing. I wasn’t sure how I would take to a never ending spread of just tempura but boy did I eat my words (and tempura). Very special experience, intimate dining room with awesome food and service. Let’s take a journey shall we?

Bonito and Red Snapper (Tai) Sashimi

I got too excited and ate mine before I could take a picture, luckily Chan’s friend took one and sent it to me. Very fresh pieces of fish, nice way to start the dinner before all the fried food comes out.

Table Setting

Here they are readying you for your tempura, there is a lemon slice in the silver serving dish, regular salt, konbu salt and curry salt. Bottom right is the tentsuyu with grated daikon. The server will tell you how to season each piece of tempura that gets served.

Kyushu Fried Shrimp Head

No waste. I like it! And I love shrimp head so this was great! If you don’t like fried shrimp heads, please dine with me and I will help you out.

Kyushu Shrimp Tempura

Isn’t that a thing of a beauty? Not only does it look pretty, it tasted amazing. The shrimp flesh was so tender and sweet. Absolutely one of the best dishes of the night, in fact, it was Chan’s favorite of the night.

Kisu (Japanese Whiting Fish) | Fried Bone and Fish

Wow. We were instructed to eat the bone with some salt sprinkled on top and the fish with the tentsuyu. Perfect dish, the bones were super crispy and light.

Kani Miso

Some kani miso (essentially crab organs) – my favorite part of the crab! This was actually the “sauce” served with the next dish.

Snow Crab

Um…yum!! We were instructed to dip this snow crab into the kani miso and then sprinkle fresh squeezed lemon juice on top. So so good.

Palate Cleanser | Shio Koji Marinated Succotash

Not sure what succotash is used in this context – I think this included celery and radish? Very refreshing, perfect cleanser mid-meal!

Cauliflower

Yup, cauliflower. We were advised to eat this one with the curry salt. The curry salt isn’t very strong in curry or salt (lol) taste – this dish was just okay. I mean, it’s cauliflower. It’s nothing special…

Salted Snapper

Oooh another raw fish dish. I like that they keep mixing in fresh dishes between the fried dishes. This was good, not great.

Kizami Wasabi (chopped fresh wasabi stems)

I love kizami wasabi – the fresh wasabi tends to sting less and has a smoother taste!

Sea Scallop

Eat one side with the kizami wasabi and one side with the konbu salt. This was hands down my favorite dish of the night. The scallop was so firm and sweet – so meaty in texture! It was perfect with the kizami wasabi, I loved this dish.

Nasu (eggplant) with Bonito and Ginger

Not usually a fan of eggplant myself but you can’t really lose with this combination. Tasted great!

Tomatoes with Snap Peas, Tororo Dried Konbu

Rakkyo Shallots

Seabass with Shiso Wrap

We were instructed to eat this with the rakkyo shallots and a bit of konbu salt. It was good, but honestly, not super memorable.

Konbu Wrapped Hokkaido Uni with Truffled Salt | $30.00

This dish is not included in the omakase, this was an extra we ordered off the ala carte menu. Luscious and decadent – so rich and delicious. Still doesn’t beat the scallop lol.

Anago (Conger Eel)

No seasoning needed, eat as is! That’s a big wad of wasabi I think and yeah, it was hot. Chan probably laughed at me.

Maitake Mushroom

I don’t remember if we were told to dip this in anything, I might have dipped it in the tentsuyu myself. It was good! I love mushrooms.

Miso Soup

Tendon

Tendon Ikura Topping | $25.00

Not quite sure why a lot of Japanese meals end with either a rice or noodle dish, I like to eat those in the beginning or during the meal! Now, did I body this bowl? Yes, but still. We had a lot of food all through the night so saving this for last is a bit harder but I’ll take one for the team. It was delicious!

Dessert

I think I gave up on taking notes by this point, it was a small scoop of a very fresh tasting yuzu sorbet, it was very nice!

Green Tea

What a special meal, and apparently this is one of the few tempura omakase restaurants in the world! Very rare and I am very happy to have tried this. I am unsure of the price since Chan’s friend very generously paid for the meal but I know it was pricey even just from the ala carte prices! It’s definitely a splurge experience but I would recommend you try it at least once if you love tempura!

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