Family-owned tempura restaurant at Shimokitazawa Station

Shimokitazawa station on the Odakyu is famous for its cool cafes, bars and fashionable clothing stores. Whilst being around all these places, it is bound to get a little crowded. I personally prefer a place that is quiet and has a little homey feel to it. I was lucky to stumble upon this family-run restaurant called ‘Tenyasu’(天安).

The restaurant owners were friendly and recommended us the tempura set meal. According to them, the sauce used for the tempura sauce was a special recipe by the chef who worked with them for about 20 years. Their restaurant had been around for as long as 49 years and the current owner is the second generation in the family. This place has been around way before Shimokitazawa became a cool place for hangouts! It was nice to hear about the history of the place while waiting for the food. As the going says, you learn something new every day!

A Japanese home-style serving of the sashimi set meal and tempura don. The sashimi set meal was also delicious and it comes along with Japanese style cold tofu and delicious home-made miso soup! I’m not a soup person but this miso soup is something else because I finished it in less than a minute!

My favourite was the tempura don because the tempura sauce was really delicious! I haven’t had such delicious tempura don in a while.

Overall, the experience dining at this family-run restaurant was really pleasant! The owners were friendly and welcoming. Anyone who is looking for an authentic Japanese family restaurant and also wants to have a conversation with local Japanese, this definitely is the place to visit. Who knows, you might learn a thing or two about Japanese culture and the history of Shimokitazawa whilst having a homely Japanese style meal!

More details:

Tenyasu (天安) is located at Shimokitazawa, several stations from Shinjuku’s Odakyu station.

Address: 東京都 世田谷区 北沢 2-30-2 丸和センター ２Ｆ

Hours: 11:00am ~ 9:00pm