A brand new Singapore-based chain has planted its first U.S. storefront in Bellevue, and you could be listening to the identify Tendon Kohaku lots.
“Ten” is brief for tempura (frivolously battered and deep-fried seafood, meat, and greens), and “don” is brief for donburi (a rice bowl dish). What you’re coming right here for, in different phrases, is a bowl of completely crispy, crunchy fried meals.
The signature Kohaku Tendon set is most usually Japanese, that includes two prawns, squid, crab, kabocha, inexperienced beans, and shiitake — plus much less conventional hen breast and child corn. The Premium set substitutes in an enormous piece of anago conger eel for one of many prawns, including in basa and in addition a battered onsen egg. There are additionally units with sashimi or steak, together with a vegan choice. Every set comes with small parts of miso soup, chowanmushi, and pickled cabbage.
Diners can improve any of those to a Tencha set, which caps the meal by including dashi broth over remaining rice to make a soothing rice “soup” referred to as ochazuke. (Professional tip: Ask on your broth to return towards the tip of your meal, whenever you’ve completed your tempura and have just a bit rice left, in any other case the broth will quiet down and also you’ll have chilly ochazuke.)
What makes this particular — why Kohaku Tendon has unfold throughout a number of East Asian nations and Canada — is the thinness of the batter, harking back to higher-end tempura eating places in Japan; proprietary deep fryers; and a specifically blended oil that’s fastidiously maintained to provide a clear fry. The tempura sauce is acquainted to the Japanese palate, balancing sweetness with saltiness, and the Hokkaido rice is high-quality.
There are additionally different gadgets on the menu, together with creamy mentaiko cream sauce udon with ikura and pork katsu curry rice. Desserts are playful, with a signature matcha parfait main the record, together with Instagram-aimed “bouncing cat puddings” in coconut or taro flavors. (You’ll be able to paint the cats’ faces with a brush and edible charcoal ink.) And there are fascinating cold and hot drinks, together with iced Kuromitsu matcha lattes. Beer, sake, and cocktails are additionally accessible.
Chef Hideki Tsukao, introduced over from Japan to supervise the coaching of native cooks through the opening section, is happy to be producing meals from his homeland right here — and the constructive reception to it. One shock, he says, is the problem of discovering recent child corn within the Seattle space.
Tendon Kohaku (which is a collaboration between two Japanese meals firms, although its first location was in Singapore) is simply the most recent home or worldwide chain to plant its flag in Bellevue. This consists of the Sichuan scorching pot chain Shoo Loong Kan, Canada dim sum specialist Solar Sui Wah, the dessert-focused Milk Bar, the Bay Space–primarily based Korean beef stew specialist Daeho, and the high-end Indian chain Farzi Cafe. However there’s all the time room for yet another.
Tendon Kohaku, situated at 233 106th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue, is open from 11 a.m. to three p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. every day.
