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Monday, June 27, 2011

Tempura Hajime

It was a Friday arvo, and it was the best chance for me to finally take a lunch break with both my seniors off for the day. I am always so overloaded with work, I just cannot afford to take lunch breaks or I won't be able to get all my work done by the end of the day.

Jenna was nice enough to come down to the city to accompany me to lunch. As I couldn't wander too far away from my office, we ended up at Tempura Hajime.

Most expensive Japanese green tea I've ever came across - $5 per person! *gasps* That pot of green tea cost $10, madness. But what is a Jap lunch without green tea, ey?

The sashimi plate (from left, clockwise) - freshly cut tuna, salmon, kingfish, slightly seared ocean trout - which were sadly not too fresh.

We ordered the Hajime Bento and it came with a bowl of rice, a bowl of refreshing salad and miso soup.

The tempura which I thought should be the key to this dish, wasn't up to par - yes, they weren't too oily, nor were they soggy, but the batter coating just weren't crispy enough.

I was also pretty disappointed that there was only one miserable prawn, and the rest were vegetables. For $28, I'd expect two. 

Having said that though, I have to add that I love the tiny chicken skewers - absolutely delish! Oh, and I love how the tamago has a Hajime chop on it - cute!

I decided that for once, I would pass without desserts, but the chef kindly offered us with a complimentary scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Tempura Hajime on Urbanspoon
Never mind if the sashimi weren't fresh, but if tempura is your forte, and they are simply just passable, I'd think twice.

Well, I would definitely return again, only if they didn't put a premium price against such average food.

But with the restaurant being a tiny one with only 12 seatings, I guess the premium price helps them survive.

Ah man, blogging at 12 midnight is bad - I am really craving for Kenzan's tempura! :$ I need to drag Jenna there with me. Or maybe my mummy, who will be here in less than a week! :D

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

My critique of the tempura is that; first of all the bowl of batter mix where he dipped the stuff doesn't seem to have small chunks of flour floating around. those little bits of undissolved flour helps with the crunch factor. Second of all, during the frying process, he didn't subsequently add more batter mix onto the food which are already frying in the oil. so the end result is that you get ingredients fried in a batter akin to what you can get from a fish and chips shop.

But, you do get batter that's been fried in very very clean oil.

-Ed.

msihua said...

Hmm.. I'm wondering if this is still run by the same original owners? A few years back I had heard they were thinking of moving back to Japan.. oh well.. if the standard has fallen... :(

The Bakeanista said...

Ed: You should stop using ANONYMOUS, and get an ID instead cox I was just this close to deleting your comment. I thought it was one of those many spams I get. :P

Msihua: This was my first time there so I'm not sure if it's still the same owner. But the new owner is also Japanese.

Anonymous said...

I lazy..
-Ed.

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