Tempura

Saturday afternoon my host mother and I picked up one of her friends, who had invited us to a fancy tempura restaurant. We drove downtown, and eventually came up to a very small traditional looking Japanese building squished within the midst of all the other large modern city buildings. The seating hostess, dressed in a traditional Japanese yukata, led us to a small tatami mat room where there were a number of seats surrounding the area where our tempura chef was cooking. Tempura is a very skillful art that requires many years of practice to perfect. Wow, was it amazing. We were served on piece at a time - numerous different fishes and vegetables that I have never even heard of, and each had a specific way to season it. Some we dipped in salt, some with lemon, and some with the usual tempura sauce mixed with minced Japanese radish. It was so perfect that it just melted in your mouth.