Tsunahachi (Tokyo) – Venerable Tempura Restaurant in Shinjuku, Founded in 1923

We had one of our most “authentic” Japanese meals in Tokyo at Tsunahachi, a venerable tempura restaurant that has been around for almost a century. We went around closing time but luckily we managed to make it for the last order.

Tsunahachi

Tsunahachi is an old-school Japanese restaurant known for its high quality tempuras. The tempura dishes are prepared in the traditional Edo style, which is why they are very light and crispy.

This historic restaurant was founded by chef Kyuzo Shimura in 1923. He was somewhat of a celebrity chef, with many famous Japanese personalities (sumo wrestlers, baseball players, writers, etc) specially visiting the restaurant just to savour his delicious tempuras.

In 1964, which was the year of the Tokyo Olympics, Tsunahachi’s second owner (and Kyuzo’s heir) opened the Shinjuku outlet with the goal of bringing tempura to even more people. Consequently, the new slogan was: “Serving delicious tempura to as many customers as possible”.

Today, this Shinjuku outlet is Tsunahachi’s flagship store. There are four other branches in Tokyo, located in Keio Department Store (Shinjuku), Ginza, Marunouchi, and Ikebukuro. There is also one branch each in Kyoto and Sapporo (Hokkaido).

We visited the Shinjuku flagship store, which is the most famous outlet. It is a short three minute walk from Shinjuku Station.

Old School Japanese Restaurant With Good Service

We visited Tsunahachi on a Saturday at around 9.20pm and there was no queue at all. This was probably because it was near the closing time of 10pm. Based on online reviews, the queue can get really long during peak hours.

We were led by a Japanese staff into the restaurant. She didn’t really speak English, so we pointed to the counter seats to indicate that we wanted to sit there.

She replied with a hearty “hai!” and nodded her head enthusiastically while leading us to our seats. I appreciated her warm service, though at first I thought she was simply trying to compensate for the language barrier with enthusiasm. However, I noticed that she was equally friendly with other customers too.

Tsunahachi is an elegant Japanese joint decorated with classic Japanese wooden furnishings. I chose to sit at the counter because I wanted to see the chef preparing our tempura in the open kitchen.

This was akin to watching a culinary performance, because preparing tempura is actually a highly skilled craft that requires years of serious training.

Tsunahachi Dinner Menu

Tempura Set Menu Page 1

Tempura Set Menu Page 2

a la carte tempura menu

The dinner menu consists of various tempura sets. The cheapest set is the Tempura Zen (JPY 2300), which includes two prawns, one seafood, one vegetable, sea eel, kakiage (Japanese fritters with prawns), appetisers, and osoroi (a set comprising rice, miso soup, and pickles).

If you want to try something more premium, the Tsunahachi Zen (JPY 6000) includes two Japanese tiger prawns, squids, two seafood items, two vegetable items, sea urchin,  kakiage (Japanese fritters with prawns), appetisers, and osoroi (rice, miso soup, and pickles).

I also saw in the menu an Omakase Tempura Set (JPY 8000), which comprises 12 tempura dishes specially chosen by the Chef.

You can also order a la carte tempura dishes.

The menu offers a small variety of sashimi too, though it is not really famous for this.

I looked through the drinks menu and saw a variety of soft drinks and tea. The alcohol menu had sake, beer, and even wine.

I didn’t see the lunch menu, but according to other food blogs the lunchtime tempura sets are cheaper, starting from just JPY 1500.

Note that the prices above do not include the 8% consumption tax.

How To Eat Tempura

Tsunahachi has a colourful picture teaching customers about the various tempura condiments. Basically, you can eat tempura with tempura sauce, salt, or red grated radish. You can check out the details above.

I tried all three ways, and my favourite was to eat the tempura with a mixture of radish and tempura sauce. Eating with the different types of salt was interesting too and added variety to the taste.

Tempura Zen

I decided to order the Tempura Zen (JPY 2300), partially because I liked its name (first time I came across a dish called “Zen”), but mainly because it was the most affordable set.

And the wife and I had eaten earlier at Fuunji so we didn’t want to order anything too heavy. In fact, we ordered only one tempura set to share, and luckily the restaurant was nice enough to allow this. Some Japanese restaurants require customers to order at least one main dish per person.

Since the staff didn’t speak English, I had to order through some pointing and gesturing (to indicate that we were sharing). But it all went well without any miscommunication.

I especially enjoyed eating the prawn tempuras, which were very fresh, light, and crispy. My favourite memory at Tsunahachi was dipping the prawn tempura in the radish and tempura sauce mixture, then putting it in my mouth to enjoy that rich, refreshing and savoury finish.

My other favourite was the kakiage tempura, which was basically fried chopped vegetables and shrimp. The shrimps were very tender and juicy. Eating this fritter-like tempura was like chewing off a delicious ball of fried goodness. I dipped it in tempura sauce and it was even more tasty.

The other tempura items were delicious and satisfying too. Even though I was eating so much fried food, it didn’t feel greasy at all. This was because the tempuras were not overly oily. In fact, I noticed that the tempura paper on the plates barely had any heavy oil stains.

And it was really nice to eat the tempuras with the various condiments. The tempura sauce, grated radish, pickled plum, and various salts each provided a different type of experience for every bite.

Conclusion

I wouldn’t say the tempuras at Tsunahachi were life-changing, but I also can’t really think of any other joint that serves better tempura. On the whole, the tempura dishes here were fresh, tasty and satisfying. And considering that we were eating high quality tempura, the price was actually really reasonable. I highly recommend checking out this historic tempura restaurant if you’re in Tokyo.

Tsunahachi (Shinjuku)
What to Order: Tempura Zen (JPY 2300)
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
English Address: 3-31-8 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku
Japanese Address: 3-31-8 東京都新宿区新宿
Directions: Five minute walk from Shinjuku Station East Exit
Phone: +813 3352 1012
Other branches: www.tunahachi.co.jp/en/shop/index.html

This article is part of our super awesome Ultimate Tokyo Travel Guide For First Timers. Everything you need to know about Tokyo is just a click away!