On our visit to Asakusa, the gang stopped by at what is becoming a must go to when in Tokyo establishment. We dined at the Daikokuya for their famous Tendon.
My mom and I stumbled upon this venerable establishment on our trip a few years ago. Asakusa is famous for its many established restaurants. We found Daikokuya by a recommendation from a local merchant. We were walking back to Nakamise dori after purchasing tickets to Nikko at the Tobu Travel office. We were hungry with no direction. We asked a man that was sweeping the street for his recommendation. (I thought he was a janitor, so he can direct us to somewhere good and inexpensive. My mom corrected me that this was a merchant that was taking his turn to sweep. A common duty of the local chamber of commerce). He did not hesitate to direct us to Daikokuya.
Our first visit in 2006, we w@����he Honkan (main establishment or original establishment) It was located in a small distinguished japanese style building.
In 2007, we wanted to have the Ten-don that I spoke favorably about. My four other friends had not eaten there and was anxious to get a taste. We went to the Daikokuya honkan, only to find that the restaurant was closed...........Oh S**t. There was flier posted in front of the building. Well, i used my limited Japanese skills to decipher that the restaurant was under renovation. Luckily, I stayed awake in Japanese class long enough to read the second part of the flier. The annex is open for business.
We made our way around the corner through the busy streets of Asakusa. We found it!
We each dined on the famous Ten-don. It consisted of various tempura dishes. A prawn (not shrimp) that was longer then the bowl, it protruded over the rim. A kakiage of local fish and scallops, a fish tempura and a shishito pepper. The tempura covered the rice. A lightly sweet sauce covered the tempura and seeped into the rice underneath. The sauce was a perfect complement to the seafood tempura, it was gentle. The seafood was fresh, the prawn was big but rich in flavor (fresh). The fish (kisu) was filleted and served tail and all. The shishito pepper complemented the semi sweet sauce with just enough pepper to lure you to finish the bowl of rice underneath. The rice was a rich blackish, brown color, tinted by the sauce. The rice was flavorful as the sauce had picked up the flavor of the seafood above it.
A perfect 10 DON!!!
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