Daikokuya Tempura
大黒家天麩羅 本店 · Daikokuya Tempura
- Ward
- Taito
- Price
- ¥2,300~2,900
- Hours
- 11:00-20:30 (Sat·holidays -21:
- Closed
- Open daily
- Getting there
- Asakusa Stn walk 4~6 min · Denboin-dori
- Founded
- 1887
- Fried in sesame oil alone
- Order the tendon and you get exactly that — soup and pickles are charged separately
- The sweet-dark sauce may be mixed only by the owner
We do not republish copyrighted photographs. Use the links below to see the actual venue.
Obvious to locals, invisible to visitors
There is a simple reason guidebooks leave this out: to the people who live here it is too obvious to be worth explaining.
Fried in sesame oil alone, then dipped whole in a dark sauce until even the rice turns black. Expect crispness and you will be thrown — the batter soaked limp with sauce is precisely the intended result.
Order the tendon and you get exactly that — soup and pickles are charged separately. If you want the full set, ask for the tendon teishoku instead.
The sweet-dark sauce may be mixed only by the owner, who reportedly clears the room to do it. The recipe exists nowhere on paper — only in his head.
When the ground floor fills you are sent upstairs. The shoe tag you receive doubles as your order number, so leave it on the table. Tables are shared up there, and it is cash only.
What it is
Taito is a ward the shitamachi ward holding Asakusa and Ueno. Walking from the station you will pass it once. It only registers the second time you take that street. The set with rice and soup is the safe pick — more satisfying than ordering à la carte. After six in the evening the atmosphere shifts completely — pick your hour to match your purpose. Seats are tight and coats end up on your lap — layering thin works better in winter. One stop off the tourist line and this is what appears — that is the nature of this city.
What to order
Why locals keep coming
Most customers live within walking distance. Disappoint them once and they never return — which keeps the floor high. Prices have barely moved in a decade, meaning the shop has absorbed much of the rise in ingredient costs.