Saturday, July 28, 2012

Tenkai (Bali Padma at Legian) 07/2012

In my experience Japanese restaurants fall into two major categories - traditional, serving either tepanyaki or sushi, sushimi tempura, terryaki and udon style dishes or modern tapas style variations of traditional dishes. Tenkai falls squarely in the traditional category. It is a simply decorated and simply furnished, almost minimalist venue. Tables are well sized but chairs are uncomfortable. The settings are attractive. The menu is arranged around a main course preceded by an appetizer and miso soup and finishing with ice cream. Tepanyaki is offered on some nights. We wanted to share both a mixed sushi sashimi dish and a tempura udon which was not a routine situation but, with several explanations they managed to provide two pieces of everything. The appetizer was a delicate mouthful of minced tuna. I had saki from the very limited beverage list, which matched the food. The remaining dishes were stock standard. Sushi mix was as delicate as ever.Tempura came with a very small bowl of pickled cucumber.Udon soup.Just what we expected and so good that we are going back again.
Score: 14/20

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