Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi, Osaka

Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi is a convenient tempura restaurant for lunch in the middle of Osaka, Japan. This restaurant is an outlet of an established tempura restaurant in Kyoto: Tempura Endo Yasaka Gion. The option of tempura counter seating was another added attraction for us to have lunch there.

Convenient Tempura Restaurant in Daimaru Department Store Shinsaibashi Osaka

There are many large and established department stores in Osaka. Many of them are located in the Umeda area. In the fashionable Shinsaibashi area, we think that Daimaru is the most interesting store. It is a far cry from the Daimaru Singapore that we used to visit at Liang Court (both that store and the shopping mall are now gone). Daimaru Shinsaibashi is a more glamorous place.

Like many shopping malls in Osaka or Tokyo, Daimaru has two dining floors which have a concentration of restaurants. Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi is on level 10. Some restaurants require bookings through special websites and have credit card requirements. Apart from the convenient location, another reason we chose this place was the ease of online booking without the need for deposits or credit card information.

Traditional Kyoto tempura Meets Modern Osaka Shinsaibashi

According to the restaurant’s website, Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi’s new menu combines the sensibility of Osaka Endo with the commitment to Kyoto-style kaiseki. Diners can enjoy “… the splendor of Osaka’s Shinsaibashi combined with the attention to detail of a long-established restaurant.”

Compared to the traditional house which houses the Kyoto outlet we visited some years ago (see our post Tempura Endo Yasaka Gion Kyoto), the Daimaru Tempura Endo outlet has some modern touches and lighting. Fortunately, it did not go overboard in modernity and the decor is still very much traditional – with pleasing light wood finishes. It is not a large restaurant but manages to provide different dining settings – tempura counter, private room counter or at conventional tables. Of course we picked the tempura counter at the time of reservation.

Lunch at Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi

We had come to realise that tempura seems to be more enjoyable at the counter. Whether it is the minute of delay in between the immediate serving of the cooked product at the counter and the serving to a table or the opportunity to see the chef in action, the tempura counter is the place to be.

Different course meals were available for lunch at Tempura Endo. We picked a mid-range Shirakawa course. Thirteen pieces of tempura were served in this course and the price (inclusive of tax) was 11,000 yen (about S$92). Here are pictures of a couple of sections of the Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi menu and sake list. More menus can be found on their website (link provided below).

Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi sake menu

Shirakawa Tempura Course

Lunch started with a light, creamy appetiser (I believe it was pumpkin soup).

Next to follow were tempura corn and toast with seafood paste. Both were very good, especially the corn where the quality of the corn shone through.

After that was a stick of baby potatoes (picture above) and two decent prawns. The potatoes were not impressive and were the weakest link of the day. The prawns were very good and one of the highlights of lunch. We should add that the batter used was light and the frying technique left very little oil on the paper lining on the landing dish.

Next was a more unusual dish of mushroom, the type of which I cannot remember. But I remember its robust earthy taste that was unlike other mushrooms we had previously tried.

Next to follow were a couple of vegetable and fish tempura pieces. They were all good but not very memorable.

Our final tempura items were sweet potato and conger eel, which ended the individual tempura part of lunch on a good note. Overall we were quite happy with the decision to have a tempura lunch at Tempura Endo Daimaru Shinsaibashi. The quality of tempura may not be at the highest levels of specialist tempura restaurants but was clearly a few grades above the average shopping mall restaurant.

Rice and Dessert

We were shown the four options we had for the rice dish that would end our lunch. We decided on the tencha-zuke and ten-don.

The tencha-zuke was a bowl with rice topped with a tempura fritter made with small bits of seafood. Some sencha tea was poured into it creating a porridge-like dish. The tea was light and clean tasting, which combined well with the flavours of the tempura and rice.

Ten-don was a more common dish, with the fritter topped on rice. A simple and neat way to end lunch.

The dessert served was flavoured crushed ice. Not an ending on a high note but it gave us the option of scouting for a dessert place in Daimaru. By the way, Pokemon fans may be happy to know that there is a Pokemon centre at Daimaru Shinsaibashi.