Tenshin Tempura Restaurant at Conrad Orchard: Edomae Counter Courses Explained

Kisu, megochi, anago and a small kakiage of kobashira scallop are the four pieces that define the Edomae Course at Tenshin, a S$130 menu that reads like a lesson in old Tokyo frying. Two saimaki prawns open it, and an appetizer and salad sit around them. You eat all of this on Level 3 of Conrad Singapore Orchard at 1 Cuscaden Road, at a counter where the chef drops each piece into the oil only after you have finished the last one.

Shiraishi is the name the restaurant credits for bringing specialist tempura from Japan to Singapore. The official chef's message calls Tenshin the first restaurant in Singapore to specialise in Japanese tempura, and Time Out's listing makes the same claim. The site does not name today's chef, but says he has more than 30 years of experience frying tempura and serves each piece directly across the counter. Older listings still show the hotel under its former Regent Singapore name.

Toyosu Market in Tokyo supplies the seafood, and the restaurant says its main shipments land every Wednesday and Saturday. Menus shift with the Japanese seasons rather than the Singapore calendar, which matters in a city with no autumn of its own. On the Japanese version of the site, the owner explains the oil choice: a blend of taihaku, a clear untoasted sesame oil, and cottonseed oil, chosen for a lighter, lower-calorie crust than dark sesame frying produces.

Edomae culture frames the whole place. The Japanese greeting lists tempura as one of five foods born from the old Edo bay, alongside nigiri sushi, grilled eel, tsukudani and Asakusa nori, and traces the first tempura stalls to the area around Ryogoku Bridge in the early nineteenth century. That history explains why the courses here lean on small white fish and conger eel rather than the oversized prawns found on many tendon chains.

Hana, Tsuki and Yuki are the three named tempura courses, priced at S$150, S$180 and S$250 on the official menu. Hana brings nine pieces, five from the sea and four vegetables. Tsuki adds a fifth vegetable for ten pieces, and Yuki goes to eleven with six seafood items. Each course also includes an appetizer, salad, miso soup, pickles and dessert, so the price difference is almost entirely about how many pieces leave the fryer.

Rice is where diners get to choose. Every named course ends with a main dish picked from tencha, which is tea poured over rice with a small prawn kakiage; tenbara, rice scattered with chopped tempura; a tendon bowl; or rice topped with marinated tuna. Tencha is the lightest finish after ten or eleven fried pieces, while the tuna bowl breaks the run of fried food completely with something cool and clean.

Seven vegetables make up the Vegetable Course at S$70, served with salad, which is the cheapest dinner route and the obvious pick for anyone who avoids seafood. At the other end, the Omakase Course adds sashimi and a steamed dish to the tempura and is listed at market price. A Chef's Recommend Tempura Course is also priced by the day, with rice, miso soup and pickles added for S$12, or a tendon, tenbara or tencha finish for S$45.

October's monthly menu shows how seasonal the à la carte side runs. Matsutake appears twice, grilled and in a dobin-mushi teapot broth, next to salt-grilled sanma, steamed hairy crab, roasted ginkgo nuts with salt, grilled eggplant, satoimo agedashi and clams simmered in wine and butter. Ordering one of these between tempura pieces gives the meal a break from the fryer without leaving the counter.

Lunch is the easier way in. A Tempura Set with three seafood and three vegetable pieces costs S$55, and so does the plain Tendon, both served with salad, miso soup, pickles and dessert. Tokusen Tendon and Tenbara-don sit at S$70, built around a small prawn kakiage. Tenshin Lunch, at S$90, pairs two prawns and three vegetables with a steamed dish and marinated tuna on rice.

Telephone is the only booking channel. With just 12 counter seats and 16 table seats, the counter fills first, so ask for it by name when you call. Wednesday and Saturday are the shipment days, so a booking on Thursday or Sunday puts you at the counter soon after fresh fish has arrived from Tokyo.

Children under 10 are allowed only on Sundays and public holidays, so family lunches have to be planned around that rule. Smart casual is the dress code. Monday is the weekly closing day. Arrive near opening at noon for the most relaxed lunch; last orders fall at 2:00pm, half an hour before the kitchen closes, so a 1:30pm arrival leaves little room for a full set.

Cuscaden Road runs between Orchard Boulevard and Tanglin Road, which puts the quieter, western end of Orchard on your doorstep. Walk west along Tanglin Road for about ten minutes and you reach Tanglin Mall, a smaller, family-oriented mall with a basement food hall and children's shops. It is a cooler alternative to the busy malls closer to Orchard MRT and a useful indoor stop on a wet afternoon.

Singapore Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, begins a little further along at the Tanglin Gate on Holland Road. From there a shaded path leads past Swan Lake toward the bandstand and the National Orchid Garden, which charges admission while the rest of the gardens are free. After a heavy tempura lunch, a slow loop around Swan Lake takes about half an hour.

Dempsey Hill, the former British army barracks off Dempsey Road, is a short taxi ride beyond the gardens and suits an evening drink after dinner. Heading east instead, Orchard Road starts at the Tanglin end with Forum The Shopping Mall and continues toward ION Orchard, so a stroll down the boulevard is the simplest way to walk off a Yuki course before catching the MRT home.

Tenshin is at 1 Cuscaden Road, #03-01 Conrad Singapore Orchard, Singapore 249715. Take the hotel lifts to Level 3. Orchard Boulevard station on the Thomson-East Coast Line is the closest MRT stop, a few minutes on foot, and Orchard station on the North-South Line is a longer walk along Orchard Road. Taxis and ride-hail cars can drop at the hotel's main entrance on Cuscaden Road.

Opening hours on the official site are lunch 12:00pm to 2:30pm, with last order at 2:00pm, and dinner 6:00pm to 10:30pm, with last order at 10:00pm, Tuesday to Sunday; the restaurant is closed on Monday. Set lunches and à la carte run at midday, while kaiseki-style dinner courses and à la carte run in the evening.