Tenya Tempura Tendon Opens First Store in SM Megamall

Tenya Tempura Tendon is a Japanese franchise that specializes in tendon and tempura. They are known for serving quick and delicious meals in a fast casual atmosphere. The Philippine franchise was brought in by the Racks group and they opened their first store at the 4th floor of Megamall across Fitness First (the irony).

The interiors are simple and perfect for a quick meal by oneself or with family and friends. My only quip is the table planning needs a little reworking, our table was up against one of the posts and it was a bit hard to get in and out of my seat.

They have a straightforward menu composed of tendon (tempura on rice), tempura baskets, teishoku (set), Udon/Soba sets and a few appetizers. The one thing that was nostalgic for me was the kids meal, they serve it in Shinkansen (bullet train) ceramic plate. I had a blast eating kid’s meals in Japan when I was a kid with many featuring anime characters like Doraemon.

I got the All Star Tendon (P325) composed of prawn, squid, kani, salmon, mushroom and french bean tempura on top of rice. The thing that kicks it up in flavor is the tare sauce, a perfect blend of sweet and savory that coats the tempura pieces instead of the usual sauce with radish and ginger. The bowl is served with a side of miso soup. The tempura looked good visually, had a crunchy and non oily taste but I felt it was lacking in seasoning after having the one at Yanagi.

The tare sauce will be your good friend during a meal at Tenya Tempura Tendon. They provide every table with a jar of the tare sauce together with pickles and togarashi.

Irene had the Asakusa Special Tendon (P295) which had 3 pieces of prawns and french beans tempura. This bowl harkens back to the origins of Tenya at their very first store in Asakusa, Tokyo and is specially created for the Philippines.

Lauren had the biggest order of Asakusa Special Tempura Soba/Udon (P425). The set meal comes with a tempura basket filled with 3 prawn, 1 kakiage and french beans. There’s also a choice of sob or udon either hot or cold. We picked a hot bowl of udon thinking Irene and I would share it and leave the tempura to Lauren. Lauren wrecked our plans after trying the udon and liking it. The tempura basket comes with the traditional dipping sauce and a bowl or rice but you can slather the tare sauce on top of it yourself.

Tenya Tempura Tendon serves good quality Japanese food with reasonable prices. I’d definitely be back for the tendon bowls because of the addicting tare sauce.