I’ve always passed by Tenya while malling at SM Megamall. It’s located at the 4th Floor, Bldg. A. But aside from obviously being a tempura place, I had very little idea of what else they offered.
Then last week, I had dinner there with my family. We tried the new Sakura sets. The Sakura-themed sets are limited edition sets that are available only until June 30, 2018.
TENYA TEMPURA TENDON
Tenya is a tendon restaurant chain from Japan, and which now also has branches in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. It aims to offer authentic but affordable tendon and tempura. Many of their ingredients and equipment come from Japan. You can read the blurb for more info:
SAKURA SETS
You don’t need to book a flight to Japan to feel the Japanese cherry blossom tradition, because Tenya has special sakura-themed sets for cherry blossom fans!
The sakura-themed sets are:
- Sakura Tendon Set (P355) – Japanese rice topped with 2 Black Tiger Prawns, Itoyori fish (sea bream), Okiami (Krill) Kakiage, Nori and Green Beans, with Original Don Tare sauce poured over, and served with miso soup.
- Sakura Teishoku Set (P415) – 2 Black Tiger Prawns, Itoyori fish (sea bream), Okiami (krill) Kakiage, Nori and Green Beans with Cold Somen, Japanese rice and potato salad.
For drinks & dessert:
- Real Strawberry Watermelon Cooler (P135)
- Mochi Ice Cream, 3 pcs (P195)
Before you jump into any conclusions, these sets don’t have sakura as an ingredient. These are just special sets that have been curated for the season.
As an added touch, they also partnered with Origami Philippines to create these sakura lampshades:
THE FOOD
For starters, we ordered the Spicy Salmon Maki (P295) – the salmon filling here was seasoned enough so eating a whole piece of maki was a flavorful bite.
Gyoza (P185)
Isobe Cheese (P185) – this is actually my favorite of the appetizers we ordered. It’s cheese wrapped in nori, coated in tempura batter, then fried. Best eaten when warm. It’s like the Japanese version of mozzarella sticks. 
This is a definite reorder when we go back.
Asakusa Special Tempura Basket (P315) – if you’re trying to avoid eating rice, one of these sets would be your best bet.
Sakura Teishoku Sets (P415 each) – loved the cold somen that’s included. It is topped with wasabi, and that just adds another layer of flavor to the somen. The somen broth was salty, but just enough to make the somen + broth combination very flavorful. It’s very clean-tasting, no fats or other rich flavors to detract from the refreshing noodle dish.
As for the tempuras – I must say that Tenya has one of the lightest and crispiest tempura coatings that I have tried. It’s probably the least greasy tempura coating I’ve had. The black tiger prawns they used were fresh and tasted sweet and meaty.
I like that the sets give the diner a variety of tempuras. For my Sakura Teishoku set, I also had a nori tempura – just a nori sheet that has been tempura-fried, and it was surprisingly nice. There were also a few green beans. There was also one butterflied fish. The krill is actually some cut-up veggies and small shrimp, kind of like okoy, but lighter.
You can customize your tempura sauce because the grated radish and grated ginger are on a separate plate, so you can just add how much you like.
The entire set is actually very filling, and is complete.
They have their special sweet and salty dontare sauce on the table that you can use as a sauce for whichever dish you like.
For drinks, we had the Real Strawberry Watermelon Cooler (P135). This was nice. I hadn’t actually thought of combining strawberry and watermelon, but it’s actually a good combo.
For dessert, we had the Mochi Ice Cream (P195). The mochi used here was thin, which I liked. This means that the mochi isn’t too chewy, and it didn’t overpower the ice creams. The ice cream flavors were: black sesame, strawberry, vanilla.
By the time we were done, we were so full! We were happy and satisfied with our meal at Tenya.
Tenya has branches in SM Megamall, Market! Market!, BGC Stopover, Paseo de Magallanes, SM Mall of Asia, Aseana City, Festival Mall and SM Southmall.
Tenya Tempura Tendon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenyaPhilippines/
