Japan’s newest tempura is…potato salad tempura?!? [Taste test]

Annual idea contest takes Tenya to a bold new tempura frontier.

Tempura is one of the most versatile styles of Japanese cuisine, especially when it comes to vegetables. Onion, carrots, eggplant, and kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), to name just a few, all lend themselves to Japan’s traditional method of deep-frying, and they’re all things the staff at tempura restaurant chain Tenya are happy to cook up on a daily basis.

Tenya’s chefs, though, are also always on the lookout for new things to try the tempura treatment on, and this month they’ve come up with one of their most surprising innovations yet: potato salad tempura.

This bold concept (arguably the boldest since Tenya created clam chowder tempura) is the winner of Tenya’s annual employee idea competition, but the chain realizes it might be too bold to make an entire meal out of. Instead, you’ll find the potato salad tempura as part of the new Azayaka Vegipote (“Vegetable Potato”) Tempura Bowl, which went on sale October 22. In addition to the tempura potato salad, you also get tempura eggplant, corn, bell pepper, zucchini, and radish.

If you’re wondering how Tenya manages to deep-fry something that doesn’t have a defined shape, the unique consistency of Japanese mayonnaise is probably a big help. Japanese mayo is a lot less watery than its western counterpart. That gives it enough density for the tempura batter to stick to without actually combining with the mayo, and as you can see in our mid-taste test photo below, Tenya really has succeeded in making tempura pouches with potato salad inside!

This results in an extremely interesting texture. The outer layer has the distinctive airy crunch that tempura fans love. Inside you’ve got the creamy mayo, softened by the heat but still not watery, and mixed in are slices of potato that crumble enticingly when you bite into them.

It’s extremely rare for a single piece of tempura to have that much going on in terms of texture, and it’s a very satisfying combination, as it turns out the flavors of potato salad and tempura complement each other extremely well too, our taste-testing reporter P.K. Sanjun reports. While he’s not sure it would work as a solo topping in the way that, say, a rice bowl topped with nothing but multiple pieces of tempura shrimp does, now that he knows how good it tastes, a piece of tempura potato salad would always be a welcome addition to his meal team, and especially in a vegetable tempura ensemble like this, it’s a great addition.

However, the tempura potato salad, and the 790-yen (US$5) Azayaka Vegipote bowl that it comes in, are currently only available on a limited-quantity basis, with a total of 8,000 to be served in its initial run, so if the idea sounds intriguing to you, you’ll want to head to Tenya ASAP, since there’s nowhere else to get tempura like this.

Photos ©SoraNews24
Azayaka Vegipote promotional image: Tenya
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