Tempura Matsui

I was in New York for a Business Trip and wanted to have a last night with an intimate quiet and calm ambiance. I decided to find an Omakase. I'm not a fan of Tempura but thought it would be good to step out of my comfort zone. The restaurant entrance is cute and the restaurant itself is small and intimate as expected.

The service is exceptional with waiters acting as co-pilot to describe the food coming to you. The chefs are 2, quiet and very focused on the food.

When I think of Tempura, I think about this fat yellow fried paste around a shrimp in some cheap sushi japanese restaurants and it's not something I like. Deciding to come was a choice and any doubt was removed right at the start. This is not what you will get.

They started to make shrimp heads fried but literally just a way down and up in hot oil like a fondue and it was just crispy and delicious!

Then they bring you some delicious sashimis, a shawan mushi with uni and some caviar. The omakase is 23 courses with fish, mushroom and more. Everything is presented amazingly and you feel extra full at the end. Your plate is provided with few ingredients to help to season the food with different salts, lemon and more.

Overall I loved it, the price ($280+tax+tip+wine) is on the upper hand but overall worth the experience. The French wine was good but not too generous and it needs to be fixed. This is definitely a one/two Michelin star.

Tempura Matsui is an outstanding restaurant that definitely earned its Michelin star. The food is excellent and service is absolutely top-notch. It has a very intimate and comfortable atmosphere. It is not large. There are perhaps 8 seats at the Tempura bar, then three or four tables--so obviously get reservations early. You can see the chefs from anywhere (who work non-stop).

The restaurant is kind of hidden with just a single door and not a big sign (there is photo with the review). It is a set menu at a steep price ($280 per person), but you get what you pay for. You get a lot of different tastes and will leave full. Also pay attention to name of restaurant. A big portion of food is tempura--which I love, but may not be for everybody.

As you would expect, most of the drink menu features sake. I am not a fan, so we had red wine. They also had some good mocktails.

Bring an appetite. There is a lot of courses and tastings. We started with an Amuse-bouche. This included two wonderful bites. One was a form of tofu that had an original and wonderful flavor and the other was some squid that I think was boiled. The key here was the other ingredients they added for wonderful bites and it also looked beautiful.

Next was sashimi. This was so good, I would not have minded more. This included some of the best tuna I have had (it just melted in your mouth) and then snapper that was also great. Presentation was again gorgeous and they had a flower that we sprinkled over the sashimi.

Next was a steam egged custard, where we choose seafood (with caviar on top). This was very rich and the flavor was good, but not one of my personal favorites.

After that, the tempura started. This included almost every kind of seafood prepared just perfect, with just the lightest of coatings. It was really perfect. For the setup, they had a seaweed kind of salt, some tempura sauce (with radishes poured in), and then fresh lemon juice (where they had this cute juicer for you to squeeze fresh).

It started with Shrimp heads and then shrimp. Both excellent. Then I do not remember the exact order, but other tempura included snow crab, white asparagus, cod (or another white fish), scallops, potato, and some kind of green vegetable. I may be missing something, but it was a lot and so tasty. Definitely the best tempura I have ever had.

After that, was a rice dish that you could have one of three ways, with truffle salt, with tea, or another way. I had the tea because it sounded so odd. It turned out to be really good. I poured the tea in an it covered the rice, then provided a really good complement to the shrimp. I am not sure what tea they used and if this could be replicated, but it was an amazing flavor.

After that, was dessert. Ours was just melon. I was maybe expecting more, but I was kind of full and it was a really good melon (kind of a honeydew, but I guess imported from Japan).

This place may not be for everyone. One of the people in the party who is not a huge fan of seafood thought it was overwhelming--and perhaps a couple more vegetables mixed into tempura could help. Then some of the food was exotic, like the shrimp heads and the custard, but part of why you go to these type of extraordinary restaurants should be to try foods you will not get anywhere else.

So if you want the best tempura you ever had in a wonderful setting with great service, Tempura Matsui cannot be beat.

When my boyfriend told me we were going to eat here, I was a bit skeptical. I felt like for that price maybe we should just have went to eat at an omakase place instead of one where everything was fried, but boy was I wrong. We were seated immediately upon entry. I wish I wasn't currently on crutches as I would've loved to sit at the bar and watch the chefs make the oh so delicate tempura.

There were five or six courses, but each course felt like there was 500 things in there, so here are my favorite food parts of the meal.
- Tempura favorites:

- Shokuji Tencha - When they gave all the options for what to eat the last rice dish with, I was a bit worried of ordering the tencha as I thought it might dilute all the flavors and make it very watery. I was completely wrong and it was unequivocally the best option there. The tea itself, although very light, when paired with the green tea salt and the flavorful tempura completely elevated the dish as it became almost like a broth. It was a perfect ending to the meal as it showed the skills of the tempura master as well as the beautiful flavors of the green tea.
- Melon - When they brought out the melon at the end, my boyfriend and I both looked at each other like uhh... this is our dessert? We were so wrong to estimate the melon. If they brought out ice cream or some cake, I think we would've been too full to eat it, but melon? It was the most perfect dessert item as the melon was incredibly succulent, it literally melts in your mouth. On first bite, all the juices flow out of the melon and it feels like you're drinking the most fresh melon juice of your life. I'm still dreaming about this one.

But what is a Michelin-starred restaurant without all the ambiance surrounding the food? Here are my favorite parts of the experience other than the food:
- The toilet seats were warm! I know this is so weird, but I loved the toilets as they felt so clean, neat, and fancy.
- Our server was incredibly knowledgeable of everything on the menu and I absolutely loved that he taught us how to best eat each of the tempura pieces as I really think his pairing and knowledge elevated each piece. Also, he was extremely attentive. The minute we finished our tempura piece, he would arrive with another one. It was a never-ending tempura journey, and I was here for it.
- Okay this is kind of cheating, but I absolutely love all the dipping sauce options. I loved that there were 2 kinds of salt and you can really tell the difference between them.
- I loved the lemon juicer haha. I thought it was such a fancy way not to get your fingers dirty but still maximize all the juices in the lemon. Also, it was such a satisfying thing to squeeze it all out.

If I come back next time, I will just come for lunch as it is $100 cheaper and the food seems to be roughly the same minus the Chawanmushi which is not that big of a deal.

10/10 experience! We booked it for a dinner and got seating at the bar where the frying station is, they also have booth seating but I def preferred the bar seating. They go over which salts is best accompanied with which piece and all the pieces came out at a good pace. The service is amazing here and they are very attentive! The chefs were nice and I had so many favorite pieces! The tempura omakase was such a unique experience! I was stuffed at the end of the meal and the frying doesn't feel greasy at all! It is pricy but it's a good celebratory meal!

TLDR: Bottom-line, it is so much more than a tasting of fried tempura. If you've never had proper tempura before, you are missing out. You may find this to be equally as enjoyable as a true omakase.

I figured for the 500th review, it should be a happy one. I had Tempura Matsui bookmarked for more than 10 years. To call it just a tempura menu does not do it justice. If you have never been to a true tempura restaurant (hard to find outside of Japan), the precision cooking and preparation that goes into it is another level. To be candid, I actually enjoyed this more than both tempura tastings I've had in Tokyo. We came for lunch and so glad we did. Easily top 5 meals of 2023.

At $160 pp it is a lot of food and really a great value for the kind of ingredients and expertise you're getting. Starters were a Japanese potato salad with salmon roe and a sashimi plate. Both excellent.

The tempura progression starts right away and the service was fantastic. Each piece as it came out was explained, advised on how to enjoy it for optimum flavor and all the different salts, condiments, etc. Each piece and the recommended salt/sauce pairing is very intentional. Each tempura is cooked to the precise timing to maximize the quality of the ingredient, provide a crispy exterior while maintaining an overall light palette feel to the meal.

There was not a bad piece but typically the fried shrimp heads start first. So delicate, the crispy legs with the hot inside is a great starter. The maitake mushroom with the natural sprigs provides for maximum crunch and a deep earthy umami flavor. The Japanese whiting is light/fleshy with the bone fried out where it's basically a fish chip for extra crispiness. The sweet king crab leg wrapped in shiso is sweet, refreshing, crispy all at once. The Japanese eggplant was so elegantly crisp on the outside but piping hot on the inside. I especially enjoyed the recommendation to tear it open and stuff it with the bonito flakes for a flavor bomb sandwich if you will. The sea eel though, nice and big with so many crispy clusters and almost creamy-like texture on the meat. Sea eel is my favorite tempura piece, period.

You can opt to get the fried tempura cluster over rice or tendon or the tempura and tea over rice. I recommend the tendon. Tendon is half the reason to even go to a tempura tasting. We all know the best part of an omakase (outside of the tuna) is the hand roll. If there's no hand roll, it feels like a miss. Like who wants a burger without the fries?

The grapefruit jelly pudding was the perfect way to cleanse the palette and end on a note overly sweet note. Tempura Matsui is a place I'd recommend if you're into Japanese food, fine dining or just great food period. My only regret, I should have started coming here way earlier.

Came here for a surprise birthday lunch.

Menu:
Shrimp head
Shrimp
Mushroom
Fish with the bones (?)
Snow Crab with Shiso Leaf
Brussel Sprout with Seaweed(?)
Scallop
Snow pea & Baby Onion
Flying fish
Lotus
Anago
Tendon with miso

Wasn't incredibly oily at the end of everything, I had a beer to go with my meal as a palette cleanser.
Service was great, showed great attention to customers. Chefs were attentive, and notice when you want a good video shot at the whole frying process and try not to ruin your video. As a small extra birthday surprise, added a nice large strawberry with a mochi ice cream.
Great experience, would love to try again someday.

I had a truly fun and warm experience at this small restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the food as well but at this price point the menu left me wanting a bit more.

Tempura Matsui features a central counter seating 10 as well as just a few tables. It is on the casual side for an upscale omakase but not in a negative way. There is gentle jazz music in the background which combines with the ever-present crackle of the tempura oil and hearkens to a cozy winter day indoors.

I was lucky to get a same day reservation and called ahead to express my preference for the counter. When I got there the host joked that I was the man who demanded the counter, probably recognizing my voice. All night this guy was super attentive and really drove home the experience. The rest of the staff are on point but there is room for a bit more finesse at this level of dining. My countertop was always clean and my drink was always full but it could have all just been a bit sharper.

The menu weighs in at a hefty 250pp before tax and tip. This includes some sashimi selections, chawanmushi, tempura omakase with a parade of sauces/seasonings, and a rice dish in that order.

The highlights included...
Foie Gras Chawanmushi - Just incredible. Hot, rich, silky and balanced.
Maitake mushroom - possibly my favorite individual piece of the night. It has a meaty, umami flavor and just disappears on the tongue.
My wife does not eat abalone - the substitute they brought was a generous serving of uni! very classy
The Hokkaido Scallop - did not gain much from the tempura batter but was one of the sweetest and tastiest I have ever had.

Some things that could have been better...
I wish the shrimp head had more meat inside to bring that juiciness. The uni wrapped in bass was good but I would much prefer a tempura dish topped with cold, delicious uni. For the price point and simplicity of cooking, I would have wanted a few more exotic ingredients. Finally, I was excited to see how a dedicated tempura spot at this level would deliver its take on dessert - unfortunately we were presented with an out-of-season honeydew and the opportunity was wasted.

Overall worth a visit for a unique experience and truly delicious food but Tempura Matsui did not wow me as much as I hoped.

Five star service, food, and experience. The staff are so attentive and made us feel so welcome. They explained every dish with detail and gave us suggestions on the best way to eat it.

The food was amazing. Everything was cooked so well and seasoned. It's really a different and new experience for omakase since it's usually sushi. The tempura was fried perfectly.

One thing I just want to highlight is the care and attention the staff put in. I called in a few days ago to ask what could be done for a birthday celebration and when I arrived at the restaurant, the waiter remembered me. They gave us an extra mini dessert for the birthday person.

It is a bit pricey so I definitely recommend the lunch session. The lunch portion was more than enough to fill the average person up. Also I'd recommend requesting the counter seating if you make a reservation. It's a cooler experience to sit infront of the chef.

It was truly a great experience and I would happily come back again!

Incredible. I had high expectations because it's a Michelin reviewed restaurant, but not so much since I don't have tempura that often. What a beautiful dining experience - from the presentation of the most gorgeous sake sakazuki glass I have ever seen, the service of having every dish explained, and the the delicateness of the thin layers of tempura that make me question every other piece of tempura I've had prior.

Came here for dinner omakase with my wife. Easily the best tempura we've ever had. The service and ambiance were worthy of a Michelin Star. But be warned, you will be very full by the end of the meal. Do not add the lobster to your meal, UNLESS you have a massive appetite. My wife and I struggled once the last quarter of the meal arrived, but I somehow caught a second wind with the final 2 courses because the food was so delicious. If we skipped the lobster, I think we would've been fine.