Tempura Tobari

A marvelous tempura restaurant called after its owner’s name, chef Tobari, hides in the south of the Ise-Shima peninsula, not far from Ago Bay. After several years of working in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Osaka, Masahito Tobari opened his own restaurant in 2017 in Mie Prefecture, near the sea.

A display of Shima local products

The chef indeed loves surfing when not cooking, and he particularly enjoys the abundance and the quality of the fish, crustaceans and other shellfish fished off Shima for his cuisine. These are two excellent reasons to move away from the big city and enjoy the Japanese countryside’s gentle life.

The restaurant Tempura Tobari is easy to access by Kintetsu train 🚅, about one kilometer from the Shima-Yokoyama and Ugata stations, and it is also close to several hotels 🏨 of the area. The capacity of the restaurant being limited and its good reputation attracting many amateurs, it is highly recommended to book beforehand. Everything is prepared at the restaurant and cooked by the chef himself, and the quality of the dishes is excellent.

Chef Tobari’s excellent cooking

The restaurant offers a delicious culinary journey in the world of the tempura, the Japanese style fritters. The classical fillings are shrimp, white fish, chicken, and vegetables. Thanks to chef Tobari’s talent, however, one can enjoy new tastes such as fried dragon fruit sprouts, or shiso and urchin tempura, seasoned with wasabi and truffle oil.

The fritter batter is particularly light and digestible, so one should feel free to eat a large array of tempura. There is no risk to end the meal with stomachache and the unpleasant feeling of having eaten too much. On the contrary, one just wants to come back at Tobari’s and try other new tastes.

At lunchtime, it is possible to order a delicious and hearty tendon, a bowl of rice garnished with various tempura, as a side or main dish. The meal can end by a dessert providing the more traditional touch of a Kansai specialty: the warabi-mochi, made from bracken starch and with a very gelatinous texture.

The chef’s hospitality, cooking in front of the customers and timely serving dishes, is a large part of the good time spent at the restaurant. The setup of the restaurant room is also enjoyable, such as the lampshades and the chiseled wood windows, as well as the delicate flower compositions varying according to the seasons. Tempura Tobari is a Japanese restaurant as we like them: in an intimate setting, offering food that looks simple but cooked by a passionate and seasoned professional, which makes it absolutely divine.