Tendon Kohaku

We seemed to be walking past this place for months while they were "Coming Soon!" It's not that surprising as Vancouver seems to be a sea of red tape at the best of times with the situation made worse by our favourite virus. Then one day, all of the sudden, there were people inside!

Located at the corner of Howe and Smithe, the building sign for Tendon Kohaku is a little hard to see but the sandwich board out front is a decent marker. We were able to walk right in (with our masks, of course) and were given a table.

All of the bowls come with miso soup of course. We liked the dinnerware they used complete with lids. The miso soup had nice little tofu puffs floating in the broth.

Mharie had the Kohaku Tendon which was pretty straightforward with a couple of prawns, chicken, squid and assorted veggies including Kobocha squash. The tendon sauce is teriyaki-ish and tasty. Everything was nice and crispy that was supposed to be crispy with rice to finish and help soak up the sauce.

I ordered the Sashimi Aimori  Tendon which provided a little bit of a variation on the theme. There was a decent amount of salmon, tuna, and scallop with a good helping of Ikura. A little wasabi on the side and I was a happy camper.

We ordered each of our bowls as combos, one with Chawanmushi, a Japanese steamed egg which was brilliant. It was custardy and subtle in flavour.

The other we ordered with Tomato Ikko which was new to me and maybe the first time that I have eaten a tomato with chopsticks. It is described as marinated in a house sauce to give it a sweet and sour flavour. I found it close to balsamic vinegar. It was cold and refreshing. Very good!

TK is a bright and comfortable place and the staff could not be friendlier. Tempura is not rare or new to Vancouver but the few places that we have now that specialize are kind of unique. It is inexpensive and satisfying and we always look forward to trying them out. You should also.

Food                    3 1/2 out of 5

Service                 4 1/2 out of 5

Comfort               4 out of 5

Value                    4 out of 5

N.B. Sorry about the early misspelling!