Tenya 天家
Add*: 1/F, Mandarine City Clubhouse, 1129 Guyang Lu, near S. Shui Cheng Lu 古羊路1129号, 近水城路
Tel: 5422 3373
Website: www.tei.com.cn
Price: 200~300 RMB/person
Visited: Feb 2011
When describing a piece of supreme fatty tuna, melt-in-your-mouth becomes an understatement. Pale pink, almost white in color with a richly sweet flavor and a soft, buttery texture…it’s a luxurious sensation in the mouth. Tenya, which prides itself in sourcing the freshest Southern bluefin tuna straight from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market and employing a specialized defrosting process that preserves top quality, is naturally the go-to place in Shanghai for this luscious delicacy.
*Several locations available in Shanghai, check SmartShanghai for the locations.
The tuna sushi platter set (200 RMB), which includes 5 varieties of tuna sushi, is always a good choice. What it includes: Akami – a leaner part of the tuna that is deep rich red in color with a firm texture; Chutoro – a fattier cut, pink in color with a fuller flavor; Otoro – the fattiest and most expensive slice from the fish, almost white in color with beautiful marbling, a voluptuously rich flavor and buttery texture; Toro aburi – seared chutoro, resulting in a delicious warm exterior and a cool, meaty interior; Negi toro gunkan maki – chopped tuna with green onions topping rice, then wrapped with dried seaweed. You can also order otoro a la carte if you want nothing but that.
赤身 Akami.
中とろ chu-toro.
大とろ o-toro.
炙り grilled tuna sushi and 葱とろ軍艦巻 chopped tuna warship roll.
The set comes with chilled tofu, miso soup, and coffee/coffee ice-cream, which are all simple but generally well-done.
But of course the meal doesn’t stop here. After so much rawness, it’s a good idea to move on to the grilled tuna head (168 RMB). The skin is seasoned and grilled crispy, while the interior remains juicy and tender. Sprinkle the whole thing with fresh lemon juice and top it off with minced turnips.
Some other decadent things on the menu include monk fish liver warship roll (28 RMB), Hokkaido (sea urchin & salmon roe) warship roll (16 RMB), and grilled sea eel sushi (28 RMB). There are many a la carte options, making it easy to satiate whatever the stomach craves at the moment.
Grilled clams (38 RMB).
For those needing some vegetables, the bird nest salad (38 RMB) is an enormous mound of shredded lettuce with Japanese vinaigrette dressing, and the organic baby leaf salad (38 RMB) is, well, self-explanatory.
A meal at Tenya varies in price, but usually comes out to be about 250 RMB per person. For those in love with the luxurious sensation of otoro dissolving in the mouth, do give Tenya a try.
