Tempura Makino (VivoCity)

[HARBOURFRONT, SINGAPORE] Finally tried @tempuramakinosg and was pleasantly surprised by their quality, but their service left us confused...

I had one of their tendon lunch set, the Stamina Bowl ($16.90) which consists of a variety of vegetable ingredients and meats. The best was probably their tempura egg, which came with a nice crust and a molten centre. The egg yolk had such a vibrant colour and was very rich. Perfect with their rice! The other tempura ingredients did not feel too oily and I especially enjoyed the chicken breast, as it wasn't dry at all and was somehow juicy 😍 definitely a very filling bowl I will have again.

Now for their service... They seemed very confused with our order, some of us were missing plates, and some received the wrong orders. One particular distasteful incident was when a waiter came with a particular dish and asked who ordered it, but none of us did. Instead of checking out orders, he hastily placed the plate down and said "I am putting it here, y'all settle yourself", which sounded really rude. Upon checking the order ourselves, we did not order the dish at all and he took it away without apologising 😢

I know their food is good but service is still part of the experience of dining here! I will be back if I happen to pass by but I hope no one else will get such incidents...

The tendon comes with eel, three prawns, fish, pumpkin, green bean, eggplant, mushroom, squid and egg.

As I went during lunch, so there’s a complementary small cold dish of vegetable and a miso soup. Ingredients are fresh and the batter is light and crisp. This has emerged as my favourite bowl of tendon in Singapore!

Got this set and it was super filling. It includes tempura for prawn, squid, maitake mushroom, eggplant, butternut pumpkin, and egg + half portion of rice and half portion of cold soba. With the exception of egg, each piece has a light batter and not greasy at all. Particularly loved the pumpkin and eggplant which were both sweet and fresh. Would have enjoyed it a bit better if the tempura sauce is glazed evenly, and the prawn/squid fresher

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📍 Tempura Makino (VivoCity)
1 HarbourFront Walk, 02-111 VivoCity, Singapore 098585

#tendon #tempura #tempuramakino #burpplesg

Yet another tendon restaurant hailed from Japan (not that I am complaining), Tempura Makino’s lunch sets were pretty decent though a little steep in price. Having their Makino Special Tendon ($25) which comes with miso soup, I liked that the portion of rice was on the smaller side but overall the bowl was still really substantial with all the items. Stacked with battered Kisu Fish, Anago, Ika, Maitake Mushroom, Butternut Pumpkin, Eggplant, French Bean, Egg, and three pieces of Ebi Tempura; the tendon had quite the selection. The ingredients tasted fresh, especially the seafood. With the light batter, the flavours, and most importantly the textures of the items were able to shine, even the more delicate ones like the saltwater eel and squid. The Maitake Mushroom and Butternut Pumpkin were really sweet as well. I also enjoyed the fact that their signature tare sauce was more savoury than sweet and was mainly found drizzled on the rice instead of the tempura. However, it was definitely a little cloying to have it all in one seating for me - all the tempura plus the richness of the yolk. The complimentary yuzu daikon certainly helped in countering the heaviness.

Established since 2006 in Japan🇯🇵, @tempuramakinosg takes pride in serving handcrafted tempura at affordable price points. Using the exact same flour, dashi and dipping sauce from Japan, the tempura batter is soft, light and one can taste the fresh ingredients better. You can enjoy their free-flow homemade yuzu daikon too!😊

If it’s your first time here, you can probably reference what we ordered for 2 pax…😉
👉Makino Tendon & Soba Set - SGD25
Prawn, Squid, Maitake, Eggplant, Butter Pumpkin, French Bean & Egg. Served on Rice with Cold Soba
👉Prawn & Vegetable Tempura - SGD16
Prawns (3pcs), Eggplant, Maitake, Butternut Pumpkin, French Bean, Lotus Root
👉Mentai Seaweed - SGD6.80
👉Matcha Mochi Tempura - SGD4.80

No doubt their tempura items were generally well-executed, boasting a light, crisp coating which will definitely satisfy your cravings. Note that the Mentai Seaweed might be too strong-tasting for some of you, but I guess those that can appreciate rich and salty food will enjoy this.😋

Swipe left👈 for the dissection vid of the Matcha Mochi Tempura. I think it’s worth trying but don’t expect too much lah…😂

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📍Tempura Makino
Vivocity 02-111
Suntec City Mall 02-305/308/311