Tendon Akimitsu in Glorietta

Say hello to the first standalone branch of Tendon Akimitsu! Located in Japan Town, 4th floor of Glorietta 2, this award-winning Japanese tendon specialty restaurant isn’t sharing spaces anymore with its sister company, Ramen Nagi.

Tendon Akimitsu is owned by Chef Akimitsu Tanihara, who trained under Dote no Iseya. The latter is a restaurant that has been serving traditional tempura for 130 years in Japan.

From being established in Asakusa, Tokyo, the renowned Chef decided to open his own restaurant and has since expanded to other parts of Asia, continuing the legacy that has been entrusted to him.

So what should you expect from Tendon Akimitsu?

Make sure to order some of their rolls and ask the staff for their best-sellers. I highly recommend these as they are made really fresh.

Chef Akimitsu’s tendon recipe has been a 5-time gold medalist at the Japan Donburi Awards from 2014 to 2018.

Tendon Akimitsu is famous for their Tendon (Mixed, Nami, Ebi, and Squid) and Tempura sets (Mixed, Squid, and Ebi) – so if you’re ordering some rolls, make sure you save some space for these.

I tried their Mixed Tendon Set for 390pesos as recommended by one of the staff. This set includes miso soup, watermelon and veggies on the side while the Tendon bowl has rice, tiger prawns, fish, a whole egg that is also breaded up, carrot, eggplant, beans, and shiitake mushroom.

If you don’t feel like having a Tendon or Tempura set, I highly recommend the Beef Donburi for 350pesos.

Tempura is one of the most famous Japanese dishes. You can either have it as it is, with rice or pair it with ramen – up to you how you would like this crispy deep fried dish. I personally love it as a Tendon Set (tempura on top of the rice) as I feel that all the flavors combined makes it really delicious.