Nakamura – Yaizu, Japan (April 2025). The Tempura Protégé

In my latest trip to Japan, I dined at a few up and coming restaurants with the common theme being that they are led by a chef who trained under an established chef and have now decided to strike out on their own. I thought it would be fun to kickstart a review mini-series, so this will be part 1 of my protégé series.

Nakamura is a tempura restaurant located in Yaizu, Shizuoka prefecture. It is helmed by Yuki Nakamura who trained for 8 years at the legendary Naruse. Nakamura is opened in 2023 and just received the Tabelog Bronze award this year. Much like Naruse, Nakamura’s menu features Shizuoka ingredients with seafood being provided by famed fishmonger Sasue Maeda.

The restaurant is housed within a quiet neighborhood about a 5 minutes walk from JR Yaizu station and it takes roughly 1.5 hours to reach here by bullet train from Tokyo station. Nakamura’s counter is simple and minimalist. It can accommodate 7 diners. For my lunch sitting, my wife and I were the only foreigners and we were fortunate to have the middle seats, which gave us the best view of the frying action.

This was a big meal, consisting 21 courses of which 16 were tempura:

Appetizers
1. Fish and Hamaguri Clam broth (to warm the tummy)
2. Spanish Mackerel and Sea Bream sashimi
3. Japanese spiny lobster / Ise-Ebi (appetizers at tempura omakase are usually non-affairs, but this was knockout dish. Fascinating prep. Lobster meat is skewered and slightly dunk in hot oil before it is chargrilled slightly, served semi-cooked and finished off with lobster-head sauce. Sweet lobster meat paired with a rich umami sauce and a smoky aroma- 10/10 dish)

Tempura
4. Hamadai / Red Snapper with persimmon leaf
5. Aori Squid (texture was like mochi)
6. Soramame / Broad Beans
7. Burdock Root (thick cut. Soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside, outstanding textures)
8. Amadai / Tilefish (with crispy scales)
9. Aji / Horse Mackerel (insane bite and probably the most memorable of the meal. This was prepared from a very large Aji which is rare. Super oily and fatty.)
10. Local Carrot (great follow-up to the oily Aji. Very sweet carrot and served with slightly burnt batter to give that extra charred oomph)
11. Torafugu (Super bouncy meat. Texture reminded me of frog legs)
12. Isobe-age (homemade fish cake)
13. Alpine Leek (garlicky flavor)
14. Shima-Aji (I think) and vinegared veggie palate cleanser
15. Baracuda / Kamasu (another oily fish)
16. Hairtail / Tachiuo (soft and tender meat)
17. Sawada / Spanish Mackerel (served slightly rare, very fatty bite)
18. Tamanegi / Onion
19. Sweet Potato (Nakamura-San spent most of the second half of the meal frying this)
20. Tendon or Tencha (I went with the Tendon which was good)
21. Sakura Mochi

This was a 2.5 hour meal and it was a gastronomical experience. Every piece of tempura served was crispy and tasted excellent with both the vegetables and seafood complementing each other so well. What was so impressive was the variety of ingredients being served. Some of these were rather rare ones in tempura as well (like Fugu and Kamasu). You do not get the usual prawn and prawn head starter typical in other tempura omakase and you won’t miss it one bit.

Nakamura-San was really friendly but for most of the meal he was in quiet concentration making the tempura. This was quite a serene counter and everyone was just watching in awe as each piece of tempura was made. Nakamura-San became much more talkative once the frying was over.

This was a superb tempura meal which is also very value for money, relatively speaking. Based on experiences from other redditors, Nakamura’s food is very similar in terms of style and quality to Naruse, so you won’t be missing out if you aren’t able to obtain that elusive seat at Naruse. Nakamura is must visit for Tempura fans. It seems pretty easy to reserve now with some planning and it will only become more elusive in the future as it reputation grows. Well worth the Shinkansen round trip from Tokyo or if you are touring Shizuoka area then this is a must try stop on your journey.

Score: 4.75 / 5

Reservation difficulty: prob easy to medium difficulty to book now. Booked via my hotel concierge one month in advance (follow their instagram page to find out when reservations for the following month open and instruct your concierge to call in on that date). They are also available on Autoreserve and Omakase.in (though I understand Omakase is for cancellations).

Cost performance: 4.75 / 5. The course was 18,700 yen before service charge and drinks, about half the price of the course at Naruse. I would argue that this meal was a steal. You get such a variety of ingredients and the portions given were generous. Even including the Shinkansen round trip ticket, Nakamura might still work out to be cheaper than other Tabelog awarded tempura shops in Tokyo.

For those who have tried both Naruse and Nakamura, feel free to share how Nakamura holds up to Naruse in your opinion.