A whisper-light batter with a 400-year passport — Portugal taught it, Japan perfected it, Thailand embraced it.
$15
Where it comes from
Tempura began with Portuguese traders and missionaries in 16th-century Nagasaki, who fried seafood during the fasting days they called quattuor tempora. Japanese cooks refined the technique into lace — ice-cold batter, barely mixed, flash-fried so it shatters rather than crunches. Thai kitchens, forever in love with a good fryer, adopted it long ago. Sweet, snappy shrimp; batter like frost.
Not sure how to judge a plate like this? Read our field guide to the best Thai food in Orange County — five signs of a real Thai kitchen, and what to order once you’re in one.
