Where did Chicken Tempura originate?

I thought I read about a city/town (on this site) that's known for the creation of Chicken Tempura, but can't find the page now and a search doesn't reveal any results. I'm hoping someone here knows where I'm talking about, so I can look up information about this place again. Hopefully I'm not just imagining what I read, lol. Thanks for any replies!

Chicken tempura? Are you sure you don't mean chicken katsu? I've only ever seen vegetable and prawn tempura. I'm intrigued. And hungry now!

Definitely not Chicken Katsu. It was a rare form of Tempura and I'm pretty sure it was chicken. That's mainly why I'm curious about it, since that's not the type of Tempura you usually see on menus. I think it's listed in the sightseeing guide here for one of the smaller towns where it's recommended to try due to its history and originality. I remember two words written in romaji, both possibly starting with the letter T. Should have bookmarked it, but I thought I could remember... :/

I really hope I didn't just dream about this dish, haha.

Ōita Prefecture - Beppu City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toriten
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%A8%E3%82%8A%E5%A4%A9

Toriten is also called "kashiwaten" in Kagawa Prefecture.

According to Wiki:

There are different stories about the origin of Tori-tempra. But major ones are Beppu and Oita city.

To-yo-ken that opened in Beppu in 1926 had a menu in the late 20s of 'sakkeimaru or sakkeigan' with an explanation that it was a kind of tempra of some chiken pasted cake.

Also tori tempra was confirmed in the menu of Mitsuba-grill when they opened in 1953 in Beppu. Eventually this restaurant is introduced as the origin in many cases. But the founder of the restaurant was originally from To-yo-ken and he admitted the origin was To-yo-ken.

O-ita city has their own story and when they declare the origin several years ago, Beppu city refuted it.


起源には諸説あるが、別府市とする説が最も有力で、他に大分市とする説がある。

別府市に1926年（大正15年）にオープンした高級レストラン「レストラン東洋軒」には、昭和初期のメニューが残っているが、その中に「炸鶏丸」という料理があって「鶏ノカマボコノ天麩羅」と説明されている。別府市内の洋食店「三ツ葉グリル」（現・グリルみつば）が1953年（昭和28年）に開業した当時のメニューにもとり天が載っており、この店が元祖として紹介されることも多い。しかし、「三ツ葉グリル」の創業者は「レストラン東洋軒」出身であり、現店主も「レストラン東洋軒」が起源であると認めている。

一方、大分市のウェブサイトでは、1962年（昭和37年）に大分市内の食堂で誕生したと紹介しており、大分市では定食店「キッチン丸山」や「いこい」が元祖として紹介されることが多い。年代のみを見れば別府市の方が歴史が古いことは明らかであるが、「キッチン丸山」の店主は、1960年頃に「いこい」の店主と共同で考案した独自のもので、以前からある鳥の天ぷらとは異なるものであるとしている。なお、大分市観光課が発行したパンフレットでとり天が大分市内の食堂で生まれたと紹介されたことに対し、別府市観光まちづくり室は2007年8月16日に大分市観光課長に対して異議を垂ｵ入れている。

@anonymous Ah yes, that must be it since I was looking into going to Beppu. Thanks!

@Jay_Key Thanks for the explanation! If I go to Beppu, I'll have to try it.

Looks like I originally saw it on YouTube, not this site... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCMqz3yxxBs

Thanks all for helping me find it.

It is nothing worth making an extra trip for. But if you go, you can also buy a ekiben(bento) on the platform at Beppu station.