勞森（Lawson）用米飯誘使我們誘惑我們的天婦羅蝦（Tempura Shrimp），而是天婦羅（Tempura）。

幾乎所有東西都在日本持續上漲的價格，匯集了“一木糖”午餐，即午餐，價格為500日元（3.40美元）或更少

Lawson tempts us with rice topped not with tempura shrimp, but tempura nothing.

勞森（Lawson）用米飯誘使我們誘惑我們的天婦羅蝦（Tempura Shrimp），而是天婦羅（Tempura）。

With prices for just about everything continuing to rise in Japan, putting together a “one-coin” lunch, i.e. a lunch that costs 500 yen (US$3.40) or less (500 yen being Japan’s largest denomination of coin), at a convenience store is getting harder and harder to do. Sure enough, on our recent trip to a branch of the Lawson chain, the fried chicken bento boxed lunch that caught our eye was 599 yen…but next to it was a much lower-priced option.

隨著日本幾乎所有東西的價格持續上漲，整理了“一木糖”的午餐，即午餐的價格為500日元（3.40美元）或更少（500日元為日本最大的硬幣派別），在便利店裡越來越難。果然，在我們最近前往勞森連鎖店的一家分支中，吸引了我們眼睛的炸雞雞盒裝午餐是599日元……但是接下來是一個價格低得多的選擇。

Lawson’s Tenkasu Gohan is priced at just 297 yen. Not only is that cheaper than their other bento and rice bowls, it’s no more expensive than some of their premium onigiri rice balls.

勞森的Tenkasu Gohan的價格僅為297日元。這不僅比其他便當和米碗便宜，而且比某些優質的Onigiri飯球更昂貴。

So just what’s in the Tenkasu Gohan? Rice, naturally, as that’s what the Japanese word gohan means. Similarly straightforward, the rice is topped with tankasu…or tempura flakes.

那麼Tenkasu Gohan到底是什麼？大米自然，因為那是日語單詞Gohan的意思。同樣，米飯上面撒上塔庫……或天婦羅薄片。

Note that we said “tempura flakes” and not “tempura.” That’s because while the word tempura is often used as a catch-all for Japan’s various deep-fried fritters of seafood, chicken, and assorted vegetables, tenkasu is strictly bits of fried batter, with no fancy filling inside. As a matter of fact, tenkasu literally translates to “tempura dregs” or “tempura trash,” as it’s essentially the same as the incidentally formed flakes that get fried when intentionally making tempura shrimp, tempura sweet potatoes, and so on.

請注意，我們說的是“天婦羅片”，而不是“天婦羅”。這是因為雖然天婦羅一詞經常被用作日本各種炸海鮮，雞肉和各種蔬菜的全部目標，但tenkasu嚴格來說是一點點炸麵糊，裡面沒有花哨的餡料。事實上，Tenkasu從字面上翻譯為“天婦羅式Dregs”或“ Tempura垃圾”，因為它與偶然形成的薄片基本相同，這些片狀在有意製作天婦羅蝦，天婦羅甘藷等時被炸了。

That doesn’t mean that tenkasu isn’t loved, though. It shows up most commonly at noodle restaurants, where it’s sprinkled across the top of a bowl of hot soba or udon for one of the least expensive menu items. You don’t usually see tenkasu on rice, though, but then again you also don’гут see this much of it all in one serving.

不過，這並不意味著Tenkasu並不被愛。它最常見於麵條餐廳，在那裡撒在一碗熱擦酒或烏冬面的頂部，作為最便宜的菜單之一。但是，您通常不會在米飯上看到Tenkasu，但是再說一遍，您也不會看到這一切。

Honestly, looking at the Tenkasu Gohan left us with a complex swirl of emotions, in that it’s a luxuriously large portion of a very cheap ingredient. It certainly looked enticing, however, beckoning us not only with its promise of satisfying starchiness but also the scent of the sweet sauce poured over tempura bowls and the dash of aonori (powdered seaweed) that Lawson seasons the Tenkasu Gohan with.

老實說，看著Tenkasu Gohan給我們帶來了複雜的情感漩渦，因為這是一種非常便宜的成分的豪華部分。然而，它肯定很誘人，不僅要招呼我們滿足澱粉狀的承諾，而且甜醬的氣味也倒在了tempura碗上，以及勞森（Lawson）季節的Aonori（海藻粉）的破折號。

We took our first bite, and quickly discovered that it tasted just as we’d expected, and hoped, that it would. Though regular tempura rice bowls aren’t purposely sprinkled with tenkasu, inevitably some of the batter ends up flaking off the tempura pieces, and the sauce poured over them trickles down to the rice below as well. For more than a few diners, the mixture of rice, sauce, and tenkasu that makes up the last mouthful of their tempura bowl eating session is one of the most enjoyable parts of the experience, and Lawson’s Tenkasu Gohan cuts to the chase and gives you that sensation the whole way through, rather than saving it for just the tail-end of the meal.

我們第一次咬了一下，很快發現它的味道正如我們預期的，並希望它的味道。儘管常規的天婦羅米碗並沒有故意撒上tenkasu，但不可避免地，一些麵糊最終將天婦羅片剝落，而醬汁也傾倒在下面的米飯上。對於多個食客來說，構成天婦羅碗吃飯的最後一口的大米，醬汁和Tenkasu的混合物是體驗中最愉快的部分之一，勞森的Tenkasu Gohan削減了追求，並為您提供了整個味道，而不是為您提供這種感覺。

That said, we can’t ignore the fact that this is, ultimately, a rice bowl without the traditional toppings of protein and/or vegetables, like you’d get with a tempura bowl, beef bowl, or pork cutlet bowl. As such, it’s a little hard to escape the feeling that something is missing, and you might feel a certain sense of emptiness if this is the sole component of your meal.

也就是說，我們不能忽略這樣一個事實，即最終是一個飯碗，沒有傳統的蛋白質和/或蔬菜，就像您用天婦羅碗，牛肉碗或豬肉餅碗一樣。因此，很難逃脫那些缺少的東西的感覺，如果這是您的飯菜的唯一組成部分，您可能會感到空虛。

▼ Maybe it would help if Lawson renamed it “Tanuki Gohan,” since tanuki soba/udon is what noodles topped with tempura flakes are called.

▼如果勞森（Lawson）更名為“塔努基·戈漢（Tanuki Gohan）”，這將有所幫助，因為塔努基（Tanuki）/烏頓（Tanuki Soba/Udon）是tempura薄片的麵條。

Still, judged solely on the question of how it tastes, we came away very happy with the Tenkasu Gohan, and even if we’re not quite sure we’d say this is a case where less is more, what it is is enough to satisfy your cravings if you’re after that end-of-tempura bowl deliciousness.

儘管如此，我們還是只根據它的味道來判斷，我們對Tenkasu Gohan感到非常滿意，即使我們不太確定我們會說這是一個更少的情況，如果您追求綠頭鳥的終結碗，那麼它足以滿足您的渴望。

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