Takara Confect Nazo no Tori Ten Senbei Cracker

Tori ten — chicken tempura — is Oita Prefecture’s most quietly distinctive regional dish.

Across most of Japan, deep-frying chicken means karaage: bite-sized pieces marinated in soy and ginger, coated in potato starch, and fried until crisp.

In Oita, the default is different. Chicken is dipped in a tempura batter — the same light, egg-based coating used for vegetables and seafood — and served with sudachi citrus and ponzu for dipping.

It has been this way since the 1930s, when a restaurant in Beppu first adapted the tempura format for chicken.

For Oita residents, tori ten is simply what chicken is. The realization that it is largely unknown outside the prefecture consistently surprises them.

This is the premise of Takara Confect’s Nazo no Tori Ten Senbei, born in Beppu on July 28, 2008.

The concept was not just to make a tori ten-flavored cracker, but to package a conversation piece — a souvenir that brings the story of Oita’s “misunderstanding” home alongside the flavor.

The packaging is printed with Oita dialect words and local keywords in a subtle watermark pattern visible only to those who look for it: the mystery that the “nazo no” (mysterious) in the name refers to, while also gesturing at everything about Oita’s culture and atmosphere that is difficult to explain to an outsider.

The cracker itself is made from domestic starch with chicken fat, chicken stock seasoning, egg, soy sauce powder, and garlic powder — a seasoning profile that captures the savory, lightly garlicky character of tori ten batter rather than the soy-heavy marinade of karaage.

The texture is thin and light, dissolving quickly at 12 kcal per piece. A regional souvenir that earns its place by having something to say.

About this item
Item Name : Nazo no Tori Ten Senbei
Brand : Takara Confect
Item Form : Cracker
Number of Items : 14, 30 and 45 Counts (Box of 1)