Despite living in Japan for 2 years, I never got round to visiting Osaka. This September, I finally got the chance to visit for a long weekend - primary mission was to see Shinee in concert but the secondary mission was to stuff my face with local street food favorites! Research at hand, I dutifully sought out all the various culinary delights Osaka had to offer. Let's see if Osaka lives up to its moniker as "the nation's kitchen" -
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| Dotonbori riverside - Ichiran ramen next to two takoyaki shops |
1. Takoyaki - piping hot balls full of soft dough with chewy octopus chunks, various sauces, scallion and bonito flakes. Look for the large "octopus" signs at storefronts and head to the ones with queues. Plenty all round Dotonbori area. Delicious and a great beer snack. Or in my case, a mere appetizer before ramen!
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Queues of people means your takoyaki will be freshly-made
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My piping hot order - with the "full works" of onions, pickled ginger and bonito flakes
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2. Ramen - I've seen the videos of the single ramen booths and wanted to try for myself. There's a branch of Ichiran right on the Dotorbori riverfront. You can't miss it due to the extensive queues (but do get in line as it moves at a steady pace). First, you will be brought to the ticket machine where you will have to make your choices and pay. There is a person stationed here to assist if you get really stuck. I went for the regular ramen with the egg. Here's a picture of my "booth". You never see the server's face and it means you don't have to see the other diners slurping their ramen either. You can order extra food through the order sheet and press a button for a server to come to your booth. Once your server gives you your food, he/she will bring the blind down.
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| Lovely bowl of ramen with extra scallions - just how I like it! |
The ramen was excellent especially since you can customize it to your liking. You can choose to have the broth at varying intensities of flavor, spiciness, add extras and so on. I chose the regular broth but with extra scallions.
3. Udon - I'm a huge fan of freshly-made udon. Thick chewy noodles in a clear flavorful broth really hits the spot for lunch. Dontonbori Imai Honten is a well-known udon restaurant. You may easily miss its discreet storefront on brash Dontonbori street, home of 3D mechanical crab signs. I certainly walked past it a couple of times!
This beautiful lunch set of seasonal delights comes with a bowl of kitsune udon , rice, pickles and dessert.
4. Yakiniku (BBQ) - With Osaka's proximity to Kobe, yakiniku restaurants abound in Osaka. I found a small restaurant off the main Dotonbori strip. There seemed to be a slight Korean influence as I was served kimchi instead of pickles. There were only a few tables and a counter-top but I was impressed the restaurant had Dassai 50 sake. Although I didn't feel like drinking on my own, I very much enjoyed the dinner set. There were 2 different types of beef in the set - the more marbled meat was Matsusaka beef while the less marbled meat was Kobe. Although the Matsusaka was melt-in-mouth, it was too rich and fatty with me. I much preferred the less marbled meat. The meat juices was fantastic on a bed of white rice. The vegetables from Hokkaido were also fresh and a much-needed counter-balance to the fatty meat. My only grip was that the vegetable portion seemed a bit stingy - I certainly would have enjoyed more than one stalk of asparagus...
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| Close-up of 2 types of beef with vegetables from Hokkaido |
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| My own grill pan and set-up for dinner |
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| Walking through Kuromon Market |
5. Kuromon Ichiba Market - Luckily, the hotel was only a few blocks away from Kuromon market. If you are a foodie, be sure to visit this excellent market in Osaka. No shortage of tourists from Hong Kong! Lots of stalls grilling scallops, king crab legs and shrimp on the spot. There are also stalls selling sushi, fruits, cakes plus a supermarket. I had a lot of fun walking through the market, picking out what I wanted to eat and in what sequence.
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| Typical seafood set-up - ready for grilling on the spot |
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| This unassuming stall sells soy products including a luxuriously creamy soy milk |
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| I picked up some extremely fatty tuna "otoro" sushi |
5. Matcha - Ujien Shinsaibashi is a luxurious tea specialist store that also sells matcha-flavored sweets, desserts and cookies. There was a small drinks outpost near the hotel so I couldn't resist picking up a cold matcha tea drink. I love the taste of bitter, creamy matcha and this drink
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| Drink in hand |
6. Yakitori - fun you can have with sticks! Enjoyed an incredibly fun dinner with beer and yakitori one night with a fellow Shinee fan. It was noisy fun as you can order loudly over the counter as you go and the cooks will respond just as loudly! We selected a whole variety of yakitori which were placed on the stainless steel counter in front of us. You put the used sticks in the tall container. I love this type of eating as conversation is the main focal point while the eating and drinking happens around it.
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Half-way through our yakitori meal
All in all, I focused on reasonably-priced food during this trip yet my taste buds, eyes and stomach was definitely sated. There were many other types of foods and cuisines I didn't even get a chance to try - saved for next time I visit the fun culinary playground that is Osaka.
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