Food Adventures in Osaka

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" -

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!

Queues of people means your takoyaki will be freshly-made

My piping hot order - with the "full works" of onions, pickled ginger and bonito flakes

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.

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...

Close-up of 2 types of beef with vegetables from Hokkaido

My own grill pan and set-up for dinner

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.

Typical seafood set-up - ready for grilling on the spot

This unassuming stall sells soy products including a luxuriously creamy soy milk 

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

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.

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. 

Sakontaro: Slice of Kyoto in Tokyo

Paul and I lived in Japan from 2002-2004. We haven't been back since and I've been expectantly waiting for the opportunity. 12 years later, the chance finally emerged and I gladly made plans to meet up with old friends/colleagues, to eat the food I never stopped enjoying. Although I like many different types of Japanese food, ramen and sushi are more readily available outside of Japan. It made sense to focus on cuisine that is harder to come by such as kaiseki or tofu cuisine.

 Kaiseki is a traditional Japanese multi-course dinner that aims to highlight the food of the season. The way the ingredients are put together, the choice of dish ware and the cooking styles are all meant to express the season at that very moment. Dishes are usually elaborate and are painstakingly put together.

Mayumi had booked a table at Sakontaro -  which specialized in Kyoto cuisine with some Western fusion. As we walked through the noren curtains, we were greeted by staff on their knees with a deep bow. We took off our shoes and stepped onto the tatami mat. We were shown to a long bar table which overlooked a rock garden.

First order of business - ordering sake. Once Mayumi saw Dassai 39 on the sake menu, it was obvious what we should order. Dassai 39 is extremely popular in Japan right now and is not always to be found. It is a highly-polished sake which means it was incredibly smooth, round, very low acidity and fruity. The 39 in its name means that the rice was polished down to 39% of its original size. Sadly, I couldn't find this sake at the airport duty-free at all.

Bottle of Dassai 39 - we only had the small carafe

Mayumi had already ordered the set kaiseki dinner menu in advance. We started with some small bites - a cold silky tofu shaped like a flower and a couple of slices of pork.

The next dish was unexpectedly one of my favorites - 3 slices of duck prepared Western style. The greens was mizu-na - a peppery, piquant lettuce that is not as strong as arugula.

Next came a very refined chicken karaage - the food was not especially memorable but the dishware was beautiful!

Oddly, the next course was a cold but creamy potato soup with a few fried onion shavings. The dish was perfectly fine and it was only a few spoonfuls. It just felt a little out of kilter. The dish ware was incredible though - it looked like a sakura (cherry blossom) petal.

By now, I was getting a little full. Again, this dish was beautifully-presented but perhaps looked better than it tasted. I liked the individual ingredients - the aubergine, pepper and young ginger stalk. However, the meat inside the hollowed-out aubergine seemed too rich for the dish.

The next dish was the clear Japanese consommé - for me, always a highlight of kaiseki set dinners. First, a photo of the lacquer bowl itself.

For me, this is one of the more successful dishes since I like winter melon soup. The fish is hamo or dagger tooth pike conger which is a small bony fish. It often features in Kyoto menus in June since this is its season. The white fish was pepped up considerably by the addition of ume (sour plum).

Similar to Chinese banquets, the carbs come at the end. Our sweetcorn rice had been cooking in its pot for the last few courses and was finally ready. Unfortunately, I got the burnt bits at the bottom of the pot which I don't care for. The red miso soup was amazing! It is really hard to get good miso soup outside of Japan! It must be the quality of the miso and the dashi. Mayumi said helpfully(?) that she makes her own miso via fermentation and this is the only way to get good-quality miso.

Dessert time! By this time, I was really full but of course, there is a separate stomach for a few mouthfuls of dessert. The cake was moist but the standout here was the tofu ice cream. Less sweet and cloying than vanilla, it was a good ending.

All in all, there were some pleasant dishes but some misses too. The stand-out was the Dassai 39 sake and I thank Mayumi again and again for introducing me to an amazing sake. Bonus picture - the toilets were exquisite - a little Japanese garden where you had to wear wooden clogs on a pebblestone  floor. There was a goldfish in the bowl at the corner of the toilet.

Sakontaro is on a side street in Ginza, near the Shiseido building. Website is www.sakontaro.co.jp/ginza

Rokurinsha

I queued for 35 minutes to get this bowl of noodles! Down in the rabbit warren that is Tokyo Station, Ramen Street hosts a number of well-known ramen joints. The one with the longest line is Rokurinsha, known for its thicker al-dente noodle and dipping broth.

Looking down Ramen Street

Determined to taste what all the fuss was about, I settled down to wait in line. Obviously, Rokurinsha is a destination for foodies worldwide as this helpful notice in Japanese, English and Korean can attest to.

Luckily, 35 minutes passed by relatively quickly as I soaked in the sights and sounds of the Tokyo Station underbelly. Once I got to the front of the line, I was escorted to the vending machine where I chose my ramen - the popular "special" that seemed to have a bit of everything. A seat at the bar came soon after that. I just had time to ask for a bib (to catch the oily splashes) and voila, my ramen was set in front of me.

I was given two bowls - the noodles were room temperature but the broth was hot. The broth was incredibly complex - porky but also seafood undertones as well. It was a little too complex for my liking and also quite salty. There is no doubt though that a lot of ingredients went into making the broth. It was confusingly complex though and it made me realize that I prefer a simpler, focused broth that brings out the flavor of one thing - whether that be pork, chicken or seafood. The noodles was exactly how I liked them though - and reminded me of sanuki udon. All in all, it was a serviceable lunch and Rokurinsha is definitely a favorite for many. It was not my preferred ramen house though.

Once your belly is full, consider walking through Ramen Street to explore Character Street - lots of exciting shops here! Ramen Street is found in the basement of Tokyo Station, near the Yaesu entrance.

Food in Japan

Have I told you how much I love Japanese food? The food is always presented so artistically which makes it all the more appetizing. Even the dishes are carefully chosen for their colour and shape to match the food. To my left is one of the best breakfasts I've ever had - the Japanese breakfast at Benesse Island in Shikoku. It's the usual miso soup/fish and rice combo but there's also egg and other lovely dishes. Below is one of the best sashimi platters I've ever had - at a ryokan in Miyajima. The sashimi was the appetizer, there were plenty of main courses as well such as hotpot, tofu etc. The portions are usually modest in Japan but that was one meal where I was totally stuffed...

Infamous Meals: The One when the Parents Cooked the Sashimi

So many culinary adventures in Japan but this one is fairly infamous. When the Law parents came to visit, I took them to Hakone, a well-known hot spring resort. We stayed overnight in a Japanese-style inn called a "ryokan". All very last minute so all four of us ended up in one room together. The room is in traditional Japanese style with tatami mat flooring. During the day, there's a low table and four cushions. After dinner, they take away the table (while you go out and bathe in the indoor or outdoor springs) and roll out four futons on the floor. In the morning, they roll away the futons and place the table back again for breakfast. Dinner was a beautiful assortment of small dishes, including fresh sashimi in an ice igloo and fresh raw scallop.

However, the parents turned their noses up at the raw sashimi and started cooking it in their individual rice pots - pic of Dad with his individual rice pot in front of him. The conversation went as follows - "Ooo, this fish is really fresh" and "Hurry up and cook it - before the waitress comes back and see us!"