Kuromon market is a popular market in central Osaka. It is a super-touristy destination and can is unbelievably crowded most of the times. I do not recommend it, but here’s some of the street food you can find. The pictures were taken in August 2017.
The visit
I got to the market from Nipponbashi station, from there it is a very short walk.
Lots of people. And it was not even too crowded in the picture above.
Many sellers display food and can cook it on the spot. Seafood is the main attraction.
A popular snack is the baby octopus with a quail egg inside on a stick. I had one and was ok. Just do not try to eat it all at once if you do not want to choke.
Sea urchin and oysters, also big oysters, are everywhere (but expensive). I had an oyster.
Grilled squid was another common snack.
In a stall I had a grilled squid and some scallops.
You will also find several stalls serving oden.
Oden is an inexpensive snack. I guess this was better than the one you can have in a convenience shop.
They also sell and cook wagyu beef. Not sure who would spend an arm and leg in wagyu and eat it walking in a crowded market. Go to a decent restaurant!
A crab stick was another easy snack.
Another stall selling grilled seafood above.
And here’s a stall specializing in horumon cuisine (using organ meat, giblets, and other types of offal meat especially from the cow).
One popular store in the market is Maguroya Noragin specializing in fresh tuna. I tried it and I was left unimpressed. You can see the pictures of what I had in the gallery below.
The check
I did not get any check, but I can tell you that it was not cheap. Many simple dishes would cost around 10 USD (1,000 yen). Soon I found myself spending more than 50 USD for just a few snacks. I had the impression that all the food was fresh and I trusted the hygiene. But I would not recommend it. With a similar budget you can have a meal in a decent restaurant.
Where in Osaka: 2 Chome-4-1 Nipponbashi, Chuo Ward.
I had this meal in August 2017, before starting this blog, but it was so magnificent that I took detailed pictures and I even kept the menu (not the best pictures, but they should give an idea).
Kashiwaya (柏屋) is a traditional Japanese restaurant in Osaka specializing in kaiseki menus. Hideaki Matsuo is the the second-generation owner-chef and he fully mastered the art of kaiseki to the point to get three Michelin stars confirmed year after year.
The visit
I had a reservation for lunch. I had obtained the reservation just emailing the restaurant and choosing the menu type. Now it is more complicated. You need to pre-pay the meal. For lunch they had a particularly affordable menu and I went for it.
The restaurant was in a nondescript building in a residential area. I almost missed it. The service was outstanding at every given time. I was escorted in a private room with a sunken tatami that had been arranged for my visit with one leather padded backseat. A lady in a kimono began bringing in the food. I was immediately offered some complimentary tea that was refilled throughout the meal.
The set menu that I had was inspired by the season: the end of summer. A card, in English, explained that the 15 days from 23 July are the hottest of the year and in Japanese this time is called taisho. It was further explained that in 2017 23 July coincided with 1 June in the old calendar and at that time people would climb the Mount Fuji to visit Asama shrine to purify the six roots of perception. The note concluded explaining that “Kashiwaya is preparing dishes expressing the middle of summer to purify six roots of perception, five senses and consciousness”. (The roots of perception in Japanese culture are he eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.)
All kaiseki offered in this restaurant are exquisitely linked to the season and its cultural significance.
The fist dish was a sakizuke (amuse bouche) with octopus, zucchini, and loofah. To make it more refreshing the ingredients were placed on frozen dried dashi soup and the soy sauce was mixed with red plum meat.
The second appetizer was a composition of several elements: sweetcorn kudzu cake, fried scallop coated with rice cracker, fried winged bean with soy sauce and water pepper (on the right); then a blue taro stem, grilled shiitake mushroom mixed in sesame sauce and pine nut; cooked sweet potato; new ginkgo nut and ginger cooked in sweet and brown sauce on a pine needle (on the left).
The third dish was an example of nimonowan: a simmered dish in Japanese cuisine. It was a lightly grilled eel, with winter melon, grated ginger, and light kudzu sauce.
The next dish was called otsokuri as sashimi is called in the Kansai region. However it was not just raw seafood. The dish was pretty phenomenal as it sported five different preparations of hamo (conger pike), the traditional summer fish in Kansai. To be exact, the dish had tataki-yose (seared), yudooshi (parboiled), otoshi (live hamo boiled instantly and taken out), yubiki (blanched), yakishimo (the skin side of the fish is quickly charred or seared on an open flame or on charcoal and then is quickly transferred into a bowl of iced water).
The next dish was an example of yakimono, specifically a grilled sweet fish (ayu, also a summer favorite) served with water pepper vinegar.
Then there was an atumono dish. It was a mix of local vegetable showcasing Osaka’s terroir. There was a piece of tamatsukuri kuromon shirouri ( a type of oriental pickling melon, originated near Tamatsukuri-mon (Kuro-mon), a gate of the Osaka Castle, with a tubular shape and longitudinal white stripes), dried shiitake mushrooms, Mitsuba parsley, grated ginger in Yoshino kadu sauce.
Then there was a dish served in a bowl (hachimono). The dense soup had herring, aubergine, pumpkin gluten cake, taro bud, green pepper, and grated yuzu.
The gohan (rice dish with seasonal condiments) came with five different sides.
Finally there were two desserts. One called mizumono (seasonal dessert) was a glass with wine flavored peach, Pione, Muscat, milk sauce, and honey jelly. Very appropriate for such a hot day.
The second and final dessert (kashi) was a baked wheat cake with jelly served with green tea.
I do not remember the exact length, but as you can imagine it took some time… luckily I had a book with me.
As you can say this was a magnificent meal, like one served to a powerful feudal master… certainly the setting and the service could make you think so. Now that I analyse the menu to write this review, I can appreciate even more all the details embedded into each dish. And please consider that this was their entry-level lunch menu.
The check
After adding service charge and tax, I spent 12,687 yen (now 117 USD). I checked on their website and this special lunch kaiseki is still available (it is called Ume), as three more kaiseki menus. Honestly, if I was to go back (and one day I might!), I would go for one of the the highest-priced menus (from 16,000 to 30,000 yen before tax and service charge). It is such a perfect experience that makes sense to see what the chef can do with a higher budget.
Gion Sushi Tadayasu got one star in the 2019 Osaka Michelin Guide. I elected it to try a quality omakase in Kyoto.
The visit
I made the booking through an online service for lunch.
The restaurant is located in a quiet backstreet of the historic Gion district.
Above the storefront before the opening and after with the classic curtains (noren).
The room only seated twelve people. Two chefs were working serving the guests. It was full. I was the only non-Japanese.
The appetizer was a bowl of cold noodles in a yuzu flavored broth. On a summer day, it was very refreshing.
The first nigiri was with karei (Japanese flat fish). I immediately noticed the tendency of the chef to put too much wasabi.
The second nigiri was shiro ebi (white shrimp) with caviar. I guess this is the way to go to win a Michelin star for an omakase.
The third nigiri was shima aji (striped jack, a seasonal fish).
The fourth nigiri came with tairagai (a type of scallop, but with firmer meat, Japanese pen shell).
The fifth nigiri had ika (squid). The chef put some grains of fine salt (so little to be invisible).
Sixth was katsuo nigiri (skipjack tuna).
Seventh was a toro (fatty tuna) nigiri.
Eight was a kohada nigiri.
Ninth was a uni nigiri. With a lot of uni, which was good.
The tenth nigiri was anago (sea-water eel) grilled. With its sweetness, it was a classic conclusion for the main part of the omakase.
The last course was a piece of tamago (Japanese omelet) and a bowl of miso soup.
The chef finally included a handroll with pickles.
The chefs were serving three different menus at the same time. Mine was the cheapest and shortest. I was finished after 90 minutes. For the more expensive menus there were additional dishes and more elaborated appetizers. I was satisfied with my menu.
The check
No check to display because I paid in advance through a booking service. Since I only had green tea (complimentary and rapidly refilled throughout the meal) there was no extra charge. The total cost was 7,128 yen (which includes the reservation system fees) or 66 USD. If you book directly it may be even a bit cheaper. I found the charge reasonable considering the quality of the seafood used. Overall, I did not feel a big step up from Chiharu in Osaka that was “only” a Bib Gourmand.
Where in Osaka: 572-9 Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama Ward.
Ganko is a popular sushi restaurant in Osaka with multiple outlets throughout the city. Ganko Sushi started as a small 15-square-meter shop in Juso, Osaka, in 1963. This review is based on a visit to their Umeda outlet. The restaurant is part of a large group employing over 3,000 people with tens of restaurants around Kansai (49 just in Osaka, using multiple brands).
The visit
One night, summer 2018, I visited their larger location in Umeda.
The restaurant operates like a classic sushi bar with customers seated at the counter so that they can order directly from one of the chefs. They also have normal tables for larger groups and they had an English menu, so ordering was pretty straightforward.
I had their sushi platter with all the classic fish: squid, eel, prawn, scallop, salmon, etc.
I added a sashimi platter.
Then I tried their crab set with crab meat, roe, and more minced crab meat.
Just to keep to the crab’s theme, I also added grilled crab meat with cheese.
Finally I had a tangerine drink.
The check
Check was 6,441 yen (around 60 USD). It was really the cost for a dinner for two (for this reason I classify it as “everyday dining”). The sashimi and sushi platter cost around 20 USD each.
It was a pretty regular sushi restaurant experience. Certainly not the best in Osaka, but they run an efficient operation and, for a run-of-the-mill sushi meal, it is a reasonable choice.
Where in Osaka: 1-chome-5-11 Shibata Kita-ku. In Japanese: 大阪府 大阪市北区 芝田 1-5-11 猪井梅田ビル １F・２F・３F. Website: www.gankofood.co.jp/en/.
Gokan is one of the most famous pastry shops in Osaka (see review). Recentlt, they spun-off a new business, Cacaotier Gokan, specializing in chocolate desserts and cakes. I tried it in my summer 2019 trip to Osaka.
The visit
I noticed the new shop by accident, just passing by.
Downstairs they have a boutique selling various types of chocolate.
Upstairs they have a tea room where you can sit down and enjoy cakes and drinks. As in their main shop, the waitress presented me with a tray with samples of the desserts available.
I had one of their mousse and a hot chocolate (served at the right temperature). Very nice.
Before leaving I noticed one of their original creations: tea with cacao flavor. Sadly I did not have space in my baggage for the purchase.
The check
The hot chocolate and the cake cost me 1,350 yen (12.50 USD). Not cheap, but clearly they want to position themselves as luxury chocolate.
Where in Osaka: 2 Chome-6-9 Koraibashi, Chuo Ward. In Japanese: 大阪府大阪市中央区高麗橋2丁目6-9. Website: cacaotier-gokan.co.jp (in Japanese).
Gokan is probably the most famous French-style pastry shop in Osaka. They call themselves “Patisserie du Samourai” (the Samurai’s pastry shop). Their store in Kitahama also operates a tea house upstairs where it is possible to enjoy their creations in an elegant environment. The neighborhood also hosts a number of traditional Japanese sweet shops, but Gokan stands out with its ability to blend Western techniques with Japanese ingredients. Not far away, they also have a chocolaterie now called Cacaotier Gokan.
The visit
I went to Gokan an afternoon (summer 2019) for a dessert. The store that I visited in Kitahama was opened in 2005. I had to sign my name on a list waiting for a seat to free for me. It did not take long.
Meantime I had a look around their shop on the ground floor.
Their signature cake is a creamy roll with some red beans.
They have many cakes that are unique to their shop, like a green tea roll.
They also have some dishes for breakfast or lunch.
However I was interested in their cakes. So the waitress brought in a tray with samples of their dessert. It was an amazing view.
I ended up having their signature roll and a sweet soup with red beans. It looked like a nice East meat West platter that I fully enjoyed. Even if I was not that impressed by the roll.
The check
For the two sweets and a drink I spent 1,479 yen (13.65 USD).
I think Gokan is a great place where to have a serious dessert while in Osaka.
Where in Osaka: 2-1-1 Imabashi, Chuo-ku | Arai Bldg. In Japanese: 大阪市中央区今橋2-1-1 新井ビル. Website: www.patisserie-gokan.co.jp (in Japanese). They also operate a store in Hankyu Department Store in Umeda and in Takashimaya in Namba, but the Kitahama store is the place to visit. Here you can read the review of their chocolate shop.
I listed Chiharu Sushi as one of my top dining experiences in 2018. It was just natural to go back during my summer 2019 trip to Osaka. This time I opted for the premium omakase dinner (they offer two different omakase for dinner, one in the downstairs room, that is cheaper, and one more expensive offered in the room upstairs, which was mine).
At the end of the dinner the chef spoke with the guests and provided more information about the restaurant. The venue is owned by a group that also runs a sushi school (both in Osaka and Bangkok). At any given time there are half dozen chefs working shifts in the restaurant and they are mostly fresh graduates from the school. This is quite radical: usually new cooking staff has to work for years cooking rice and cleaning fish before being allowed to serve the customers. The fact that the chefs are young did not compromise the experience in any way. The chef who worked on the evening of my visit was very professional and also spoke English to present the dishes (I was the only foreign customer).
The visit
I used their new booking website to make a reservation. It required a credit card hold, but it worked fine.
The upstairs dining room is more comfortable because has a low counter with normal chairs. Downstairs they have bar chairs around the counter.
The first appetizer was octopus sashimi, with some pepper and mustard.
A second appetizer was amaebi (sweet shrimp) with mandarin jelly and biwa (loquat).
The third appetizer was a piece of boiled abalone, with some roe and juice.
Next was a platter with red grouper and bluefin tuna, both offered raw and seared.
The series of opening dishes was completed by flat head fish boiled with a herbal soup.
The first sushi was amadai, a prized seasonal fish from the waters of Kansai.
The second nigiri was shard sushi completed with egg yolk and vinegar powder.
The third nigiri was kampachi (amberjack).
The fourth nigiri was a classic tuna with a bit of mustard.
At this point we were offered some cubes of ginger root. The flavor was actually the same as regular sliced pickled ginger.
The fifth nigiri was nodoguro, a new fish for me with a distinct powerful wild flavor. Very pleasant if you like raw flavors.
The sixth nigiri was shiro ebi (baby white shirimp); its flavor was very different from a classic shrimp, with a plummy texture.
The seventh nigiri was lightly torched golden eye snapper. Another powerful flavor.
The eight nigiri was anago (salt-water eel).
The ninth dish was a temaki (handroll) with tuna and uni (sea urchin). A good dose of freshly-grated wasabi (horseradish) was also added (but this kind of wasabi is not too hot). The nori (seaweed) was gently warmed.
At this point the end of the omakase was marked by the classic miso soup.
The tenth and final dish was the restaurant’s version of the Japanese omelet. This was almost a cake, with some sugar, and very fluffy.
The whole service took around 2 hours.
The check
The check was 8,600 yen (80 USD). It was sharply more expensive than the lunch, but not excessive as a dinner omakase. I was particularly impressed by the choice of seasonal and sought-after seafood. If you seek value, probably the dinner omakase served downstairs at 4,000 yen plus tax is a better deal, as it should be remarkably similar (just one fewer nigiri and one fewer opening dish and perhaps some changes in the types of fish used for the nigiri).
Where in Osaka 5-12-14, Fukushima, Fukushima-ku Osaka-shi, Osaka Address in Japanese: 所在地 〒553-0003 大阪府大阪市福島区福島5-12-14コーポ福島1 See their website for more information and link to the reservation system.
Miyazaki beef (gyu) comes from Japanese Black cattle produced and fattened in Miyazaki Prefecture and is Grade 4 or above in the meat quality grading standards set by the Japan Meat Grading Association. Furthermore, Miyazaki Beef has been registered as a local collective trademark. In a nutshell, it is high quality Japanese wagyu and it is kind of a big deal: in Japan restaurants that are allowed to offer Miyazaki Wagyu on their menus are requested to put up an authorization notice in their store.
The visit
I went on a Saturday evening to a restaurant specializing in this kind of wagyu called Tennosachi Yamanosachi (天の幸 山の幸) in the basement of a hotel. My visit was impromptu, as other places I was interested to go were full.
I was the only customer at that time and the staff, for good measure, reminded me the closing time.
The menu was only in Japanese, but it was not a problem since they were mainly offering set menus, along a format that is popular also in Kobe. I chose one.
The course dinner started with three cold appetizers: roast beef on eggplant (center), beef stock jelly uni and beef (left), somen noodles with marinated beef (right).
The second dish was also an appetizer: two cubes of stewed beef. As you may expect, it was really tender.
The center-piece of the dinner was 150 grams of Miyazaki beef with vegetables and sauces nicely laid down on the plate. It was excellent, even if it was not top-grade in terms of marbling.
The final amount of starch was provided through some Inaniwa cold udon noodles.
The dessert was a forgettable lemon sorbet.
The check
All in all, the check 6,901 yen (64 USD). The set meal was actually pretty good, notwithstanding the ghastly atmosphere of the empty restaurant. I cannot complain about the value: a similar menu in Kobe with their wagyu would be easily above 100 USD with probably a lesser amount of meat and a similar quality. They also had a gyukatsu set menu that was pretty interesting.
Where in Osaka: 4-2-7 Kouraibashi, Chuo-ku (basement of Unizo hotel). In Japanese: 大阪府大阪市中央区高麗橋4-2-7 ホテルユニゾ大阪淀屋橋 B1F. (There is also a main branch of the restaurant in Umeda.)
Kushikatsu (or kushiage) is a deep-frying style of Japanese cooking; more specifically, the term is applied to restaurants serving battered meat and veggies mostly on skewers. It is one of the cooking styles associated with Osaka (but it can be found throughout Japan).
The visit
I had a kushikatsu from the popular Daruma and it was really underwhelming. Through research, I identified a few “mid-range” joints that were promising a better experience (Daruma is the fast-food version of kushikatsu).
I went to Karatto on a Saturday evening and it was, of course, full. It is located on an alley, near Shinsaibashi station. But I was able to make a reservation for the next night. I noticed that all customers seemed to be Japanese, that’s why I believe this is a place locals go.
I sat at the counter on the ground floor overlooking the kitchen. I believe they have more rooms upstairs.
Ordering was pretty easy as they had an bilingual (Japanese/English) order form. I ordered their premium selection (“extra good Karatto set”).
I was quickly offered an appetizer included in the set. It was a bowl of doteyaki, a stew of of beef tendons in a golden miso-enriched liquid.
The first dish of skewers had (from left to right): beef (just ok), Japanese conger (yummy), onion (good), crab claw (very good), two pieces of tuna (very good, one piece was extra order).
The second dish had a shrimp (great), sausage (super), lotus root (very good), scallop (excellent), asparagus (good).
I also had yet an additional tuna skewer and one with mozzarella cheese. I was advised not to use the special sauce on the tuna and some other skewers.
Each seat had a container of the special sauce used with this kind of skewers. It is quite sweet and, personally, I do not over-use it. The usual rule applies: you can only dip once (to avoid contact with an half-eaten skewer). If you need more, some cabbage is available that you can use to transfer more sauce from the container. In the picture above I captured a little behind-the-scenes moment: after a customer leaves, the sauce is filtered, to eliminate crumbs and any residual food that may have fell into the container.
The check
Final check was 4,300 yen (39.80 USD) including the big set, some additional skewers, and non-alcoholic drinks, which were a bit overpriced. It was marginally more expensive than Daruma, but way better in terms of food and convivial experience. If you are looking for a good kushikatsu joint, Karatto is a solid option.
Where in Osaka: 1-3-23 Shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku. In Japanese: 中央区心斎橋筋1-3-23.
Kame Sushi is a very popular sushi joint in Osaka. It opened in 1954 and consists of two shops facing one another. For lunch I believe only the main shop is open. They were one of the first restaurants in Osaka combining fresh high-quality sushi with the atmosphere of a bar. It seems to be popular with tourists and locals alike.
The visit
I found myself in front of Kame sushi quite early, I believe around 11.15. And I decided to wait until the opening time at noon. I had read some good reviews and I thought it was an interesting place where to have a good sushi. Very soon, I found myself heading a queue of over two dozen people. It was that popular. You can see the door of the main restaurant above without the typical curtain with the shop’s name that is put up only during opening times.
Above is a view of the second shop that was closed for lunch when I visited.
I was one of the first to be seated and I started to order directly to the sushi chef in front of me. The first 20 minutes were super hectic, with the chefs trying to catch up with all the initial orders. An English menu was available. My first bite was sashimi: tuna, hamachi, and squid (ika): all super-fresh.
Then I started ordering nigiri sushi. My first order had prawns (ebi), khodama, aji, tai. Typically you order two nigiri pieces per type.
More: I had Japanese cockle (torigai) and scallops (hotate). The scallops could be raw or flame-torched, mine was seared. They had so many sushi type to choose from. Torigai is a type of shellfish that is not so common on sushi menus.
Next another special treat: two nigiri with the sweet anago (the Japanese saltwater eel),
To finish up I had two more prawns (they were so tasty) and razor-clam (shako).
You usually end a sushi meal with the Japanese omelet and miso soup. The omelet pieces came with some rice squeezed inside.
The miso soup was good, but it was an occupational hazard… it was boiling hot.
Everything was really fast, my meal did not last longer than 30 minutes. It was not the most comfortable meal as the small restaurant was very crowded. While leaving, people were still queuing.
The check
The check took the form of a pile of chips that were accumulated by the sushi chef that attended my orders. The total cost was around 6,000 yen (55 USD), for 27 pieces of sashimi/sushi plus the omelet and the miso soup.
Was it worth? In terms of quality, certainly they were a tad above the average and I do not mind the check. Everything was fresh and there were many exotic seafood varieties available. However I would not repeat the experience of waiting almost one hour. If you go, try perhaps odd times like in the mid-afternoon.
Where in Osaka: Sonezaki 2-14-2. Website: kamesushi.jp.
