Adventure #124: Snacks in Osaka

As with in Kyoto, we snacked through the day.  Here are some interesting ones we had in Osaka.

Custard Bun in Shinsaibashi



This is a chain store and can be found throughout Osaka.  We ordered the most standard item to try - custard filled bun.



Looked at that custard oozing from the bun!

Octopus Balls in Dontonburi

There are numerous stalls selling octopus balls scattered across the city but from our guide book, this stall was the most highly rated.  This can always be evidenced from the perpetual queue outside the stall.

Ice Dog in Amemura

Warm fried cinnamon hot bog bun filled with ice cold vanilla ice cream made from Hokkaido milk. 

The hot and cold sensation was incredible. Not an easy thing to eat - make sure you do not have sensitive teeth!

Adventure #123: Imai 今井 (Osaka)

Our last meal in Osaka before flying back to HK tomorrow.  Wanted to try this noodle shop 今井 in Dontonburi. When I saw the photo of the restaurant in the guide book (see below), I thought to myself it looked so old and quaint, it must be quite a distance away from the hustle and bustle of the main Dontonburi area. 

But looks can be deceiving........

Can you believe that this quaint little restaurant...........

................is on this street?

.......and this?

And it is not small either! When we went in, we were sent to the 4th floor in an elevator!  Nothing in Japan is what it seems.

The restaurant is famous for its sweet fried tofu udon soup 油豆腐烏東.  This was really good.  The fried tofu is sweet and flavourful. Same with the soup which due to the tofu also had a sweet-ish taste.



This restaurant only served duck meat in Autumn and Winter.  As suggested by the guide book, we tried the duck udon with fried rice cake 鴨肉年糕烏東 .  The texture of the fried rice cake was very interesting, the warm savoury soup kept the rice cake running inside. The duck meat, on the other hand, was as tough as my socks (not that I eat my socks).  Far cry from the duck noodle we just had in Bangkok last month!

Once again the kids wanted rice and we ordered Oyako Donburi, rice topped with egg, chicken and Japanese leek for them.  The kids said it was not as good as the one they had in Honke Owariya

I was a bit disappointed by the overall experience. Neverthless, G and I really liked the sweet fried tofu udon soup 油豆腐烏東. Maybe next time we will just have this.

Adventure #122: Kani Doraku (Osaka)

There is a crab specialty shop in the Donburi area.  The facade of the shop is extremely touristy with a giant moving crab as its logo and we are sure we have passed this shop before on our last trip here 16 years ago.  But the guide book said lunch (up to 4pm) is relative good value and the food has a big thumbs up, so we decied to give it a try.

We were seated on the 4th floor with a window view overlooking the canal that runs through the heart of the Shinsaibashi/Dontonbori shopping area.  Non-smoking.  Shoes off.  Very comfortable.

As the little one is not a crab fan, we ordered a combo of 3 set menus to share amongst the 4 of us.

花鼓 Hanatsuzumi



花霞 Hanakasumi

The first dish was cold crab legs.  The crabs were pretty tasty and even the little one joined in (probably because of the savoury soy dip).  The crab and steamed egg was also pretty good.


Cold crab legs

Crab and steamed egg

The crab croquettes were disappointing as it didn't taste of crab and had too much cream sauce in it.  The rest of us didn't think much of the crab gratin either but the older one loved the mac and cheese bit.

Crab croquettes

Crab gratin over macaroni cheese

The grilled crab was pretty average and most of us preferred the cold version, save for the little one.  The crab sushi was definitely not a strong suite of the whole course but helped to fill us up.

Grilled crab

Crab sushi

Overall, an interesting joint to visit and it was a welcomed break from days of standard Japanese fare of ramen, udon, tempura rice etc.  Nevertheless, if we had to go for crab, we prefer the Malaysian/Singaporean giant meaty crabs in chilli, marmite, salty egg etc sauce or even simple steamed dungeness crab dipped in melted butter from the US North-West coast.

Adventure #121: Honhuku Sushi 本福壽司 (Osaka)

Shopping at Shinsaibashi, so it would make sense to find dinner along this very busy shopping street.  Honhuku Sushi had been aorund for over 180 years and a great opportunity for us to try Osaka's box sushi or Hako sushi 箱壽司.

Osaka Sushi

the "usual" Nigiri Sushi

Combo of salmon sushi and roll for the older one

Combo of salmon and yellow tail sushi

The sushi was ok but we have to admit a bit of a let down since expectations were high at this historic sushi joint with all its professional and experienced looking sushi chefs.  Perhaps its because we are not adventurous with our sushi choices and always stick to the same old sushi types that we are familiar with in HK.  Or maybe its just that this joint's sushi standards are not high enough to satisfy us.

Adventure #120: Yaochi Okonomiyaki (Osaka)

Today we ventured outside of Osaka city centre to visit the Osamu Tezuka Manga Comic Museum and the Nissin Ramen Museum.  After the Manga Comic Museum, the kids were hungry again. They seemed to be hungry all the time in Japan. So, we decided to find food around the Takarazuka station before heading out.

We saw an okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki, which is said to have originated from Osaka, is a kind of Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients and is very popular in the Kansai region.  The batter is made of flour, grated nagaimo (a type of yam), water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion, meat, seafood, vegetables, kimchi, mochi or cheese.

The restaurant looked very interesting, the patrons all ate in front of a giant hot grill plate.  Food quality aside, this would a good dining experience.

Eating utensils

Fried udon wrapped in omelet topped with ketchup.

Kids loved this dish the best.

On the left was beef okonomiyaki and on the right was modan-yaki, okonomiyake served with a layer of fried noodles (in this case, fried udon) on top 

We were not too impressed with the okonomiyaki and G really didn't like (he thinks even plain pot noodles taste 10x better).  I think it was because they topped everything with the Japanese BBQ sauce and mayonnaise.  Everything tasted much the same.  Maybe if we had it without the mayo it would have been better. But we will never know......nevertheless, you have to experience everything once and this was certainly an interesting food experience.

Adventure #119: Snacks in Kyoto

In addition to the proper meals we had, we couldn't resist some of the treats we found along the way.  Here are samples (I missed some) we had.

Soy ice cream in Arashiyama

So dense, it won't fall off!

Grilled fish in Arashiyama

OK, we didn't have the grilled fish, although they looked really appetizing.
We had fried croquettes instead.

Green tea cookies in Kyoto

G first saw this when we were walking from Kiyomizu temple to Ninen-zaka.  He bought a small pack to try.  It was so good, he bought a bigger box at Isetan the next day.

 

  

Green tea cookie with white chocolate filling. Kids just can't stop eating.

Green tea ice cream in Gion

Green tea ice cream is available almost every where around Kyoto. G and the kids just couldn't resist.  I lost count of the number of ice cream cones they had.

This seemed to be a very popular dessert shop in Gion, there's always a queue.

Fried chicken in Kawaramachi

Green tea cake in Kyoto