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.