This is a long overdue post, but back in December 2009 I went to Osaka with my family. We were only there for a full day, but we stuffed in as much food in as possible. Osaka's a very modern city. There isn't much there in terms of historical sites to see, but if you've seen Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation you learn that Osakan's live to eat. I tried to emulate that lifestyle for the one full day I was there.
On the first day we got in really late at night, so we asked the hotel front desk what food there was around late at night. They directed us to a ramen place. Awesome! I love ramen. The ramens were of the tonkotsu variety and they hit the spot.
I wouldn't say this was the best ramen I've ever had, but it was everything I was looking for after getting off a long flight, late at night.
After satisfying my hunger by munching on ramen, gyozas and downing it all with a beer, I fell asleep quite easily that night.
Before I went on this trip I had read about this great old school unagi restaurant by this blogger. I was drooling when I read about his description of the place. I was afraid I would never get to try an old school joint like this before the unagi master died(knock on wood). So when I found out that our annual family trip was to Osaka, I was really excited to try this place out. The place is a little hard to find, but Paul gives extremely good directions and background info on his blog.
I'm so glad I managed to drag my family out there to try it out!
The food was amazing, and the setting adds so much more to your meal.
As I grow older, I realize that the setting that you eat your meal in
also adds a lot to our overall food experience. The whole operation
is a family run: the father grills your unagi, his wife is in
the back chopping up food and the daughter serves you the food. I
think places like these are disappearing all over the world; it's
sad, but one day this place will disappear as well.
Now, the unagi
was the best unagi I've ever tasted anywhere. There were hints of
smokiness coming in from the fish, the sauce wasn't too sweet but it
helped cut through the fattiness of this fish, and best of all,
interspersed with every bite of fish and rice, you got charred crispy
bits of eel which were divine.
Now as I was finishing up my bowl, I realized that this might have been my last time ever eating there. I seriously contemplated ordering another bowl, but the place is tiny. There were probably about 9 seats in the whole place. Since there were people waiting in line behind us to eat, I decided against ordering another bowl, so sadly, I had to leave.
It's pretty hard to top that lunch, but I knew that I had to try Osaka's other famous foods before I left the next day. So my family and I walked to Dotonbori, Osaka's famous food street to take in the sights. It was pretty early in the afternoon and freezing cold, so there wasn't too much action, yet. However, by mid-afternoon, some space had cleared in my tummy, and we hit up Osaka style okonomiyaki.
I don't know the address to this place, so
you're going to have to figure it out by the picture of the front of
the store. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake that they cook on a
griddle infront of you. There are two regional varieties Osaka and
Hiroshima.
And in the Osaka school, there's an old school version and a new school version. I forget what the differences are, but I think okonomiyaki is one of the most visual appetizing meals there are. Though, it didn't turn out as delicious as it looked. Or maybe we were still quite full from lunch, but I found the sauce there a tad bit too sweet. It was still pretty decent though.
After this late afternoon lunch, we went back to the hotel to recover a bit. If you've read Chubby Hubby's post on Osaka you realize that kappo dining is also huge there. This is a form of Japanese kaiseki style dining that's a bit less formal. You sit at the bar, and they chef serves you food from it. I tried to get a reservation at one of the restaurants suggested by Chubby Hubby, but a month or so before the trip to Osaka the Michelin guide for Osaka/Kyoto came out. Both of the kappo restaurants suggested were fully booked for months in advance. So, we just asked our hotel for a suggestion and they gave us one. I know I'm not doing a very good job as a food blogger with the lack of info, but I'll just provide pictures to show what kappo meal would look like. There was a lot of food, and I was already very full from lunch. Word of advice, don't sit down for a kappo meal unless you are very hungry. Needless to say, I had no trouble passing out that night from a food coma. It wasn't too big of a deal, as I had to wake up early the next day to catch a flight to Hokkaido!
