Tag - osaka-restaurants

 
 

OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 23, 2016
Wa Bistro Tsuna: Succulent fish heads along an old shopping street
These are tough times for the shōtengai, Japan's old-school shopping streets. The convenience of online shopping and mega-malls has lured shoppers away from the city's vintage arcades. However, the uniform glitz of a shopping center or an online store can never replace the buzz of a shōtengai — such as Osaka's Tengonakazaki-dori, sandwiched between Nakazakicho and Tenma stations — nor its eclectic lineup of stores and owners.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 23, 2016
Kushiyakitori Mahoroba: Get an umami overload at this charming yakitori joint
The area around Kyobashi Station, a major transit hub close to Osaka Castle, is not short of restaurants. But if you're nearby and have a hankering for chicken, try Kushiyakitori Mahoroba, a small and charming yakitori restaurant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Nov 25, 2016
Yoshino Sushi: A meal here will give you a new appreciation of rice
Yoshino Sushi has been making sushi in Osaka for more than 170 years, and has become well known for its hako (boxed) sushi, where the rice and seafood are pressed together in a rectangular wooden mold. Made from cypress wood, the mold creates sushi so pretty it could be mistaken for confectionery. A version of the mold is also used as Yoshino Sushi's logo, and can be seen outside the restaurant's three locations scattered around central Osaka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Nov 25, 2016
Ali's Kitchen: The cramped home of more than 600 Pakistani and Arabic dishes
Ali's Kitchen is a basement Pakistani and Arabic restaurant that is so cramped it can hardly contain the outsize personality of restaurateur Ali Zaidi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Oct 21, 2016
Zeshin: Seasonal surprises in a 'kaiseki' hideaway
Autumn is our reward for overcoming the extremes of summer. The harvest that comes with the season also makes it quite possibly the best time of year for eating out. Zeshin, opened more than three years ago by Hideyuki Ohishi, will make you wish autumn lasted the whole year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Oct 21, 2016
Tabaccoya: Japanese curry that's sweet, spicy and slow
You always remember your first curry. Well, maybe not. But I do remember the first time I ate a good Japanese curry, after stumbling across Tabaccoya nearly six years ago. It was the first Japanese curry I had eaten with a complimentary mix of sweet and spicy, and all folded into a deep, gravy-like roux.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Sep 23, 2016
The Panhead's Heaven Saloon: Gigantic burgers fit for a biker
We need to talk about calories. They are, in the words of "Panmas" — the avuncular owner and chef at The Panhead's Heaven Saloon — the "concept" upon which his towering burgers are built. By his count, the Cheese-Bomb has more than 2,000 units loaded into it. Bear in mind that the average male requires about 2,500 calories a day to maintain their weight. The Cheese-Bomb will almost do that by itself. Throw in the fries, onion rings and a few cans of Yebisu and you'll be ready to get in a sumo ring — if you can get off your chair.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Sep 23, 2016
Galleria: Neapolitan-style pizza made with Hokkaido flour
Galleria is a pizzeria with two outlets in Osaka Prefecture — one in Umeda and the other in Tondayabsahi. Their classic pizzas are prepared Neapolitan-style, with wafer-thin dough in the middle, thick crust and smothered in tomato sauce and olive oil. As with Neapolitan pizza, your order arrives quickly. The oven is fired to nearly 500 degrees Celsius and pizzas are cooked inside for less than two minutes before they're served. Eating is a mix of taking matters into your own hands and delegating to your knife and fork.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Aug 26, 2016
Atariya makes stopping at Shin-Osaka Station a treat
For most people, Shin-Osaka Station is a transit stop rather than a destination. That's understandable as there's not too much to stick around for. But if you're at a loss for food options, at least there's Atariya, a family-run soba restaurant that's a 10-minute walk from the station.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Aug 26, 2016
Cheap meat is what everyone's talking about at Nikusakaba Buzz
In an attempt to stand out from the multitude of pubs and restaurants packed in between Takatsuki's two train stations, Nikusakaba Buzz describes itself as neither a steakhouse, bar nor restaurant — it's just a chill place to enjoy meat and booze.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jul 22, 2016
Fukushima Mori: Slow 'kaiseki' beside a minimal rock garden
I'm seated at one end of a wooden counter, hewn from the dark wood of a bubinga tree and streaked with hues of purple and red. The white pebbles in a nearby rock garden fan out around a patch of moss shaded by a single Japanese maple tree. And on my other side? Three empty seats. Beyond that, all Fukushima Mori's tables are occupied. And by the end of my long two-hour lunch, I can see why — Fukushima Mori's cooking is adventurous, and nearly always rewarding. As to the reason why I was put at the far end of the counter, beyond the reach of all other diners, I can only speculate. Unfortunately, this kind of enforced solitude often happens when dining alone in Japan. But the innovative cooking made up for the isolation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jul 22, 2016
Bahnhof: Specialty coffee, crafted by certified 'meisters'
One of the first and only sentences I mastered in three years of (not) learning German was "Wo ist der Bahnhof?" ("Where is the station?") I never thought I'd have a chance to put this into practice in Japan, but my hopes were raised when I heard about Bahnhof, a specialty coffee shop. Sadly, as it turned out, finding Bahnhof was easy. Unsurprisingly, it is located near Noda train station.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jun 24, 2016
Kakomi: the hushed, abstract art of 'kaiseki'
I have worked in my fair share of kitchens over the years. At some stage while toiling at each, someone — usually a chef — would lose their temper with me and regain it only after loudly roasting me with words not fit for a newspaper. I thought of these episodes while sitting at the counter of Kakomi and observing chef and owner Kazuki Kakoiyama and his small team of chefs and waiting staff.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jun 24, 2016
El Zocalo Burrito: A Mexican Valhalla in downtown Osaka
El Zocalo Burrito is, as its name implies, all about burritos. Located on a quiet street west of Shinsaibashi Station, it offers a reprieve from the never-ending throng of tourists wandering the nearby Dotonbori shopping district.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
May 27, 2016
Chi-Fu: Chinese-Japanese fusion dressed in French clothing
Chi-Fu is a French restaurant in every sense except the cooking. The maitre d' and wait staff are besuited and seemingly straight-laced, the linens are crisp white, the wine list is long and, yes, there are the inevitable oversize plates on which chefs sparsely arrange morsels connected by a sprinkling of garnishes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
May 27, 2016
Naniwa: The taste of summer in Japan
The small and flimsy Naniwa cafe is located on Tengonakazakidori, one of my favorite shōtengai shopping streets in Osaka. Compared to the neighboring Tenjinbashisuji Shotengai, which stretches for 2.6 kilometers, Tengonakazakidori Shotengai is a short stroll. What it lacks in length it makes up for with its eclectic mix of shops and restaurants, including a cat cafe, a freshwater fish bar and a cramped sushi joint where the jokes are served in abundance. Naniwa is in good company.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Apr 22, 2016
Ukon: Traditional kaiseki cuisine served in a bento box
The answer: bento box. The question: What Japanese food — or type of meal — would I miss most if I left Japan? And now for some qualifications, before an explanation in the form of a restaurant review.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Apr 22, 2016
541+: Mastering the art of dumplings and elaborate puns
There are all manner of euphemisms to describe the size of 541+: cozy, intimate, snug. But in reality it's a closet containing three small tables separated from the kitchen by a fridge.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Mar 25, 2016
Fujimoto: Superlative sushi at an informal counter restaurant
Fujimoto is that rare kind of sushi restaurant that has covered many bases without tripping over any of them along the way. Take the price, for example. While the omakase (set menu) options for lunch and dinner are priced between ¥3,500 and ¥6,000, the a la carte menu starts from around ¥900 for a selection of bite-sized nigiri sushi. Also, with its breezy and informal atmosphere — background jazz as opposed to muzak — it's more suggestive of a cafe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Mar 25, 2016
Ramen Yashichi: Enjoy some of the city's best noodles without lining up
Yashichi is a notable ramen shop on two counts: it ranked 39 on review website Tabelog's top 50 ramen restaurants for 2016 and has devised a way of dealing with its popularity by eliminating long lines to get it. Rather, when you pull up to its ramshackle exterior, one of the servers will issue you with a ticket indicating a time when you should return. Waiting time is usually about an hour.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree