Osaka: Street Food Tour
For this evening, we are having a “street food tour” guided by Richard Hawkins. Richard is an American who has lived in Japan for many years, speaks the language fluently, and knows all the places to go and the people who run them. He is also quite the entertaining character!
He took us to many places, none of which were true street food, in the sense that we did not eat at street stalls. We did eat at small Izakaya-style places, all frequented and well known by locals. He designed the tour to give us a sampling of many different foods. Below is a list of all places we checked out with him, all within walking distance from our hotel. The list is not necessarily in order…
Seared Bonito and sake
Our first stop was Chuka Bar Dragon Punch Dotombori (大阪もん酒場 ドラゴンパンチ。) 🗾, located just across the Dotonbori Bridge from our hotel and to the right (across the water from Don Quijote). Literally just two and a half blocks away. A table had been set aside for us, and we sampled some sake. For food, we had a lightly seared bonito: Tataki of Bonito. This type of tuna is less commonly served in high-end settings, as it is cheaper. It had a very nice flavor and was prepared with some smoky straw or such.
Street stall market
Next up was Dotonbori Yataimura Matsuri (道頓堀 屋台村 祭) 🗾 (“Dotonbori Food Stall Village Festival”), which offers a selection of food stalls. We sampled yakitori and grilled scallop dishes along with sake from a cardboard box! Richard knows everybody here, so we had quite a few chats and entertainment with some of the people who work here.
Miyoko Mama’s Hidden Izakaya
Tachinomidokoro Komachi (立ち呑み処 小町) 🗾 (“Standing Bar””) is a place where you can enjoy affordable Japanese sake in a very comfortable, pleasant atmosphere. The side dishes prepared by the owner are truly amazing. The ginger-infused potato salad, along with the other dishes we tried, was delicious. I call this “hidden” because it has no storefront and is one or two floors up (don’t remember). Miyoko Mama welcomed us and provided food and drink. Other locals participated in the fun.
Oden
We sampled Oden, and drinks, of course, in a tiny place called Oden no den Maki Sennichimae Ten (おでんのでん マキ 千日前店) 🗾, located on a side street in Dotonbori, near the Round One Amusement Store.
Roadside sushi
We had mixed sashimi on a roadside stand on, I believe, Dotonburi bridge.
Crêpes for dessert
Dessert was a French style crêpe at Creperie Alcyon (クレープリー·アルション) 🗾. Rich and delicious. In fact, it was so good we went back there the next night!
We got here just in time at about 9:30 PM, as they close at 10 PM! There is, in fact, a whole storefront and inside area where you can eat, but at this hour, only a street-side vendor window was open.
It is quite amazing to us that this whole tour happened within a radius of less than a mile. There were tons of other restaurants, many of which were more touristy, but I am sure would also have good food. Going to these kinds of places was quite a bit of fun, though.