Enjoy the gourmet capital of Japan
It's said that the people of Osaka are happy and openhearted because they eat good food. Indeed, since ancient times, the best of the land and sea has found its way to the great city, spawning Osaka's "kuidaore" (eat until you drop) culture, and creating countless excellent places to eat.
Eating in the City of "Kuidaore"
"Kuidaore," which literally means "eat until you drop" or "stuff yourself until you can't eat anymore," describes Osaka's food loving culture. Osaka chefs take great pride in their craft, carefully selecting the finest ingredients to exhibit their outstanding culinary skills. Likewise, Osaka eaters take great pleasure in their eating, always eager to partake of a good culinary delight. As a result, Osaka has great food. Whether it be traditional Japanese meals, local dishes or foods from other countries, you'll find a little bit of everything—at a wide range of prices.
You'll also find all sorts of restaurants, ranging from high-class establishments to local neighborhood shops that resemble British pubs. Family style restaurants offer menus with various dishes for adults and children alike. Noodle and beef bowl shops are the place to catch a quick bite when you're pressed for time. You'll also find many popular fast-food restaurants from the U.S., as well as Starbucks coffee shops, but we suggest you try a cup of coffee at a traditional Japanese kissaten. The widest selection of restaurants is in Osaka's main entertainment districts, with the highest concentration of all in the Umeda (Kita) and Dotombori (Minami) areas. But a walk in the vicinity of any train station will reveal a plethora of restaurants with varied menus and prices that range from reasonable to almost unimaginable. Many restaurants display a menu with photographs and prices. Others have realistic-looking wax and plastic models of menu items with prices in their showcase windows.
Prices at most restaurants include sales tax, but a special gratuity charge can be expected at high-class restaurants. Typically, diners receive a bill and pay a cashier as they leave. Tipping is not practiced at restaurants in Japan. Payment is made in cash, although many restaurants will accept credits cards. Inexpensive restaurants, coffee shops and fast-food outlets accept cash only. Some eating establishments may ask customers to purchase a coupon from a vending machine in advance and hand it over to a waiter.
All Types of Food from Every Country Under the Sun
Some of the world's best chefs have come to Osaka, and prepare exquisite meals from their homelands. You can readily find the finest French, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Thai food at restaurants throughout Osaka, or you can try more exotic cuisines, from Indonesia, Turkey, Nepal, Peru, Vietnam etc. Most of the high-class restaurants are located in the best hotels or the central entertainment districts.
Of course, Osaka also offers every variation of delicious authentic Japanese cuisine, as well as its own distinctive tastes of Osaka.
Fast Food
Boxed lunches that feature locally available food are sold at airports and major train stations and aboard long-distance trains. Convenience stores sell sandwiches, boxed lunches and other hot food you can take out.
A uniquely Japanese way of eating for anyone in a hurry is the stand-up noodle stand. Inexpensive bowls of noodles are served to customers who eat them while standing at a counter. These stands are mainly found in major train stations.
Food stalls that sell Chinese noodles and other inexpensive dishes pop up on street corners after dark. And you may also want to try kaiten-zushi, reasonably priced self-serve sushi restaurants where customers sit at a counter and plates of sushi circle by on a conveyor belt. The number of plates taken off the conveyor determines the price of the meal. In Osaka, even fast food must be a pleasure to the palate.
Coffee Shops
Coffee shops, or "kissaten" in Japanese, have traditionally been convenient places for businessmen to conduct their dealings, and now are popular with almost everyone. Coffee shop owners pride themselves in the aromatic cups of richly brewed coffee they blend and serve. Coffee at these quaint shops, which are also neighborhood gathering spots and places to meet friends, is strong. Anyone, Americans in particular, who prefers a lighter taste should order "American coffee".
More recently, coffee shops operated by chains such as Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Mr. Donuts and domestic companies with names like Dotour have become popular places to sip a freshly brewed cup of java while chatting with friends or reading a book.
Tachi-nomi
The most reasonably priced drinking establishments in Osaka are called "tachi-nomi" (stand and drink). These are usually liquor stores or stalls that serve their products to businessmen on their way home in the evening. Patrons stand and drink, hence the name. Tachi-nomi is the cheapest way to grab a quick drink after work.
Delicious and Inexpensive: Local Osaka Fare
Since its beginnings, Osaka has had an entrepreneurial character, which in turn led to higher and higher demand for culinary skills. Daring chefs and restaurant owners always willing to take a chance and incorporate new and novel methods have created many unique dishes and exquisite delicacies. As a focal point of trade during the Edo Period, fresh food from all over Japan and the globe found its way to Osaka—and fueled the Osakan passion for great tasting food at reasonable prices.
A varied range of culinary masterpieces can trace their origins to Osaka. They include such standard fare as tako-yaki, okonomi-yaki, kitsune udon noodles and other "konamon" (flour-based foods) on the low end to tecchiri and beautifully sculpted blocks of sushi on the high end.
Any visit to Osaka wouldn't be complete without trying these local delicacies, which are served at affordable eateries located in main entertainment districts, along shopping arcades, in the basement of office buildings and in shopping malls.
Tako-yaki
The most representative of local Osaka food is tako-yaki (small octopus dumplings). Tako-yaki is made by heating a mixture of flour and water with pieces of boiled octopus, chopped scallions and other ingredients in a pan with small circular shaped molds. Served piping hot with a special sauce topping, each bite-sized morsel is a tasty snack that Osakans eat at any time of the day. One serving of tako-yaki is between six and twelve balls, depending on their size.
Tako-yaki is typically served at small specialty shops. Some shops can seat a few customers, while others only have a window for take-away service. Each shop has its own menu, taste and style of presentation.
The origin of tako-yaki is thought to be Aizu-ya, a shop that still exists today. The shop's first owner created what later developed into tako-yaki in 1933.
Okonomi-yaki
"Okonomi" means "as you like it," and represents the thinking behind another one of Osaka's popular dishes. Okonomi-yaki consists of a batter grilled on a hot plate with diced cabbage, sliced pork (or other meat), shrimp (or other seafood), eggs, and other ingredients. Once grilled, this pancake-like food is topped with a special sauce, mayonnaise, katsuo-bushi (dried fish shavings) and aonori (finely grated dried seaweed). As opposed to Hiroshima style okonomi, in which the batter and ingredients are grilled separately, Osaka style okonomi-yaki is mixed in a bowl before grilling.
Although okonomi-yaki is easily made at home, Osakans often go to okonomi-yaki restaurants for their special tastes. Popular okonomi-yaki chains are Chibo and Fugetsu. Another restaurant with a long tradition is Boteju, which has been in business for over fifty years.
Kitsune Udon
Udon noodles are not original to Osaka, but local shop owners here created this inexpensive, delicious and filling dish by adding a thin piece of fried tofu, called kitsune, to the broth. The sweetly flavored kitsune is a perfect match for the udon noodles. Many small noodle shops, each with their own special broths and handmade noodles, serve bowls of hot kitsune udon. Now it's standard Osaka fare.
Tecchiri
On the high end of local Osaka cuisine is tecchiri, a type of so-called nabe (hot pot) dish, all of which are commonly eaten in the colder months of the year. Nabe are made in metal or ceramic pots, where fresh vegetables, tofu and other ingredients are cooked in a broth with a selection of seafood or meat. Tecchiri is a full course meal that features blowfish, a great delicacy. The meal starts with thinly sliced raw blowfish and finishes with a delicious nabe of chopped blowfish and vegetables. Many restaurants serve this elegant meal (at a variety of prices).
Udon-tsuki
Another type of nabe is udon-tsuki, a large pot of fresh fish or meat, vegetables and tofu stewed in a clear broth. Once everything has been cooked, udon noodles are added to the now rich-tasting soup to culminate the meal.
Shabu Shabu
This famous dish also originates in Osaka. Shabu-shabu is a nabe in which thinly sliced pieces of high quality beef are dipped into the boiling broth and removed while the meat is still rare or in accordance with each diner's preference. The beef is then dipped lightly in either a citron vinegar soy sauce or in a sesame sauce dip.
Hakozushi
The kind of hand-squeezed sushi that is well known overseas is called Edo-mae sushi, and originates in what is now the Tokyo area. Osaka-style sushi is quite different, and is called hakozushi (box sushi). It is made by pressing sushi rice into a square shaped wooden box mold with egg, shrimp, grilled eel, raw fish, shiitake mushrooms and other colorful fresh ingredients placed on top and in between layers. This special combination of color and delicate tastes is then sliced into bite-sized pieces and served. It's delicious!
Me-oto Zenzai
Synonymous with the Hozenji-Yokocho in Namba, me-oto zenzai is a popular sweet snack among Osakans. Also the name of the establishment within the precincts of Hozenji Temple that serves it, me-oto zenzai is made up of two bowls of sweetly cooked soy beans. Its name, which means "married couple," comes from the two bowls, which are to be shared among two people. The Me-oto Zenzai shop, which seats a maximum of ten customers, first opened in 1908.
Kushi-katsu
Developed in Osaka as an easier way to eat deep-fried pork cutlets, kushi-katsu are bite-sized chunks of meat or slices of vegetables stuck on a bamboo skewer and deep fried. Depending on what's underneath the bread coating, diners either dip the kushi-katsu in a sauce or eat it with salt, spices or tartar sauce.
Kushi-katsu, which first appeared at sidewalk food vendors, is popular amongst businessmen who stop at izakaya-type casual restaurants after work for a couple of drinks and some light food. Menus at these lively establishments, such as Yaekatsu in the Shin-Sekai district, change depending on the season and what's fresh.
If you go out for kushi-katsu please note: it's not proper etiquette to dip your kushi-katsu in the sauce containers after you've taken a bite, because the sauce containers are for all diners. Signs on restaurant walls remind diners of this rule.
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