An hour on the bullet train will take you to the southern port city of Osaka. With exciting nightlife, a riverwalk, and lots of incredible street food, Osaka has something for everyone. Even though it was supposed to rain, we did not want to miss a visit there so we grabbed our jackets and prepped for a day of stuffing our faces.That morning, we visited Fushimi-Inari (read more about that here). Afterwards, we grabbed some coffee and breakfast at Vermillion and then jumped on the train for Osaka. Chase did a lot of research on Osaka's street food and Okonomiyaki, a savory cabbage pancake, was our first stop. Okonomiyakiyukari or Yukari was the restaurant of choice. It was right outside the Osaka train station so it was easy to find. We were the only non-Japanese people in the restaurant so it was a bit awkward at first but the waitstaff was friendly and worked with us. Chase ordered in Japanese but our waiter seemed happy to speak English. After ordering, the waiter prepped everything and made the pancakes right on the flat grill in front of us. It was incredibly filling and very savory. The guys loved it, as did I, but I was ready for some sweets! We paid and took off to find the 16th century Shogun castle. On the outskirts of the castle grounds, we found some street vendors and got a matcha flavored cream filled Taiyaki. Possibly the best taiyaki of the trip. After our food pitstop, we managed to find the path that led to the backside of Osaka-jo. We walked around to the front and there were just a few cherry blossoms left. The castle was so beautiful. We took some photos there and after, decided to go explore to the Ebisubashi district, which runs along the riverwalk. We spotted the famous running man sign, the animated crab and the giant puffer fish! Chase had another food request so we shuffled over to Dōtonbori to find some takoyaki or octopus balls. He was looking for the food stall, Otako, because it was one of the first restaurants to master takoyaki. With a bit of searching and retracing our steps, we found it and ordered two batches. Traditionally served with finely diced octopus, Otako does it a little differently and uses large chunks of octopus in their batter. Each ball is cooked in a special molded pan and we watched as they dished up piping hot orders one after the next. We wandered through the shopping streets and walked back, closer to the riverwalk to find a pachinko hall. Pachinko is basically a vertical version of pinball, except instead of one ball, hundreds of balls fling around the grid and your job is to make sure those balls drop into the hole that tosses them into a tray in front of you. Those are balls you’ve won! If balls drop in your tray, you use those to get more balls in the game to win more... and so on. Apparently, gambling in Japan is illegal so what you’re winning are the metal balls that you can then exchange for prizes (and money at separate, not associated with the hall, shops around town). It was fun but incredibly loud! Also, we weren’t super good at it. We walked around Dōtonbori a little while longer before deciding to head back to Kyoto. A day trip to Osaka is definitely worth it for some unique food experiences. Savory treats as well as lots of neon lights and a beautiful castle made for a perfect day.
Until Next Time, C + D
4 Comments
1/9/2023 11:14:46 am
100 tl deneme bonusu veren siteleri öğrenmek istiyorsan tıkla.
Reply
4/28/2023 01:10:02 am
Steroid Sipariş: https://www.anabolickapinda14.com/urun/
Reply
5/11/2023 07:35:28 am
Heets Çeşitlerine Göz At: https://bit.ly/heets-heets
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorChase & Dani here, providing Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|