After loads of walking on Day 1 in Osaka and Day 2 in Kyoto, both Siew Mai and my feet were swollen and hurting. Nonetheless, we braved the streets and walked some more because, good food MUST be eaten!
The feasting began in the hotel, where we bought instant noodles from the nearby 7-11. How amazing is it? I bought Santouka’s char siew ramen!
The instant noodles comes with a piece of dried char siew, dehydrated plum and fish cake, powdered soup as well as liquid soup base. The smart thing was that you place the liquid soup base onto the lid so this heats the soup base while ensuring that the lid stays closed. So smart! Taste-wise, nothing beats the real thing of course, but it was oh so close.
After breakfast, we headed to Kuromon Market where it’s famous for its fresh food, pet shop at the entrance as well as general produce. There is also a kimono shop that sells 2nd hand kimono on the cheap as well as recycled kimono. In other words, bags or pouches made from old kimono. I was tempted but alas, how often do I wear a kimono? I hardly wear my yukata as it is.
We walked right in, and considering how it was 11am, we decided that it’s time for brunch. Nothing says Osaka like Okonomiyaki and Omusoba!
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| Our omu soba with squid and prawn |
The yakisoba in our omu soba was 100 times better than the one we ate the previous day from the festival.
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| Our okonomiyaki with octopus and prawn. The mayo writes ‘M’ for Melissa. LOL |
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| Cross section of our fluffy okonomiyaki |
Walking along the many alleys of Kuromon, I spotted Ootoro sushi!! It was sold fresh by a fishmonger and you could eat inside the store. Guess how much we paid for 4 delectable pieces? Only JPY1,000 (SGD 13)!!!! OMG…was in ootoro heaven…
Walki |
| Fugu! |
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| A lot of fish in a tank waiting to become sashimi |
Walking further on, we spotted a stall specialising in wagyu that had a teppanyaki next to it so that you can buy it, get it cooked and eat on the spot. Very smart as this was the only store that we saw doing this, meaning that they really are milking the tourist dollar. We paid JPY680 (SGD8.90) for 100g of wagyu.
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| Our wagyu being cooked |
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| Nomnomnomnom |
I’ve eaten wagyu bred in Australia before but it pales in comparison to the wagyu we ate at Kuromon. It was so tender and juicy…you truly understand why wagyu is soooo delicious. Ok…so, I suppose that the beef and the ootoro sushi should be considered our lunch. If you want to be strict about meals. 😛
We met the cutest granny in this market. She was walking her shihtzu and when we started petting the little darling, the granny started talking to us in Osaka-ben (Osaka dialect) and we caught parts such as “Oh, this dog is the friendliest and most people love her! Look…she’s now grumbling because she doesn’t have the treat.” LOVE how friendly the Osaka people are! She’s our fave Osaka person no. 3.
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