Our kuidore (eat until you drop) adventure continued…after Kuromon market, we headed off to the famous Doutonbori Street and at the traffic light, we spotted the big crab!!
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| The streets are quiet because it’s only 2pm in the afternoon |
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| Dragon ramen |
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| There’s a cow hanging overhead!! |
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| FUGU!! |
We spotted a mini Glico man in the middle of the street, in front of a souvenir shop. Just in case you couldn’t spot the giant one.
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| Sushi anyone? |
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| A tako eating takoyaki. Ok…it’s not a simple cannibal, it flavours and cooks its brethren |
Below is the Fugu hot pot set (JPY 2,300; SGD 30) that we had at Zuboraya, one of the famous restaurant chains that serves fugu.
We had fugu sashimi, the skin and cooked fugu in the hot pot. I must say that fugu is a very tasteless fish and is chewy when in sashimi form. The skin is very crunchy and slightly chewy…a lot like jellyfish. When cooked, it’s very tender but still tasteless. That’s probably why there’s a large bowl of ponzu (soy and vinegar) for dipping the fugu. I was more impressed with the ponzu and the soup stock of the set rather than the fugu. But I’m still thrilled to say that I’ve eaten fugu and survived! 😀
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| Cabbages have flowers!! |
Walking along the back of Doutonbori, we finally saw the large Glico man. It faces the Doutonbori canal, which can be quite a nice relaxing spot.
I honestly just remember walking into cosmetic shops and just looking at all the lovely stuff available. The choices!! The variety!! The lack of moolah!!! I did buy a couple of bath bombs and feet pads (I used it that evening).
Another distinct Osaka food is their hakozushi. Unlike the usual rolling, hakozushi is sushi that’s pressed in a box. Hence the name as hako means box.
We chanced upon a restaurant that serves hakozushi at Namba (north of Doutonbori), so we just walked in and ordered their Osaka set. While waiting for our sushi, we started noticing all the accolades that the restaurant received every year for their sushi. Wow! Our luck at finding random good places is really amazing!
Now, let me tell you how absolutely delicious their egg omelette is. I’m not even sure I can call it an omelette. It’s so light, fluffy but yet dense like a cake at the same time! HOW did they cook it to that state??!! Did they pan fry it like how it’s normally done or did they bake it? Hmm…but neither would explain the texture of the egg. Ah…just eat and savour.
After Part 1 of dinner, we walked back to Doutonbori to savour the night life. As you can see, it seems to come alive once the sun sets. This street just exemplifies the flamboyance of the Osaka people. It’s very different from the bright lights in Tokyo, where it’s still neat and flat. Here, you get bombarded by not just the bright lights but also by the giant animals and foods.
How can we resist takoyaki? This time, it was yummier than the ones that we ate at the festival and reminded me of how takoyaki in Singapore tasted at first when they were first brought in. Nowadays, the takoyaki in Singapore are a bit too dry and over ‘fried’ on the surface.
For those who are familiar with the Gyoza restaurant in Raffles City, guess what I found…
The last 5 characters above states “Kuidaore” which literally means eat till you drop. I think we might’ve just done that. When we got back to our hotel, we went to the 7-11 again and I got myself peach jelly for dessert!
There’s a whole peach!!! Only JPY250 (SGD 3.25) and quite yummy too. Alas, it left me feeling bittersweet because the next day would be our last day in Osaka!!
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