[Japan 2016] Osaka: Dotonbori + Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcades
By Elin Chow - Thursday, March 09, 2017
After dropping our luggage off at our Airbnb apartment in Osaka, we headed out to Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi area to do some eating and shopping. Located just a short 10 minutes walk away from our Airbnb apartment, Dotonbori is known to be the most popular tourist destination in Osaka.
Affectionately known as the "Kitchen of Japan", Dotonbori is the heart and soul of Osaka, famous for its dining, entertainment and nightlife. A trip to Osaka is never complete without visiting Dotonbori because this is simply where everything happens.
The entire street is lined with a wide selection of restaurants, cafes and shops. Right above them, you will find huge flashing billboards to catch the attention of customers. Apparently, the bigger the better. It was certainly a very impressive sight!
The food options at Dotonbori are endless. Be it street snacks, fast meals or exquisite dining, there is always something to satisfy every palate. Most of the restaurants open till wee hours, offering high quality food that will never disappoint.
Dotonbori offers some of the best street food in Japan. It is the reason why we love Osaka so much. The atmosphere is lively and vibrant, but eccentric. We loved every minute of our time exploring and feasting our way through the streets. This is definitely where you will be able to eat to your heart's content!
Kani Doraku
Kani Doraku is probably one of the most famous restaurant in Dotonbori. The popular chain restaurants specializes in high quality crabs (especially snow crabs) and seafood dishes. You can easily identify the restaurant by the iconic giant mechanical orange crab that moves above the entrance. However, dining at this restaurant can be expensive. So, please be prepared to splurge if you plan to have a full meal at this restaurant.
Since we could not afford to dine in the restaurant, we decided buy the grilled snow crab legs to satisfy our crab craving. For 900 Yen, we got two nicely charcoal grilled snow crab legs in a plastic container and a pair of chopstick. Yes, it is a very expensive treat.
The crab meat was very sweet and fresh but not very filling. It was so heavenly delicious, though it was a little hard to eat because they were no sitting area around.
Takoyaki
When in Osaka, you cannot leave the city without eating Takoyaki. Takoyaki is a incredibly popular street food originated from Osaka. It is cheap, amazingly delicious and deeply loved by people of all ages.
Tako means octopus and Yaki means grilled in Japanese. Takoyaki is octopus ball made of a wheat flour based batter cooked in a special takoyaki pan, which will mold the ingredients into a small ball. It is filled with diced octopus, pickled ginger, green onions. Once it is cooked, it is served immediately, topped with dried bonito, takoyaki sauce, green laver (Aonori) and mayonnaise.
You can find Takoyaki almost everywhere in Osaka. There are dozens of stalls selling Takoyaki in Dotonbori. A highly recommend place for Takoyaki is Dotonbori Konamon Museum. You can easily spot the Museum by its huge octopus billboard. There is always a long queue in front of the stall.
Takoyaki is best to enjoy when it is still hot, but be careful not to burn your tongue. Waiting for the Takoyaki to cool down is the hardest part. But I can ensure you that it is certainly worth the wait. The treat is crunchy on the outside, but soft and moist on the inside.
We ate Takoyaki from that same stall every single night we visited Dotonbori. 6 pieces for 550 Yen. It was not cheap, but we just could not resist the urge to eat more.
Toukai Suisan
Toukai Suisan is a Izakaya that specializes in seafood. Izakaya is a Japanese casual gastropub where co-workers and friends gather after work for drinks and inexpensive food. In front of the restaurant is a small food stand selling grilled seafood.
Fresh large scallop grilled with butter and soy sauce. Grilled to perfection, the meat was incredibly tender and juicy. But obviously, it was a very expensive but addictive treat.
Grilled Octopus Tentacles
Seasoned with salt and pepper, the octopus tentacle is grilled over hot flame until it began to char around the edge. Just like the scallop, the octopus tentacle was also perfectly grilled - not rubbery or chewy. It was surprisingly tender and flavorful!
Genrokuzushi
Price: 945 Yen
Sushi is generally considered a high class delicacy in Japan, Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurants are popular because it is fast and reasonably priced.
Genrokuzushi is the first restaurant to offer Conveyor Belt Sushi in Japan. The restaurant offers high quality sushi at a fairly affordable price. Each plate of sushi only cost 135 Yen. If you are looking for some decent on a budget, this is certainly the best place to go.
There is usually long queue outside the restaurant due to limited seats. The restaurant has a take away counter where you can buy and bring it back to your hotel or apartment to enjoy. To order, simply fill out an order form and hand it to the clerk at the counter.
Shinsaibashi
Shinsaibashi is the largest, oldest and busiest shopping district in Osaka. At its center of Shinsaibashi is Shinsaibashi-Suji, a covered shopping arcade located north of Dotonbori and is connected by Ebisu bridge under the Glico running man billboard.
Spanning across the Dotonbori Canal, the bridge connects two major shopping district in the area, Shinsaibashi-Suji and Ebisubashi-Suji and is surrounded by flashing neon lights and billboards.
Ebisu bridge is a popular meeting place for both locals and tourists. In the evening, the bridge is packed with people entering Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi shopping arcades.
We decided to have some Ramen at this restaurant called Kamukura Ramen. This is a Ramen restaurant that specializes in Shoyu Ramen, or Soy Sauce Ramen.
Outside the restaurant, there is a vending machine where you have to buy a ticket before getting a seat. Just like any other ramen restaurant in Japan, you have to choose what you would like to eat and pay at the vending machine by the entrance. The menu has both Japanese and English with pictures. Simply insert the money into the machine and push the button of what you want. You can order extra toppings like noodles, green onions from the machine as well.
A few minutes later, our orders were served piping hot. The Ramen uses medium thick noodles with generous amount of cabbages and Chashu (sliced pork). Serving size was quite large.
For extra topping, we also ordered a large bowl of green onions. The broth is thick and extremely flavorful and the green onions have added more flavors to it. Surprisingly, the Chashu were very tender and the noodles were very springy.
Ramen is a very sinfully delicious dish. It is calorie heavy, certainly not a very healthy food. Ramen is actually considered a fast food in Japan. Basically, you will come, order, pay, eat and leave as soon as you have done eating.
Isomaru Suisan Dotonbori
Izakaya is great place to meet and drink after work. Smoking is allowed inside the restaurant, which is also the one thing I did not like about it.
Each table is equipped with a grill with skewers, scissors and spices so that you can cook up your own seafood. Isomaru Suisan is our most favorite discovery in Dotonbori.
Super Thick Sausage
Egg Fried Rice
Scallops Steamed in Sake
We also ordered a big pot of scallops that steamed in Sake to satisfy my insatiable craving for scallops. The scallops were a delight to eat, very fresh and deeply flavored with Sake. This is also the most expensive item we have ordered at the restaurant.
Shrimps
Stir-Fried Vegetables
Oolong Tea & Shochu
We had mistakenly ordered two large glass of Oolong tea & Shochu with ice (we thought this is just tea). This is basically Oolong tea mixed with some Shochu. So, if you are wondering why Oolong tea is so expensive in Japan, it is probably because it contains alcohol. The drink has a slight bitterness of the Oolong tea with a very strong alcohol taste. We ended up wasting more than half of it because we did not like the taste at all.
But overall, we had a great time dining at this restaurant. The seafood are consistently fresh and really delicious. Who says Izakaya is cheap? It is actually not. We ended up spending 5,424 Yen (about RM 219) in this restaurant. It was a very satisfying dinner.
Pablo Cheese Tarts - Dotonbori store
Pablo cheese tart is originated from Osaka, with several branches located all around Japan. Since we were in Osaka, we were excited to try the Pablo cheese tart because many people have been raving about it. There is usually a long queue outside all the Pablo outlets in Japan.
We visited the one that is located in Dotonbori. This is one of the six outlets with a take-away counter and an in-house cafe. It is better to dine in if you want to escape the long queue at the take-away counter.
Pablo has open kitchen where you can watch the cheese tarts being made while waiting in the line. There are several flavors for you to choose from - original, matcha and chocolate.
All Pablo cheese tarts (but more like a cheese cake) are freshly baked and reasonably cheap, considering the size of it. Measuring 15 cm in diameter, a Pablo cheese tart can easily be shared by 4 persons.
We bought Pablo's signature original cheese tart, baked rare. It is sinfully cheesy and creamy on the inside with a flaky crust. The cheese was fluffy, soft and light. There is a thin layer of mango jelly on top of the cheese tart. However, we were not impressed with the jelly layer because we feel that its sweetness has spoilt the taste of the cheese tart.
Running perpendicular to Dotonbori Canal is the famous Midosuji street. The three kilometres long street is an attraction by itself. Hundreds of gingko trees, as well as several shops and historic buildings that lined the street are decorated with colorful illuminations, making it the longest illuminated street in the world. It is a pleasant place for a stroll in the cool night time temperature.
If you are interested to know more about our trip, you may want to check out our 7D6N Osaka - Kyoto - Nara - Kobe Trip Itinerary + Overview for the list of attractions that we had visited during our 7 days in Japan. For anyone planning your first trip to Japan but have no idea where to start, you should read my "How To Plan A Trip To Japan" post.
