Today’s trip is to Osaka, so see you Kyoto! We will take a train from the Hankyu Railways which connect Kyoto with Osaka. The
line initially runs below Shijo Avenue from Kawaramachi westwards in direction
of Osaka. Arriving in Osaka Station, we'll head to Hotel Granvia Osaka, which is located inside JR Osaka Station (very convenient!). The hotel rate is 131 CAN per night, for a 2 twin bedroom. The JR lines from Osaka station are the best ways to get around the city, with the Umeda district and the Namba district very close to the station.
Between Umeda and Namba, there is a shopping
arcade called Shinsaibashi Suji. In
addition to the shops, this area is known for a number of great restaurants
making Osaka one of the best food destinations is Japan. This trip is then focused on finding and
tasting as many Japanese foods as possible.
While watching many different animes and Jdoramas, it’s hard to miss the
characters/actors happily digging into some Japanese dish we don’t have in
Canada. I've always wanted to try these
foods, and Osaka’s kuidaora (literally meaning “eat until you drop”) describes
the love of food and the numerous restaurants in the city.
One of the places we need to go is a Ramen
restaurant, and this is due to the influence of the manga Naruto. Naruto is a series created by Masaki
Kishimoto, about powerful ninjas that try to keep peace in their village
against other villages. The series was
published in 1999, and became a best seller (Both Alex and I, got into Naruto
at 2002!) The series is focused on the
main character Naruto Uzumaki, which isn’t a very typical Japanese name. After some research, I found that naruto is one of the ingrediants in
Ramen. It’s made out of crushed fish
paste and herbs, and it’s distinct with its red spiral. Obviously, Kishimoto-sama did this for a
reason since spiral in the naruto-cake is the main symbol for his clan. Additionally, this boy loves ramen! He eats all the time, and always boasts about
the delicious taste of it. After
watching and reading this character gorge on ramen, I really need to go to a Ramen
restaurant myself to see it really is good!
Thankfully, Osaka has a large amount of great Ramen restaurants- hard to
miss!
 |
| Naruto Uzumaki with his ramen, Naruto-cake in traditional Japanese Ramen |
Many other types of Japanese dishes can be found
locally on the streets, and compared to many other areas in the world, street
food in Japan is actually really delicious!
Here is an overview of some of the types of food we could track down,
and try on the streets of Osaka:
Tako-yaki=
a local dish, it’s a dumpling filled with octopus. Many different ways to serve it with toppings
such as mayo, or other vegetables.
Okonomi-yoki= translating to “as you like it,” it’s
a pancake shaped item filled with either eggs, seafood or meat and
cabbage. It’s very easy to make, and each
region in Japan changes it to fit their country’s taste
Udon= thicker spaghetti, and Osaka makes it
unique to their city by adding Kitsune to it
Shabu Shabu= originating in Osaka, it’s thinly
sliced beef dipped into boiling broth
Tecchiri= a high end broth with blow fish
Onigiri= Rice Balls
Gyoza (sold usually along Ramen in many restaurants)=
Meat dumplings
Sashimi= Raw fish
Tempura= fish, shrimp or vegetables in a special
batter
 |
| Foods of Japan: (left to right) Kitsune Udon, sweet Dango Balls, Osaka Tako-yaki, boiled and fried Gyoza, Tecchiri, Onigiri, Shabu Shabu, Kushi-katsu, Tempura, Tako-yaki stand in Osaka, Meoto Zenzai, Sashimi (above: Sushi, and Tako-yaki with different toppings) |
Although we’ll try alot of Japanese foods, Osaka has many international restaurants catering towards Indian, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Mexican, etc. One of the restaurants that we need to go to is Covent Garden which has burgers and sandwiches, but it also serves their version of a Canadian poutine! I would love to see Japan’s take on one of our most celebrated dish.
Source
7:03 PM |
Category: |
0
comments
Comments (0)