Osaka's Food Culture - Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)

This is one of the food that represents Osaka - Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き）, which is like a cabbage pancake fried over a Teppan (Hot plate). Though the cooking method is the same, there are many kinds of fillings and sauces you can choose from. I went to a shop in Namba with one of my taiwanese friend (Who discontinued her studies and went back to Taiwan) and she was saying that this shop has been around for decades and their cooking style are a bit different from other shops. So let take a peek at their making process...

Osaka Botejyu （大阪ぼてぢゅう）

Making process of a Okonomiyaki

A cabbage mixture is placed on the Teppan as base, and the shrimp on top.

Next, the bacons are placed in, which the cabbage mixture comes in again.

Spreading it evenly, to make sure it looks round & (yummy)

Say 'Cheese!' Close up view of Mr. Okonomiyaki

Last but not the least, an egg is beaten on the top to serve as the crust. Please note that in other shops, eggs are usually not added in. That is why we called this shop a bit of special. Served with shop specialty sweet sauce and Mayonnaise.
Osaka 大阪
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Osaka's Food Culture - Curry Rice (カレーライス)

When you first sees the word 'curry', which taste would come to your mind first ? Spicy right ? Well, if you have not eaten before Japanese-style curry, it is not spicy at all, in fact, I would say it is tends to be sweet. Japanese themselves possess a weak tastebud for spicy food that they have adapt most of their cuisine to suits the mild tastebud.

The 1st curry house I visited was Fukujima Top Grade Curry House (福島上等カレー) and there wasn't any waiters bringing over the menu, instead you could just simply purchased the tickets of the dish which you preferred through the ticket vending machine. I think it is really good for travelers who had difficulties speaking Japanese.



This is the one I have ordered - pork cutlet curry rice. The special part was the pork cutlet is deep fried and then curry gravy is poured over the rice and the cutlet itself.




In order to 'excite' my tastebud, I challenged on the hot spice powder which can be found laterally on the table. The instructions reads ... "It will become one time spicier after one shake." I did 7-8 times and I can feel the kick coming in. Sorry, can I have more water please ?
Osaka 大阪
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Osaka's food culture - Motsunabe (もつ鍋)

Motsunabe (もつ鍋) is another Japanese-style hot pot similar to Shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ), with the main difference in ingredients, which are beef or pork offal. The soup is put to boil with the offal, together with vegetables to complete the dish.

It becomes from this...

VVVVV
VVVV
VVV
VV
V

to this !

The taste ? It is like eating chewing gum but in the end part, you would need to force it down your throat. In order to smoother your throat, best is to down it with a beer ! It might not be as bad as I have described though, but for those who hates or dare not eat offal, you have just missed a japanese cuisine.

As mentioned by one of my teachers, Motsunabe (もつ鍋) was popular among normal salary men because it was inexpensive. Normally these guys would gather together after work, where they will start to eat and drink the night away ...
Osaka 大阪
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Shabu Shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ) at Osaka

Shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ）is a variant of Japanese-style hot pot, which are available all year round, though it is eaten mostly during winter times to keep away the coldness. Most of these restaurants operates like buffet, houdai (放題) which allows you to have free flow of ingredients for 90 mins or 2 hours, depending on the restuarant itself. In addition, they also have a la carte menus which can be included in the buffet course, of course at additional charges.

There are many style of soup base available and the one shown below is so-called yin-yang pot, where one is spicy while the other is just plain chicken stock.



Let's introduce the ingredients used... Usually thin slices of meat and veggies varieties. You can try all the veggies into the pot at first as it takes a longer time to cook. As for the meat, after the soup start boiling, dip the meat until medium rare and it is ready to be eaten, (not true for chicken meat though). It is quite a Japanese culture to eat a half-cooked meat and so don't be surprised by that !

Oh, nearly forgot about it. You need to dip it in sauces, called tare (たれ), which would make the food much more tastier. Usually used are gomatare (ゴマたれ), which is sesame sauce or ponzu (ポン酢), orange juices with vinegar. (Sorry, I will make up the photos for the sauces again.)



To prove that it is delicious, look at the mess we made in the restaurant ! Well, there are 2-3 big eaters around, and the waitress make it in time to do the clean up.
Food Reviews, Travel Japan Osaka
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Osaka's Food Culture - Introduction

Sorry guys, I was slacking around too long that I did not even bothered to update my blog !!! Just joking, busy recently and had little time to linger with my blog. So today I am going to talked about the food culture in Osaka. Simple to say, as listed below ...

Izakaya (居酒屋), Japanese-styled Chilling Places
Gyuu-don (牛丼), Rice topped with Beef
Yakiniku (焼き肉)
Takoyaki (たこ焼き)
Okonomiyaki & Yakisoba (お好み焼き＆焼きそば)
Sushi (寿司)
Katsudon (かつ丼)
Fuku (河豚)
Motsunabe (もつ鍋)
Kani Doraku (蟹ド楽)
Curry Rice (カレーライス)
Shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ)
Convenience Stores 'Dining'
Family restaurants

I know it would look stupid if I were to put all these information onto this post. You guys might wanna to bookmark this page so you can do easy reference...
Osaka 大阪
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