🇯🇵 Osaka

The core of Osaka's food

Osaka's food in a word is "kuidaore" — the temperament of spending more freely on food than on clothes. At its core is "konamon," flour-batter foods griddled on iron: takoyaki and okonomiyaki, the cheap, hot, filling plates of ordinary people. Osaka was long called "the kitchen of the realm," a merchant city where rice and seafood from across the country gathered. To fill the stomachs of porters and traders, quick-to-eat konamon and rich, dashi-driven flavours developed. Not fine cooking but the everyday plate — that is where the body of this city's food lies.

Three faces

Here, Osaka is split into three routes with distinct characters. First Dotonbori — the waterside entertainment district at the heart of Minami, where konamon such as takoyaki, okonomiyaki and pork buns crowd the street past Ebisubashi and the Glico sign. Then Kuromon Market — the roughly 580-metre arcade called "Osaka's kitchen," a market street lined with shellfish grilled on the spot, Kobe-beef skewers and just-cut seafood bowls. And Shinsekai & Tsutenkaku — a downtown opened in 1912, where kushikatsu, dote-yaki and the stand-drinking of Jan-Jan Yokocho go on beneath Showa-era signs. Entertainment district, market, downtown: together the three show the breadth of Osaka's food.

How to eat in Osaka

All three routes sit within Minami's metro reach — Namba, Nippombashi and Dobutsuen-mae are only a few stops apart, so strong walkers can join two in a day. An Osaka plate is cheap and modest in size, so the right way is not to fill up at one shop but to graze across many. Konamon and kushikatsu live or die on being fresh from the fryer or griddle, so brave the queue at the popular houses. Kuromon Market's main act is morning to early afternoon, with many shops closed by evening. On Shinsekai's kushikatsu, don't forget "no double-dipping." Some old shops and stalls still take cash only, so small change is reassuring.