What food in Kansai should you not miss? Kani Doraku, Okonomiyaki, Osaka fried skewers, takoyaki, etc.

This article will take you to taste Kansai delicacies: crab doraku, Osaka skewers, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, eel rice, Ichiran ramen, etc.
  
【Kansai Cuisine】

Osaka is known as the "Kitchen of the World", with a wealth of canteens, restaurants, and coffee The hall also has seafood markets such as Kuromon Market, with a wide variety of food. Tourists can go to Michelin restaurants to taste high-end cuisine, or go to Dotonbori to experience popular snacks, or go to Osaka's most famous Kani Dorok to enjoy a luxurious crab set meal. Here, as long as you enter a restaurant at will, you can eat the most authentic food. Representative delicacies of Kansai include: takoyaki, okonomiyaki, fried skewers, fried tofu udon, puffer fish, crab, square sushi, etc. Different from Osaka's civilian food culture, Kyoto's food is more ornamental, with more formality in terms of utensils, placement, and design. The more representative delicacies in Kyoto include: kaiseki cuisine, tofu cuisine, Japanese ramen, Japanese snacks, etc. There are fewer delicacies in Nara, and the representative delicacies include persimmon leaf sushi, Nara pickles (Nara pickles), Asuka hot pot, etc. Below are a few delicious restaurants we went to in Kansai.
  


【Kani Dorok Honten】

"Kani Dorok" is a restaurant with a long history in Osaka It is a time-honored restaurant and the largest crab restaurant chain in Japan. It has branches all over Japan and is very popular among diners. There are three crab restaurants on the Dotonbori shopping street in Osaka, which are divided into main store, middle store and east store. shop. There is a giant crab sign at the entrance of each store, and the crab legs are still swinging up and down. The crabs here are all flown from Hokkaido, and the ingredients are very fresh. The king crab dishes are especially famous.
  


The taste of the restaurant can be seen from the details. The paintings on the wall, seat cushions, chopstick holders, etc. all have crab elements, and the dining atmosphere is great. The waiter before the meal will give you a slender wooden tool to facilitate everyone to eat crab meat.
  


The environment of the restaurant is also great. The private rooms are Japanese-style, clean and bright. The waiters are all wearing kimonos and serve attentively. Although the private room is made of Japanese tatami mats, you don't have to sit down on your knees. There is a hollow under the table, so diners can put their legs in and put their feet on the ground, which is very comfortable.
  


Eating more than one crab is our specialty, including a variety of cooking methods, such as grilled, steamed, fried, rinsed, etc. Here you can eat grilled crabs, boiled crabs, crab sashimi, etc. Crab siomai, crab tempura, crab braised rice, crab chazuke rice, etc. Before eating, the waiter will provide hot towels for everyone to clean their hands. We ordered different set meals, as well as bento boxes. After waiting for a while, the dishes came out one by one. Japanese cuisine pays great attention to the exquisite presentation and utensils. You can also see their dedication and seriousness towards food from the dishes on offer. This is not only food that satisfies the stomach, but also brings beauty to people’s senses.
  
What is served at the beginning are cooked crab legs, which can be eaten with sauce. But the crab itself tastes very fresh.
  


The meat of the crab legs is very plump. You can take out the whole crab meat by poking it with a small tool. The meat is fresh and tender, and there is a hint of sweetness.
  

The crab bento includes crab legs, vegetables, fried potatoes, and crab meat sushi. The vinegar comes in a small plastic container shaped like a crab.
  

There is also crab meat hot pot. The ingredients are not just crab, but also tofu, mushrooms and vegetables.
  

Crab meat sushi, the display is very exquisite


Crab meat chawanmushi, the container is very delicate, like a mushroom, with flowing colors. There is a lot of crab meat inside.
  


After that we also ordered matcha ice cream. The waiter made matcha right in front of us, very professional. Matcha ice cream tastes very authentic. Our meal cost about 600 yuan per person. After the meal, the waiter will also hand you lemon slices and hot towels to remove the odor on your hands, which is very considerate. The average price of the dinner crab set is between 4,000 yen and 9,000 yen. It is said that there are discounts on the lunch set.
  
[Kushikatsu Specialty restaurant Torakatsu] Osaka Shinsegae Kushikatsu Restaurant

Fried skewers are the representative food of Osaka , especially in Osaka Shinsekai where there are many fried skewers restaurants. Fried skewers are made by cutting various vegetables, meat, fish and shrimp into small pieces, then skewering them on bamboo skewers, coating them in flour batter, and frying them in a high-temperature oil pan. A bunch of hot fried skewers, very small, basically one bite. While waiting for the fried skewers, the waiter will bring you a box of shredded raw cabbage and a box of sauce.
  


The golden-fried skewers look very appetizing. These fried skewers are served in a hollow box that allows excess oil to dry. The clerk will also bring you a box of cabbage, which is raw, crunchy, and a little sweet. It can be eaten with fried skewers to relieve boredom.
  


The wallpaper in the store will write "No double dipping", which means that the sauce can only be dipped once and then eaten at once. This is also the iron rule of Osaka's fried skewers. . This rule is mainly for hygiene reasons. The dipping sauce in the fried skewers store is shared. If you don’t finish the fried skewers for the first time and put half of the fried skewers into the shared sauce box again, you may bring your saliva into the sauce. The juice cannot be used by other customers, so many stores will post notices "No double dipping of seasonings".
  


So when you dip it in the sauce for the first time, you should pay attention to dipping more, or use free cabbage leaves to dip some sauce for later use. Osaka consumes a lot of sauce. Whether it is takoyaki, fried skewers, or okonomiyaki, sauce is used in many delicacies. Sauces are generally on the sweet side, and I personally like the rich taste, which is very thick. The fried things will be a little oily and the sauce will be very thick and taste a bit heavy. You can eat some cabbage to adjust it. The average price of each kushikatsu is between 400 yen and 500 yen.
  



[Osaka Namba Okonomiyaki Store] Okonomiyaki Restaurant

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese vegetable pancake, also called OKONOMIYAKI. Literally, "お好み焼き" means "as you like", which means you can add ingredients and fry them as you like. . The original Okonomiyaki just put flour on the iron plate and fried it into a round shape, which was called "monjayaki". Later, vegetables and meat slices were added at will, which was called "okonomiyaki".



Okoyaki was introduced to Osaka, and the people of Osaka used their imagination to add squid, shrimp, beef, pork, etc. to the batter and fry them into a round cake. On this basis, Sprinkle with green chopped green onion and earthy brown bonito flakes, and fry the front and back together. After the ingredients are cooked, sprinkle with mayonnaise or secret sweet sauce, and you're ready to eat.




The clerk will help bake Okonomiyaki, and we can just watch from the side. On the hot iron plate, smoke is lingering, the ingredients are sizzling with oil, and the aroma is overflowing. There are usually different sauces to choose from in the store. You can choose the classic sweet sauce, or you can choose the store's secret sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce, etc. In addition, you can add green sea moss shreds and chili powder by yourself.


Okonomiyaki tastes very hot, but after being sprinkled with sauce, it is very delicious.




【Takoyaki】

Takoyaki, also called octopus balls, is a classic civilian snack in Osaka and can be seen on the streets of Osaka. A stall selling takoyaki. Takoyaki is generally made by coating octopus pieces in flour with eggs, and rolling them in a spherical iron plate mold. Osaka's takoyaki requires that the octopus pieces must be large, the meat must be plump and chewy. After being baked, the dough is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Then it is topped with a special sauce (usually sweet), sprinkled with seaweed powder and bonito powder (bonito flakes), and the aroma is fragrant. There are many takoyaki stalls on Dotonbori street, and there are long queues in front of the stalls, everyone is waiting to taste this special delicacy. The hotel we stayed in provided takoyaki for breakfast, which was thick and slightly salty after eating. However, this dish is even prepared for breakfast in the hotel, which is enough to show the love of Osaka people for takoyaki.



【Unagi Ryori Specialty Unashige Bakuro-Machi eel rice restaurant】

The main dish here is eel rice, which is divided into different types of set meals. The eel rice bowl has words like "pine, bamboo, and plum" or "special top, top, and combination" written on it. "Song" or "Teshang" are the most expensive, while "Mei" or "Bing" are the cheapest. This difference is mainly determined by the size of the eels.


In addition to the set meal, you can also order eel rice a la carte, and some snacks can be added. Eel rice has high nutritional value and is best eaten in summer.



The eel rice is served in a dark red lunch box, which looks very appetizing. The eel meat is smooth and tender, and the sauce tastes sweet and salty. It goes well with white rice when eaten. The set meal also includes soup, pickles, thick egg rolls, etc., and the price is relatively reasonable.



【一Ran Ramen (Dotonbori Shop Yataikan) ) Yichiran ramen (Dotonbori)】

Yichiran ramen originates from Kyushu and is Hakata pork bone soup ramen. There are many branches in Dotonbori, Osaka, and basically every store has a lot of tourists lined up.



When you enter the store, the clerk will give you a piece of paper and let you choose whether the taste is light or heavy, whether the soup is rich or refreshing, whether to add onion, garlic, barbecued pork, etc., you also choose You can choose spiciness, noodle softness, etc. Then put money into the vending machine and choose the ramen you want to eat. A small order will come out of the vending machine and just hand it to the clerk.


A portion of ramen is 790 yen, and additional BBQ pork and tamagoyaki are 200 yen each.

The store also sells boxed Ichiran ramen, which you can take home and make yourself. The waiting time is quite long, but tourists still keep coming in, which shows its popularity. The tables in the store are densely arranged, and the clerks wear uniform red clothes. Ramen is a kind of thin noodles with a rich soup and chewy noodles. It is topped with chopped green onions and spicy spices. It has a fresh and fragrant taste and is slightly salty. You can also add ingredients while eating the noodles, such as half-cooked tamagoyaki (eggs) or barbecued pork.


The restaurant is open 24 hours a day, so you can come and eat at any time.


For more Kansai food, you can check out my complete Travel diary of Kansai "Kansai Wandering Tour (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara)"