Osaka Sept 2019 : Hilton Hotel Basement Restaurant

Since we had no whether to go, and it was too early to take a train to Kyoto, we decided to wonder around Osaka station. While we were looking for a restroom, we walked past a row of restaurant at the basement of the Hilton Hotel. A restaurant was a great place to spend time in, and since they have seafood, my husband decided to give me a treat. It was a Hokkaido seafood restaurant, and both of us really miss the food in Hokkaido, so we decided to go in and give it a try. After all, eating at such a place in Singapore would be beyond our budget. 

We both ordered a set lunch, and added a crab dish to share, as well as a Sapporo beer to share. Above is how they serve the crab gratin. Isn't it lovely?

we weren't sure whether it was already cooked or not, but since there was a small fire under it, we decided to wait, and the crab paste slowly melted like butter. Taste so heavenly!

I'm not sure if we ordered a second one for this. But I remember it was so delicious!

The crab was just the appetiser, and pretty soon my set meal arrived. It was sushi rice covered in little silver baits, and a side of tempura. I ordered it because it looks the most alien set menu there, and I was feeling adventurous!

They were really generous on the little fishes. And I can understand if some foreigner from the west find this totally unappetising. But to me, it was delicious! I finished the whole bowl, even though we had just had a buffet breakfast and morning snacks. 

The tempura was also not too shabby. A very delightful meal.

My husband of course went all out and ordered the full sashimi set. It came in a bouquet of raw fishes and decorated so nicely too! Wow. I miss eating Japanese food in restaurant. I told myself that after all this Covid19 madness is over, I need to go treat  myself to a nice Japanese meal!

And so ends our last day in Osaka. We boarded the train after lunch and made our way to Kyoto, which is like 1 hour away. 

Osaka Sept 2019 : Blue Jean Cat Bakery @ Osaka Station

On the last day of our Osaka stay, we checked out after breakfast and make our way to Osaka station. I had one last place I wanted to visit before leaving Osaka, and that was a cat bakery call Blue Jean. I have seen photos of it in the internet and just can't help putting it on my itinerary. So off we went, hunting for it. And it was so hard to find that I nearly gave up. But luckily my husband manage to locate it after going thru many underground walk ways and through some hotels. And we were welcomed by this cute cat sign just outside the bakery. 

This is how big the bakery is, and there are some sits and table inside where you can sit down and have your snacks. It is just nearby the Hankyu Hotel, but not exactly inside of it. It's more located at the underground link way, so it's kinda hard to locate. 

On their menu, they have so many cat paw bakery! These kinda reminded me of bear paws in Weird Al's songs. I've never eaten bear paws before, so this is just how I imagine them to look like. Only, in Osaka, these are cat paws! And they look so cute and comes in so many flavours! Oh, by the way, the above's aren't donuts. They are ice creams!

They also sell bake goods like buns and cookies, all in the shape of cats all over their bakery.

Since it was around Halloween season, there were also seasonal cat paws on sales with Halloween decorations. I got some of those. 

In fact, here are all the things I got. Ice cream, cat paw cake, and a cannelle. I got a latte for my husband.

The little cannelle is also decorated with a pumpkin. It's a super cute place to visit for our morning snack. I initially thought this would be a cafe where we can hang out there till afternoon before making out way to Kyoto. But since there were limited seats there, we vacated our seats after finishing our food. It was a pity the latte didn't come in a proper mug or cup, that would have been so much better. But I'm glad I stopped by here and managed to enjoy a short snack at this cute bakery. 

Ref:
Blue Jeans Bakery Osaka

Osaka Sept 2019 : Billiken-San

To end my Shinsekai blog entries, I would like to leave you here with my Billiken photo collection! They are everywhere, in front of every shop! Like a money-neko! And almost everyone of them is different! It was fund looking out for them and taking their smily faces, welcoming you into their shop.

Well, since this is Osaka, you will see that most shops here are Kushikatsu shops! Lol.

Here's another white version outside yet another Kushikatsu shop.

An old lady looking billiken outside a Kushikatsu Donteyaki shop.

Billiken in baseball attire outside, yet another, you guess it, Kushikatsu shop.

Wow a souvenir shop Billiken! How different. Dress in Osaka Wally attire.

Oba-chan again, another Kushikatsu shop that also sells Kushiyaki(grilled instead of fried)

Three is a company Billiken.

Giant Fishing Billeken! Enough said! Hope you have enjoyed the post so far!

Osaka Sept 2019 : Old Market Alley

After lunch, we continue our exploration at Shinsekai. By this time, it started to drizzle, so we went to seek shelter. We found some covered shopping arcade nearby, and decided to spend some time here while waiting for the rain to stop. It was an excellent decision, as we found a local market there that happens to only open on Sunday!

But before we step in, the shops outside was also quite interesting and retro. Here's a whole shop of Gachapon! 

The retro decoration of the covered shopping arcade with beautiful poster hanging from the ceiling.

I didn't take much photo inside the alley. It was kinda like a quiet chinatown, selling shoes, household items, vegetables etc. But I did tool some photo of artistic rocks! I find it hilarious! Especially the pricing too! I posted this on my Facebook account, and even my Japanese friends find it hilarious. I love this place!

Not only is this place retro and hilarious, the people here were fun too! In the middle of the alley, there were some uncles and aunties drinking alcohol, and playing darts! On a spinning board! It was a thrill just watching them getting drunk and trying to aim for a target on a spinning board! There were also buskers playing guitar or music and singing. A very local feel to it all. I love this place.

And what is a retro place if it was not for traditional local sweets? Found a wagashi shop inside and got ourselves some snacks. The colours are just to pretty! 

Osaka Sept 2019 : Kushikatsu Lunch

Kushikatsu Daruma is probably the famous Kushikatsu restaurant people usually go to I guess. It can be found almost anywhere in Osaka! But why try something that look like a fast food restaurant when we can have something more local?

After walkthrough the whole of Janjan Yokocho, I was set on trying Kushikatsu for lunch. The problem was picking one. One that is now crowded, and has no English menu, and where preferably a set menu was offered since I didn't know what people order for a Kushikatsu meal. So we ended up in the above restaurant. 

As you can see, no English menu! But there were some set menu, so we ordered some of that. And while waiting for it to come, I try my best with my broken Japanese to read the menu.

We also ordered some beer, and some red wine that was served with ice. 

When the food came, here was what we got. A set of grilled items, and a set of fried items. Sauces were available at the table where you can dip your fried items in them and eat it. It was kinda like "lok-lok", a popular roadside snack in Malaysia. The food wasn't too bad actually, and we quickly finished up the food. 

Hubby really like this beef tendon dish. It goes super well with beer.

We did a second order too, and that's when I realise some words I thought I knew, turned out to be totally wrong. But it's food anyway, so nothing is wasted even if it wasn't something I was expecting.

Here's that red wine in ice. My husband didn't like it, but I did. Taste like ribenna! But with alcohol!

There were cute signs all over the shop. There were stern sign telling you not to double dip your stick into the sauce after taking a bite due to hygiene purpose. The waiter also emphasis this to us as it was quite clear from when we spoke that we weren't Japanese. 

There were also sign selling their sauces. I guess this is spicy sauce?

This one is the normal dipping sauce.

And more ways to tell you how to eat the kushikatsu. And again, stern sign in yellow on the left NO DOUBLE DIPPING! On a whole, it was an interesting experience to finally had a chance to try this. It was kinda expensive for a meal. Almost 70SGD for two person. Although we did ordered 2 beers and a wine with the meal. It's not the healthiest food to eat, but it was definitely fun!