Osaka ~ Japan

Next stop in Japan was Osaka, otherwise known as “Japan’s Kitchen”. Osaka is a city filled with street markets, food experiences and restaurants galore, all of which make it a great destination, especially if you happen to be foodies like us!

We stayed at Fraser Residence Nankai. Location wise, it's extremely convenient with a McDonald's diagonally across from the hotel and it’s only a ten minute walk to Dontonbori. Highly recommend this accommodation for its room size and location. 

First stop was Shake Shack, my favourite burger place ever! One of the first things I did when planning my trip to Japan was google if they had Shake Shack. So happy I got a Shake Shack fix while in Japan!

After a restful sleep we made our way to Dotonbori, Osaka's famous dining area. Dotonbori is both the name of the canal and the street running parallel along the waterway, filled with hundreds of street food stalls and busy restaurants.

Dotonbori has lots of famous signage and billboards with a giant pufferfish, an octopus, a clown, the Kani Douraku crab all vying for your attention and creating an amusement park-like atmosphere. Of all these signs however, the most famous is that of the Glico running man above Ebisubashi Bridge. It is a popular meeting spot, an essential photo stop for tourists. Thought it would be rude not to have a photo here.

I tried Jyuu en pan which is a hot pancake like bread that is filled with cheese. It is shaped like a ten yen coin, hence the name. It is sold near the Don Quijote shop. It’s popular so the line could be long.

Mum tried one of the famous Osaka street foods, Takoyaki (Octopus Balls) from Takoya Dotonbori Kukuru. They make small dumplings with a piece of octopus in the middle. Crispy outside and gooey inside.

We had lunch at Kani Douraku, a super popular crab restaurant. Kani Douraku is easily recognized by the giant moving crab on its shopfront, but if you want to eat here it is a good idea to book a table in advance as the waiting time can be as long as 3 hours!

Ready to see what we ate?

Started with Vinegared crab, Yuba roll with crab innards dressing.

Next we had teamed egg custard with crab and crab dumplings.

For the following course we had crab tempura.

Then we had crab kamameshi (rice cooked in pot) with pickles and soup.

We finished with ice cream with matcha green tra sauce. Loved trying all the different dishes and getting to taste crab in so many different ways. Highly recommend if you are going to Osaka.

Next we jumped on a relaxing Tonbori River Cruise to see Dotonbori from a different perspective. The boat floats up and down the canal. Hosted in bright yellow open-air boats, the journey takes about 20 minutes and you can buy tickets and board near Namba Station.

In the Dotonbori area, Shinsaibashi-suji Shotengai is an enormous covered shopping arcade where you can shop till you drop! It has hundreds of shops and shopping malls which sell products from world-famous fashion brands to Japanese local brands, enough to satisfy shopping devotees! We enjoyed looking around the shops and picking up a few last minute gifts.

There are so many interesting and delicious foods to try in Japan and one of the must visit resturant is Gyukatsu Motomura. Where you can cook your own beef cutlet on a hot stone. Delicious!

The next day we made our way back to Tokyo on the bullet train and had to pick up a famous bento box otherwise known as Ekiben, the world’s most delicious lunch boxes. In most countries, the food you get on trains isn’t great, but in Japan it’s amazing!

This one is a kids one, but I thought it looked so cute, I had to get one to try for myself!

If you want to catch up on my other Japan adventures you can check them out here: Tokyo, Hakone & Kyoto Hope you enjoyed following me along on my Japan travels, I had the best time and cant wait to go back again!