Osaka & Tokyo

[Hiroyuki]

What is this style called? It just looked so good with the soft-set egg and the rashers of pork.

Can anyone provide a link or two? If only I can reproduce that Mentaiko sauce too.

Obviously, it's tsuke men.

I don't know of any good link, and I'm not very keen on takoyaki (I'm not from Osaka, wher takoyaki is huge). I simply use pre-made takoyaki flour.

As for mentaiko sauce, I bet it's mainly made from mentaiko and mayo plus some other ingredients like lemon juice, cream, and salt.

[Blether]

Yes, tsuke-men is the equivalent of what you called 'dipping ramen'. Sorry about the soup - I had forgotten that you suspected it was pork. In your defence, apparently it's a very lush, thick soup that you wouldn't normally associate with fish (and I'd guess much of the gelatine is from the chicken).

[Prawncrackers]

Osaka, wow, Dotonbori, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a density of food outlets. The only shame was that Sammy’s Ebisu Plaza was closed for the duration of our visit. That would have added another 50 or so units to the mass. We were impressed and grateful for the covered walkways along Shinsaibashi and Namba areas as it peed down the first night we were there. The first refuge we found was in Kani Douraku and had a feast of crab. Very touristy place, it seemed full of Japanese at first but it then everyone was speaking either Cantonese or English with a Malaysian accent! But that’s not to detract from the crab which was fantastic, my particular favourite was the crab back grilled over the brazier and the sashimi. Never having had crab sashimi before it was quite a revelation, slippery & sweet. We didn’t go for the more expensive Samurai looking snow crabs but the more common spindly legged ones, what is this crab known as? The lighting was really good in here so some really nice pictures to share (or did I bring the spooky light with me Blether?).

I might not be let back into Osaka for saying this but after the magnificent Mentaiko Takoyaki we had in Fukuoka, the Osakan offerings were poor in comparison. In the morning, we sampled them from two different vendors on the street leading up to Dogayasuji but they were squishy and bland. In one of the larger Aladdins caves in Dogayasuji we bought loads of baking equipment and of course my Tako pan (still looking for good recipes please). Though I did manage to resist buying another trad Japanese knife even after I’d semi convinced myself I needed the Honesuke style to joint my chickens! My only regret was I didn’t splurge on tableware here thinking I would wait till Tokyo. The variety, quality and price of plates and bowls along this street made the ones I would see in Tokyo not worth buying.

We spent too much time in Namba Parks and ate some average tempura on the 7th Floor there in the day. On the last night my wife chickened out of the full Fugu meal but did order a couple a pieces of fugu nigiri along with our wonderful sushi sets in one of the places along Dotonbori again. The fugu was pleasant enough, a little bland and unexpectedly chewy. Not sure if it’s really convinced me to have the full experience though.

We headed of to Tokyo the next morning with a carrier bag full of snacks for the Shinkansen. I simply love those sausage in the buns you have over there. Especially in Osaka where they come on a stick too!

[Blether]

Mmm... kani.

Tarabagani / King Crab

Zuwaigani / Snow Crab

Watarigani / Blue (Dungeness-type) Crab