Dotonburi Eats!

Oh my, so Christmas and New Year have gone by in a flash! I don't understand where all the time flew to... Anyway, it's been a while since Japan so I better pick up the slack and finish before the dust settles on this blog!

Soo my bff asked where's my food post ;) *Here it is!*

At Osaka, we stayed in Namba's Hotel Vista Grande Osaka which was a stone's throw away from Dotonburi - a popular tourist attraction with plenty of food stores hawking Osaka specialties lining the street. It's 2 streets actually, as it runs along the canal. There are also bright lights galore ~

Here's Heidi looking at the crowd go past, and looking rather zzz

According to Wikipedia, the specialties include okonomiyaki (pan-fried batter cake) and takoyaki (octopus balls) - both of which are some of my fave Japanese street snacks! Needless to say, I was all ready to hit Dotonburi and fill our tummies before we even landed :D Best thing was that ZX's cousin, Jocelyn (who stays in Japan), was gonna play host and bring us to the best food stops!

Tucked at the end of a side street is Okonomi Yukari, which has all sorts of okonomiyaki :) Like most Japanese eateries, the mouthwatering (and of great likeness!) display of their dishes greet you at the front.

We were our own chefs for our okonomiyaki meal! Check out our neighbouring group of guys all concentrating hard on perfecting their pancake! (Don't let their serious gazes fool you - they were 'flirting' with Heidi throughout! LOL)

First up, the pan has to be oiled. And mannnnnnnn, that's a huge grill

Then the nice waitress brought our pancakes - all nicely rounded and with our choice of ingredients already wrapped within, and we just had to top it off with copious amounts of sauce and equally generous share of fish flakes. ZX, Jocelyn and I all chose different ingredients for our pancakes and damn they all tasted super good! (This eatery is a fave of Jocelyn's hubby, and if the Japanese man says it's good, it's good!)

Check out the SIZE of the pancakes!

All done. Burpppp :)

As for takoyaki, there is an assortment of types for you to enjoy too! Jocelyn brought us to one of the top takoyaki stands - as evidenced by the longgggg queue. Here, we tried the usual takoyaki:

Spot ZX and Heidi in the queue (between the hunched man in the beige shirt) ;P

The takoyaki encased in an uber cute 'boat' and again, super a lot of fish flakes! The octopus balls seem deceptively small here...

But check out that chunk of octopus it is hiding! MAN! Nothing like those miserable morsels we get back here... I wish I was eating this now.

ZX also tried the soup version! (He dubbed takoyaki the ah-balling of Japan due to the proliferation of takoyaki stands and the various combinations that each stall offered)

Truth be told, I prefer my balls fried not wet. Okay. That sounded wrong. Anyway, I preferred the above version.

As Japan is the land of vending machines, we weren't too surprised to see that orders are placed via 'vending machine' at the front of the store for many a ramen shop.

That's Heidi and me sitting by our table and the vending machine after ZX ordered. We were freezing our butts off (this was supper and close to 9pm!) and mother&daughter were just stoning / watching the screen loop weird Japanese commercials which was blaring opposite.

OMG doesn't this look divine! The soup was just the right amount of saltiness and the noodles were Q enough. The aroma of the soup broth was so inviting that you just wanna slurp the entire bowl up! Just a simple bowl of ramen - t'was all it took to perk us up! :D 

Except maybe Heidi. Her face says it all - I want the bed.

One of the famous landmarks of Dotonburi is undoubtedly the gignormous crab display which has moving legs! (There are some copies along the street, but the one photographed below is the real thing. The pioneer crab which started it all.)

Since it is quite hard to stay still in a crowded restaurant with Heidi, we decided to try a piece of heaven anyway (go take a whiff outside the restaurant and you'll know what I mean). At the takeaway stall, there are crab takeouts in varying cooking styles on different days. We got the BBQ one:

That silly copy of a crab is actually a hat (visor-style) which you could get free from the stall. We got one for Heidi after ordering, and she promptly ripped it off her head. Bah. Anyway, the crab doesn't look like much right?

But check out this angle! Yummmmmmmmmmmmm. Fresh and chewy (Alamak! Sounds like mentos!) My only grouse was that it was cold by the time we reached the hotel. Next time, I'm just standing by the stall and tucking in!

Right. So that's it for our Dotonburi fare. I need to eat something now. Byeeeeeeeee