foodie friday in osaka

Friday the weather was cold, a bit rainy but I was happy that I got to meet Dennis of Radiused Corner.

After getting lost on the JR loop line, we finally made our way to Namba Jiyuken.

This shop has been in business since 1910 and is totally B-kyu Gurume.

Dennis asked what the difference between Namba Jiyuken and Senba Jiyuken was, well, I found out. They are two separate companies.

In fact, Senba Jiyuken's main shop is in Tokyo. Namba Jiyuken is only found in areas around Osaka.

The funny thing is that they sell almost the exact same menu items.

We shared their curry rice, this comes with a raw egg on top.

If there is one place you could safely eat raw eggs I would say it would have to be in Japan.

Taste the rice..the curry is spicy.

Add a dash of their sauce (worchestershire) and the flavors become a bit bolder.

Then mix in the egg and it all mellows out.

We also tried their ebi cream croquette (shrimp cream croquette). The coating is so crispy and the inside so creamy with lots of shrimp in it.

It comes with some cole slaw and some macaroni coated with their tomato sauce.

Soul food at its finest.

The turnover is pretty fast. And you'll have to share your table with others.

I'm glad I took Dennis to the "real" Jiyuken.

After lunch we went to check out Doguyasuji, where Dennis bought a lot of gadgets for his kitchen.

We then headed to Hanshin Department Store to check out more B-kyu Gurume.

Their ikayaki is a thin crepe filled with ika (squid) and their sauce, similar to the kind used for okonomiyaki. Apparently they sell over 10,000 of these in a day!

This was simple but a really nice snack.

We also tried their negiyaki (the ikayaki with green onions), but this one was a bit bitter.

The snack park, a standing eating area was great for people watching. All sorts of B-kyu Gurume (ramen, omurice, takoyaki, and much much more)

Dennis was nice to give Satoshi this In-n-Out Burger t-shirt and some stickers.

We'll have to travel to California so that I can let him taste an In-n-Out burger.

He also gave us some Gomatamago, a Japanese sweet filled with black sesame paste.

The day went by so quickly but I'm glad we got to meet up, lots of eating, lots of walking and lots of talking.

Thanks for a great day Dennis!

Namba Jiyuken
3-1-34 Namba
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6631.5564
Closed Mondays
Hours: 11:20-21:20

Hanshin Meibutsu Ikayaki
Hanshin Department Store B1
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6345.1201