kozou plus

It's Golden Week here in Japan.

There are several holidays lined up at the end of the week.

There was also one this past Saturday...I think Japan may be the only country to count Saturdays to observe holidays.

Keep in mind there are businesses that do work on Saturdays, so I guess a holiday is a holiday...

Anyway, we recently tried Kozou Plus.

They specialize in mazesoba where you maze (mah-zay...mix) everything up before eating.

I ordered their niku niku don (literally meat meat bowl)...filled with grilled char siu and a sweet-salty sauce.

The meat was super tender...and that egg!

(wasn't too sure when to use the grainy mustard though...)

Satoshi chose their mazesoba.

He usually chooses noodles with soup, but since this shop specializes in mazesoba, he tried and liked this.

We liked the laid back feel of this shop (at some of these type of shops, you just feel rushed to finish your food and go!)...we'll be back!

Kozou Plus
1-2-35 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6346.6346
Lunch: 11:00-14:30 (last order), Dinner: 18:00-21:30 (last order)

papocchio

Saturday, after Satoshi's German class, I wanted to try a Chinese shop, but the line was krazy, so we decided to look for somewhere else to lunch and stumbled upon Papocchio.

The owner is from Rome and much of the staff working is (I think) part of his family...

We ordered the pair lunch...3000 yen (plus tax).

This started with a HUGE appetizer plate.

Fried sardines, roasted veggies, many other goodies and a generous seafood salad...we enjoyed this.

The foccacia and a fried round something were also so good!

The pizza we chose was their "napoletana"...with anchovy, garlic & fresh tomato sauce.

I liked that this was without cheese...the sauce was so good with the saltiness from the anchovies and tartness from the tomatoes!

We chose the hotaru ika (literally firefly squid) tomato pasta.

This was also tasty!

Dessert was a delicious cherry tarte but I spied another table with a piece of chocolate cake...

Delicious coffee to end.

We want to come back to try other items on their menu.

We went to check out the fuji (wisteria) in the Noda area after lunch, but it was a bust, not much blooming and the strands were so teeny.

Still, it was a nice day to be out and about on Earth Day!

Papocchio
2-1-1 Oyodominami
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6442.7582
Lunch: 11:30-14:00, Dinner 18:00-21:30
Closed Mondays

yamamoto

Saturday after Satoshi's German class, we had lunch at Yamamoto, a tiny yoshoku (western-style) shop.

When we arrived a customer was finishing up his lunch and then we had the whole place to ourselves.

Satoshi ordered the pork steak, a pork chop cooked with salt and pepper then topped with a pat of butter...800 yen (tax included).

Simple but delicious!

I went with the Yamamoto croquette...800 yen (tax included).

I loved how the owner/chef added a little corned beef to his croquettes...it reminded me of corned beef patties except that they were deep fried!

When I asked him about the corned beef, he was surprised that I knew about corned beef as many Japanese do not eat it or know about it.

I then told him that many people in Hawaii eat it and that I was actually a foreigner, he again was surprised.

His potato salad (in the tiny white dish) with the addition of tuna also reminded me of something I've had in Hawaii.

We want to try other items on the menu...we'll be back.

Yamamoto
7-7-29 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6453.1369
Closed Sundays & Holidays
Lunch: 11:30-14:30, Dinner: 17:30-24:00

foodscape

While waiting for Satoshi to finish his class, I was walking around and stumbled upon Foodscape.

This past Saturday, I went to check them out.

I tried their preserved lemon chicken tartine, this had green olives and thinly sliced onions. I liked the hard-type baguette that it was served on.

The pain au chocolat was flaky, super flaky but also had a little cookie dough mixed in.

A bit pricey at 970 yen for the two pastries and a cafe latte...but I like the laid back feel to the cafe.

I'll be back.

Foodscape
1-4-32 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6345.1077
Hours: 08:00-20:00
check their FB page for days off (Japanese only)

saturday

It seems that we've jumped from Spring head first into Summer...

The daytime temps have been quite warm.

At least early mornings and evenings have been quite comfortable.

Saturday after Satoshi's class, we headed to Fukushima for lunch at Pannya.

A tiny curry shop, they have about 6 different types on their menu.

I went with the dry keema...this wasn't too spicy and had lots of cilantro.

I loved the baked naan-thingy, it was crisp with a little salt...kinda like chips.

Satoshi went with the katsu curry.

His came with pickled cabbage and a nice piece of pork loin. The curry was "soup curry style" and very spicy (it had many chili pepper markings on the menu)

Both lunches also came with a small salad and cup of coffee afterwards (hot or iced).

There are other items on their menu we'd like to try.

We'll be back.

After lunch, we walked to check out the Noda fuji (wisteria) at their community center.

It was beautiful!

Have a nice week.

Pannya
2-9-10 Fukushima
Fukushima-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.4256.6319
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:00-15:00 (lunch), 18:00-22:00 (dinner)

fouet°

Before Golden Week started, I went to check out the other spots that were supposed to have Noda Fuji...that was a bust.

Most of the places on the map didn't have anything blooming, some of the places were hard to find too..boo!

Luckily before I went on this wild goose chase, I had had lunch at Fouet°, a tiny cafe in Fukushima.

They have bagels and quiches. I think you can also get some soup and sweets too.

Since I went for lunch, I ordered their bagel & quiche set...800 yen.

This came with a salad, some pickles, a nice amount of cream cheese to spread on their plain bagel and a nice slice of their quiche.

I like how their quiche incorporated a lot of spring vegetables like fava beans and asparagus.

On the salad was an onion dressing...delicious!

Also with this set, came a drink, I chose an iced tea.

I'll be back.

Fouet°
7-10-9 Fukushima
Fukushima-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6455.0565
Closed Sundays & Holidays
Hours: 11:30-20:00

cafe dona

Satoshi and I tried Cafe Dona the other day.

This cafe is quite small, only 3 tables and some seating along a counter.

I like that the owner makes siphon coffee, but dislike that she allows smoking.

The cheesecake and nut tarte that we tried were a bit overdone.

And at 780 yen a piece for the sweets and coffee...a bit pricey.

I don't think we'll go back unless they get rid of smoking there.

Cafe Dona
3-6-13 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
No phone number given, no info on hours or days off

sanku

The other day Satoshi had an appointment so we grabbed a quick bite at Sanku.

Satoshi went with the large udon (380 yen) topped with aburage (100 yen)...look at the size of that thing! Satoshi chose to have hot soup poured over his.

I chose the small udon (280 yen) topped with meat (100 yen). I chose to have my noodles cold (no soup) and drizzled a little shoyu on top.

The meat was simmered in a sweet-salty sauce and it was also served with grated daikon and half a sudachi (a type of lime).

The food was good and the price was quite nice on the pocket too.

This place is open really early, so if you're ever in this area, check them out for breakfast!

We'll be back.

Sanku
2-150-1 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6455.6613
Hours: 7:00-10:00, 11:00-14:00
Closed Sundays & Holidays

kissa stove

We recently checked out Kissa Stove.

Kissa is the Japanese word for "tea house".

This cozy shop is about 10 minutes from the JR Fukushima station.

We tried their Stove blend coffee which was a city roast and their Mamedake blend which was a French roast. Both were delicious.

There was a bit of confusion when we ordered the cheesecake, the way the waitress mentioned it, it sounded like there were 2 kinds, chocolate and caramel, so we ordered one of each.

When it arrived at our table, we realized that she meant caramel chocolate cheesecake...it was delicious though.

And how is this cute dachshund bench in front of another shop?!

We'll be back whenever we are in this area.

Kissa Stove
2-10-3 Sagisu
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.4981.0875
Closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00-20:00 (weekdays) 10:00-19:30 (weekends)

negiyaki yamamoto

I think it was reader Alan who asked me about negiyaki.

Negi is green onion and yaki means to grill/cook.

Negiyaki Yamamoto was started over 40 years ago. The owner used to feed negiyaki to children on their way home from school as a snack.

The adults saw this and wanted to try his negiyaki too and the rest was history.

I had told Alan to try Negiyaki Yamamoto and luckily he said they were good.

Since I hadn't tried them before recommending them to Alan, we checked them out recently.

How cute are their cups?! Negi singing.

We tried their yakisoba (fried noodles)...650 yen

Their "sauce" isn't goopy nor sweet.

I particularly enjoyed the noodles, they are a little on the thick side.

We also shared a deluxe negiyaki, this was topped with beef, pork & ika (squid)....1360 yen

Their "sauce" is lemon and shoyu, that is it.

Simple, delicious and lots of green onion.

I loved how crispy the pork (belly) got too.

We'll be back.

Negiyaki Yamamoto
1-1-48 Fukushima (Dojima Crosswalk)
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.4798.8220
Hours: 11:30-22:00
Closed 2nd & 4th Wednesdays

curry-ya sun

So after all that rain, thunder & lightning...we got cooler temps, the weather is so weird.

Yesterday Satoshi had the day off and we had some errands to run. I got to ride the trains during rush hour, which is NOT FUN. Jammed into the train car with someone elbow in my back, another person leaning on me! And no air conditioner...did someone say "sauna"?!

After we got everything done, lunch was a little late, so we popped into this place...Curry-ya Sun.

There weren't many seats but they serve all sorts of curries.

Satoshi went with the vegetable curry. This came with a large salad and a little yogurt for dessert...750 yen.

I went with the Kirishima pork cutlet curry. This also came with a large salad and a little yogurt...950 yen.

The pork was tender and the curry was spicy but not "burn your mouth" level.

On the plus side is that they don't allow smoking during the lunch hour...whoo!

We'll be back.

Curry-ya Sun
4-4-41 Fukushima
Fukushima-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6441.6881
Weekdays: 11:30-15:30, 17:00-22:30
Weekends: 11:30-19:00
*days off not determined, call before going.

sosaku ryori kakehashi

Sosaku ryori Kakehashi is a restaurant located in a quiet neighborhood in the Fukushima area of Osaka.

Sosaku means creative, original. The chef creates dishes that aren't classic Japanese.

They started us off with an amuse bouche of fuki (butterbur) and gobo (burdock root)

Then came a trio of sashimi (sliced raw fish), with a little wasabi, this was fresh and delicious.

Next, we ordered the maguro kim chee tartar garlic mayo...chopped maguro, chinese yam, cashews, sliced onion, tomato, drizzled with a kim chee garlic mayo sauce.

To eat this dish, they serve it with Korean style nori (laver that is coated with sesame seed oil)...yum!

We agreed that the flavors reminded us of poke.

Next up a fried potato dumpling coated with crushed rice cracker and filled with seasoned minced pork.

The dumpling was sitting in a nice thick soup with lots of mushrooms.

This was delicious, lots of flavor from the dumpling and pork, hints of ginger, a little chewiness from the rice cracker coating and lots of mushrooms.

The berkshire pork was a "kata-ro-su" (which I think literally means pork shoulder roast). It was sauteed in some chili paste and served with grilled vegetables (eggplant, zucchini & eringi) and a salad.

The meat was so tender and not spicy.

Lastly came the tempura assortment.

Vegetables...sweet potato, pumpkin, myoga (Japanese ginger), leek, warabi (fiddlehead), asparagus, shiitake.

Some seafood...shrimp, squid and a white fleshed fish.

In Japan, most restaurants serve the heads of the shrimp, fried up crisp, a great source of calcium. We also eat the tails too.

It was a great birthday dinner, there were so many items on the menu that we wanted to try.

We'll be back. (Thanks Satoshi!)

Sosaku Ryori Kakehashi (UPDATE: 2016 this place is no longer in business)
2-7-4 Oyodominami
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6458.4488
Monday-Friday 11:30-14:00, 17:00-23:00
Saturday + Holidays 17:00-23:00
Closed on Sundays

foodie monday

Monday started off blazing hot. Satoshi had the day off, so we headed to Umeda for some errands.

It actually took us several years to visit this soba shop. Makino is located near Nishi-Umeda in an area called Fukushima.

If you took a look at this shop from the outside you might just walk right past it. You can't tell it was a soba shop.

Inside the interior was clean. There were 3 tables of 4 and 3 counter seats. There was no smell of re-used oil and most of all, no smell of tobacco.

Someone once told me that you can tell a true soba shop, if the owner doesn't allow smoking. The same goes for sushi shops. (I know of one soba place that won't even allow his customers to wear perfume!)

Anyway, this place is known for their cold sudachi (lime) soba. When we got there, it seemed as though everyone ordered the same thing.

After ordering though, we were a bit disappointed....The bowl was so small!

The noodles were nice, a bit chewy and the broth ice cold. Perfect for a hot day. But at 1100 yen (about US$11) a bowl, it was expensive.

Satoshi could have order an oomori (larger portion), but wasn't willing to add 400 yen (about US$4). He was so hungry, he even ate his sudachi (limes), rinds and all, and immediately said, "we need to have something afterwards".

And so we did, we walked to nearby Herbis, a shopping area in Nishi-Umeda, to their food court.

We popped into a shop called Harbs. Harbs is a Japanese chain, so you can probably find something close to you. The slices of cake at Harbs are humongous by Japanese standards.

I remember when we first moved to Japan and found this place. I felt at home with their "American sized" pieces of cake. We hadn't been here for several years and were shocked at the prices. Most of the cakes run from 600 yen (about US$6) a slice to 1200 yen (about US$12)! And coffee is 600 yen (about US$6) a cup!

After our "soba appetizers" though, we were ready to eat anything! I ordered the blueberry tarte (900 yen a slice! US$9) and iced coffee (600 yen--about US$6) and Satoshi went for the lunch set (1400 yen...about US$14).

Satoshi's lunch set came with his choice of pasta, a salad, a half slice of cake (he chose marron (chestnut)) and a drink (coffee/tea).

He says he got the best deal (although tons of food!) My tarte was whipped so it was very light. I also loved all the fresh blueberries on top.


After our second "lunch", we walked around Herbis. This shopping area is very high end. Most of the shops look like this.

One of the funny things I always see are "salarymen" (salesmen/businessmen) sitting anywhere and everywhere, papers spread out, on the cell phone, doing business. This guy was lucky, at least he had a seat to sit on, most of the guys are crouched down with their papers on the ground.

As we walked back to the Hankyu Station, we noticed it was really dark! We could smell rain coming. And sure enough, it came down in buckets with thunder and lightning.

Apparently, all of Japan was raining and flooding...scary stuff!




Despite everything that day, it was still a great foodie Monday.

Makino
6-11-13 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6453.2828
Open 11:30-14:00 (or until things run out)
18:00-22:00 (or until things run out)
Closed Wednesdays

Harbs
Herbis Plaza B2
Nishi-Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6341.0901