kyu yamu tetsudo (again)

After Satoshi saw my Instagram post on Kyu Yamu Tetsudo, he wanted to check them out.

Satoshi really likes Japanese style curry so I was surprised he wanted to try this type.

Japanese style curry is the roux type using flour and some kind of oil.

Kyu Yamu's curries are what the Japanese call "spice curries", which I believe use veggies, some type of stock, some type of protein and lots of different spices.

Some spice curries can be on the "watery" side while some can be quite thick.

Since Kyu Yamu's menu hadn't changed from the last time I went (only a couple of days before) I ordered the other 2 curries which was a spicy beef & pork keema and vegetable curry.

This time around I chose the brown rice.

On the weekends they only have one soup for you to change up the flavors.

Luckily, it happened to be the one I hadn't tried, the Japanese dashi(stock).

Man, that spicy keema was super spicy.

Satoshi chose all four...sigh.

And since we had just seen a movie, our ticket stubs also gave us a small free drink.

Satoshi chose beer (even though he was gonna go out drinking afterwards...ahem)...while I chose oolong tea.

I think he enjoyed this and I'm glad he got to try this place.

p.s. our temps have skyrocketed over the past two days...as high as 21C (69F)...BUT are gonna slump back down 10 degrees or so in the coming days...gasp!

kyu yamu tetsudo

It had been awhile since I had eaten at Kyu Yamutei.

They have since expanded and now even have a shop in Tokyo.

Anyway, this particular shop's interior is the inside of a train car.

They have 3 choices...aigake (choose two of their 4 curries), triple (choose three), all (all 4 curries).

I chose the aigake.

The curries I chose were the pork keema with bacon chutney and the chicken keema with hijiki soymilk achaar.

During the weekdays, you can also receive one of the two soups to add to your curry to change up the flavors.

On this day, it was a japanese stock or thai curry, and I chose the thai curry.

Choose your rice...brown or turmeric...I chose turmeric.

Everything was good on its own and nice mixed together.

I don't often get to the area where Kyu Yamutei is these days so I am glad I can get my fix in Umeda.

I'll be back.

Kyu Yamu Tetsudo
Lucua 1100 B1F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6151.1544
Hours: 11:00-24:00
Closed when Lucua 1100 is.

bills

We went to check out Bills earlier this month.

If I am not mistaken they opened late last year.

I've seen their lines for breakfast but luckily the line for lunch wasn't too krazy.

Satoshi had their cheeseburger which he said was tasty.

I had their chopped salad because "beets" and "avocado" were calling out to me from their menu.

The food is kinda pricey but everything was delicious and service was good.

I'm glad we got to try them...We'll be back.

Bills
Lucua 1100 7F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6456.2500
Open when Lucua 1100 is
Hours: 8:30-23:00

good provision

We finally got around to trying Good Provision.

They are located in Lucua 1100 but when they first opened, the lines were krazy.

Satoshi had their avocado bacon burger while I tried their spicy tartar sauce fish burger.

Satoshi's sandwich had lots of avocado and a nice slice of bacon.

Their fries were meh, but the fish was cooked nicely.

Super crisp on the outside and the fish still very moist.

The spicy tartar sauce was a chipotle type sauce and they also serve this with a caper mayo.

There are other items on their menu that we want to try...we'll be back.

Good Provision
Lucua 1100, 10F
Phone: 06.6151.1413
Hours: 11:00-23:00
Open when Lucua 1100 is

kohaku

Phil is in town for a quick visit and it was nice of him to take some time out of his busy schedule to contact me to meet up.

We had drinks and some pupus (appetizers) at Kohaku.

This bar is a French-Japanese fusion type of place.

Let's start with the bad...chintzy servings of wine...and a bar atmosphere way too loud (you can barely hear each other talking)

The food...so-so.

We shared this daikon covered with a porcini cream sauce.

The daikon is cooked until tender then smothered in a rich porcini cream sauce.

We also shared this "okonomiyaki". Lots of cabbage and some beef is smothered in a fondue cheese sauce and topped with a red wine tomato sauce.

Since the waitress asked if it was our first time eating there (and it was) I think she should have told us about ordering bread on the side to mop up all that melted cheese...grr! (actually I think more places should serve bread (for free) with their dishes that have sauces that need mopping up)

Our ears blasted from the noise of the bar, we then headed up to quiet Tsutaya to hang out and chat.

Phil was kind to bring a foodie magazine from Australia for me, which I look forward to reading. (Thank you!)

The day was nasty humid and I probably won't be back to that bar, but the company and conversation was nice as always.

Thanks for meeting up Phil it was nice catching up with you!

Kohaku
Lucua 1100 Bar Chika, B2F
Phone: 06.6341.5089
Open 11:00-24:00, when Lucua 1100 is

fun

Do you like takoyaki? Me, I don't really care for them, the insides tend to be a little too "raw" for my liking.

This past Saturday, while catching up with Tamakikat, I got to try Le Garage's tako-nuts.

The naming of this dish is quite funny to say!

They are actually doughnuts that are made to look like takoyaki.

They had 4 different glazes to choose from, but I debated between chocolate or black sesame for realism and went with black sesame.

The sesame sauce is a little runny and black like squid ink, so be prepared to get some all around your mouth when you bite into the doughnuts.

These doughnuts are fried to order so they come out piping hot...delicious!

I'm glad I tried these.

Thanks for meeting up Tamakikat!

que rico

Dinner was at Que Rico which opened a shop in Lucua 1100. I've had this place on my list "to try" for awhile.

Their amuse bouche (the stuff that comes out without you ordering it) were these chips and salsa...200 yen per person...um, for that price I think we should've received at least another plate.

Satoshi ordered the SOL beer 650 yen...meh, he wasn't impressed and switched to Sapporo beer (450 yen) afterwards.

I ordered a strawberry margarita...600 yen (cute, yeah?!)

We ordered a plate of nachos...650 yen. Good flavor, just not enough food...

Tako ceviche...500 yen. Super spicy.

More tomatoes than tako.

Shrimp Ajillo...500 yen.

Two large shrimps and some teeny shrimp and some mushrooms.

Overall, the flavors were good just not enough food for the price.

Sadly, I don't think we'll be back here again.

Que Rico
Lucua 1100 Bar Chika (B2F)
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6151.1546
Hours: 11:00-24:00, open when Lucua 1100 is.

foodie saturday in osaka

Met up with Tamakikat in Osaka before her appointment.

I had this croque monsieur thingy while she had a green smoothie.

Always nice catching up with her, she was also nice to share some Rococo chocolates (more about those later!) (Thank you!)

After Satoshi's German class, he wanted to go meet up with some classmates for a study session, so first we had lunch at South Swell Cafe.

The burgers are huge here! but the prices are super reasonable...800 yen. I had the South Swell Burger which came with bacon, bbq sauce and I think cheese.

Plus 200 yen and it came with a drink, I chose coke...

Satoshi ordered their Avocado Burger...900 yen and with 200 yen plus he added coffee.

While I waited for him, I checked out the Utsubo Park Rose Festa and read my book.

There were tons of families with kids all itching to play in the fountains...

There were also tons of furry kids!!

After Satoshi's study session, we walked to Nakanoshima Rose Park.

On the way, we bought some coffees and sat in the park.

It was dinner time. We checked out this mexican place I had bookmarked, Herradura.

We tried their guac with chips and ordered two orders of tacos (one with shrimp and the other with chile con carne). An order comes with two tacos.

Their food is quite good. We especially liked their chips which are fried to order.

We also had their queso con chile (melted cheese with tomato) and chips.

Their strawberry margaritas were meh. But we want to go back to try their plates.

It was quite a long day, but the weather is still quite nice.

Have a nice week!

South Swell Cafe
2-1-1 Nishihonmachi
Nishi-ku, Osaka
Phone: 0.6535.8852
Open 9:00-20:00 (weekdays), 10:00-20:00 (weekends)

Herradura
2-2-13 Nakazaki-nishi
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6361.1011
Open 17:00-3:00 (Monday-Friday), 17:00-5:00 (Saturday)

max brenner chocolate bar

Max Brenner recently opened up a chocolate bar in Lucua 1100.

The line is krazy for this place.

Tuesday, I met up with Kiyomi for "lunch".

And since the line for this place wasn't too krazy at lunchtime, we tried the chocolate chunk pizza.

Milk & white chocolate with toasted marshmallows on top.

Talk about sugar coma! and thank goodness for black coffee...

Needless to say we were full after this, so we did lots of walking and window shopping.

I'm glad we tried this but probably would go for their fondue or crepe items instead.

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar
Lucua 1100, 2F
Hours: 10:00-21:00, open when Lucua 1100 is.
Phone: 06.6147.7440

le weekend

Recently, a huge Tsutaya opened up at the new Lucua 1100.

Tsutaya is mostly known for its video rental shops but has recently emerged with bookstore/cafes.

This particular Tsutaya is a bookstore/cafe. The interior is rather dark but there are tons of seats for you to grab a coffee and browse their books.

I particularly like that they open at 7:00, perfect for when I go to Umeda when Satoshi has his German class. We usually get there before 9:30 and the amount of places serving breakfast at this time is quite limited.

In Tsutaya there is a Starbucks and a cafe called Le Garage.

I tried Le Garage's blueberry bread pudding and an iced coffee...650 yen (tax included).

The bread pudding was dense and not too sweet and there were lots of blueberries in it.

The iced coffee was good.

I hope to hang out here more often.

Krazy salaryman (businessman) left his bag at the table next to mine and went MIA for over 30 minutes...he should've paid me to watch his bag!

People in Japan way too trusting...

Sunday we went to check out the roses at Aramaki Rose Park. We've been coming here since 2006.

We love getting to the park right when it opens so we can eat our breakfast in peace and quiet.

This place is getting quite popular, there were tons of people when we arrived on Sunday!

Our breakfast was spam egg onigirazu, cherries, pickles, cherry tomato & island lava cookies. I also made hot coffee for Satoshi and a coldbrew for me.

Am loving the fish eye lens.

How was your weekend?

balyet toffee

Last year, Isetan Department Store closed (well most of it did, they kept some restaurants and parts of the food floor open).

Then, earlier this month, Lucua 1100 (pronounced ee-ray) opened in its place.

Lots of shops and also lots of food places too.

One of my friends on social media posted a photo of the toffee she bought, so I went to check it out.

Balyet Toffee is located in the food hall of Lucua 1100.

They make different types of toffee and also pair them with different blends of coffee.

They sell it in 5/8 ounce pieces. I bought some different toffees for us to try.

Pistachio No6...basic toffee with a dark chocolate layer and lots of pistachios.

Allspice & Nibs...basic toffee with a dark chocolate layer, allspice and cacao nibs.

Jumble Peeps...basic toffee with a milk chocolate layer, nuts (pecan, cashew) and orange peel.

I liked how these don't stick to your teeth. My favorite was the pistachio.

I'll be back to check them out again when they change their flavors.

Balyet Toffee (UPDATE: 2/2017 the food hall is no longer there)
Lucua 1100 Food Hall B2
Phone: 06.4301.3802
Open when Lucua 1100 is