kanno seimenjo

I talked about Kanno Seimenjo before here.

We tried the gyoza recently...20 pieces for 650 yen (tax included)

They come frozen, my peeve is the l-o-n-g plastic container they are in

I cut the tray and plastic package in half then put it into a ziploc so that I could freeze the other 10 pieces

These do not come with instructions on how to fry them up so I adlibbed

I defrosted them in the refrig before cooking, but would leave them frozen until cooking so that it doesn't stick to the plastic tray

I heated some oil in a pan then put down my gyoza and then added some water for it to steam at the end...cooking it for a total of 7 minutes

The gyoza snob approved these...I think it was because the wrappers are on the thin side (most gyoza here in Kanto have thicker wrappers)

The filling has the right amount of garlic in them.

I ate mine with black vinegar and pepper.

I did see a "stamina" version in their freezer, which usually means they have more garlic in them, these looked a little larger, we will try these another time.

We also tried the nikuman...260 yen (tax included)

These are HUGE!

barely fit in my pot with my steamer basket

these are well seasoned and the ratio of bread to filling is just right

The package had instructions on how to heat these up

BUT, I didn't know if their instructions were for the frozen version or thawed out version

I had thawed out our nikuman in the refrigerator the night before

So instead of their 15-20 minutes in the steamer instructions, I just did 15 minutes since it takes the water about 5 minutes to come to a boil on my stove, I let it steam with the boiling water for about 5 minutes, then I turned off the heat and let it sit in the steam for another 5

They also had instructions if you wanted to zap them but most times these types of foods get really hard after zapping so I went the steaming route...

Satoshi had his with karashi mustard

We will get these again.

I'm glad we tried these and look forward to trying their noodles (ramen & pasta) this winter...

551

Have you tried 551 Horai?

Everyone in Osaka calls them 551(pronounced go-go-itchy) and I only tried them recently.

Silly me...I had thought they were the same as the nikuman (knee-coo-mahn, literally meat buns) sold at the convenience store...gasp!

551's steamed pork bun is a little sweet and thicker on the outside than the ones in the convenience stores, more like the steamed manapua (char siu bao) we have in Hawaii.

The inside filling is like pork hash and it is super juicy.

It comes with a packet of mustard and during the summer a packet of ponzu (citrus soy sauce) (I have only used the ponzu, so don't know what exact type of mustard is given).

Apparently, you can only find 551 in the Kansai area, so there are always lines to get them as omiyage (souvenir).

They hand fill and steam each bun on site, so you know everything is made fresh.

551 calls their pork filled buns, butaman (boo-tah-mahn literally pork buns) NOT nikuman, so try not to make a mistake when ordering...

They also sell shumai (pork hash) as well as other items at their kiosks.

There are many 551 Horai restaurants around the Kansai area too.

I want to try their char siu man (buns filled with sweet red char siu, like manapua), but need to visit their main store in Namba.

If you have tried 551, what items do you enjoy from them?