entrata

The other day for lunch Satoshi and I tried Entrata.

They have 3 different sets for lunch...pasta, secondo or their course.

We went with the secondo...1200 yen each.

This started off with 3 starters (frittata, marinated mushrooms & broccoli sauteed in garlic) and a salad.

There is also warm baguette that comes along with this lunch too.

The main dish that day was a grilled pork with basil sauce.

Simple flavors but really tasty.

We also liked that you could have more salad and baguette if you wanted.

We'll be back.

Entrata
Hankyu Kappa Yokocho
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6374.3066
Lunch 11:30-15:00, Dinner 17:00-24:00
Closed when Hankyu Kappa Yokocho is

faro d el poniente

The other day, I met up with Kazumi. She introduced me to her dentist, so now I plan to go to him instead of the one I've been going to, Kazumi's dentist has better rapport.

After our appointments, we decided to have some coffee then maybe dinner...

Instead of having coffee though, we did some of Kazumi's errands and ended up at a tapas bar near Yodoyabashi, Faro D el Poniente.

Choose daily tapas from their refrigerated cases, salads from another. And order hot items from their picture menus.

We started out with Banderilla...a slice of iwashi (sardine), cornichon, olive & sport pepper, salty & spicy...delicious.

Next, champiñones al ajillo...this came bubbling hot!

Mushrooms and slices of garlic soaking in bubbling olive oil, a little chili in there too.

Perfect with some sliced baguette.

Assorted tapas: (from left to right) fried squid with zucchini, fried olives with eggplant & red bell pepper, and crab salad.

I liked the fried olive one best.

Russian style potato salad...potato salad with tuna in it.

Tasty and sort of reminded me of something I've had in Hawaii.

Country style frittata, a fluffy omlette filled with potato, green beans, bits of chorizo...delicious!

A serving of cold rice salad, delicious and a great way to offset some of the oily foods.

Cinnamon sherbert for dessert.

This was unusual but delicious, cinnamon flavor and hints of citrus too.

Espresso to end.

We enjoyed all the items we chose, and it was nice chatting...total with a glass of wine and glass of sparkling wine, 6150 yen. Like most bars in Japan, they allow smoking, so this was the only part we didn't enjoy. (Thank you Kazumi!)

I told Satoshi about this place and he wants to check them out, so we'll be back.

Faro D el Poniente
4-3-1 Kitahama
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6223.2224
Closed on Mondays

new

Over the past couple of weeks a lot of new shops and eateries have opened up in the Umeda area.

In Daimaru, which renovated all their floors, there is a Tokyu Hands. Tokyu Hands is an odds & ends shop, you can find almost anything and everything there.

They even opened a cafe which we want to try. Their store is on 3 separate floors, it is really big.

Also in Daimaru is a huge Pokemon Center as well as a cooking school.

Then NU Chayamachi opened an annex called, NU Chayamachi Plus.

They have all these statues of colorfully painted gnu lining the street in front. (I thought it quite weird that they named their building after the animal (gnu)...)

I liked how they are using real plants to create their sign, hope they can keep this up with summer approaching.

I stopped into the Starbucks in this complex. It was relatively empty.

I tried their new mini macarons...it came with one green tea and one black sesame. The green tea one had a white chocolate green tea cream, but needed more green tea flavor. The black sesame had a dark chocolate filling, this was good but needed more filling.

The JR Osaka station has been renovated too.

There is a huge domed roof and very very long escalators, doesn't it look like you are going up to heaven?!

Actually by going up these escalators, you can go straight into Daimaru. They even have an open cafe on this level.

Two department stores, Lucua & Isetan opened too.

These places were packed, mostly people riding the escalators to check it all out. (like me!)

I was happy that they have a place to sit on the 11th floor and a roof garden on the 14th. (If there is one thing you'll notice right away in Japan is that places to sit are really rare.)

Satoshi and I tried a tapas restaurant called Rosa Roja for dinner. This restaurant is actually run by the Osaka Granvia Hotel. The food is good. I particularly enjoyed the gyu-tan (beef tongue), it was tender and delicious with the thinly sliced veggies.

The Spanish wine, Volteo Tempranillo we tried was good too.

There are many food places from Tokyo which I'm sure we'll be able to check out in the coming months, but for now, it is best to let the crowds die down.

Rosa Roja
Lucua 10F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6151.1384

chinese-italian-spanish-japanese

Today it rained for most of the day. Luckily, I made it to the grocery store and back before the rain really came down!

Tonight's dinner was a mixture--Italian-seasoned roasted veggie salad, yaki gyoza (chinese fried pot stickers) and genmai (brown rice) with gokokumai (5 different grains). There is a grain in there, kurogome (black rice) that usually turns the rice a purplish color, so don't worry, I didn't burn the rice :)

Gyoza is Satoshi's favorite food. Ask him what he wants for dinner and he will always mouth "g-y-o-z-a". The bottoms of the gyoza usually have this cripy crunch (from sticking to the pan/pot) to it and the tops are soft and usually juicy. The dipping sauce is very easy to make, a little vinegar, a little shoyu (soy sauce) and drops of rayu (a chinese chili pepper oil made from sesame seed oil and chili peppers).

Dessert were a couple of squares of Vosges' Barcelona bar. Although I'm a dark chocolate fan, this bar is actually 40% cacao milk chocolate with smoked almonds, and gray sea salt and very addicting! The sweetness of the milk chocolate goes really well with the gray salt and there is a hint of caramel in the chocolate. I've been noticing a lot of "dark milk chocolates" lately and aren't quite sure what that means.

In March, while in Okinawa, my mother-in-law bought me these pair of geta. Geta are the traditional footwear in Japan. Now, they are usually worn during the summer months. These geta are a bit different because you don't have to balance too much to walk. I like the sound of the geta as it hits the pavement. It has a clopping kind of sound to it. I wore them in Hawaii and have been wearing them here...summer is almost here! I will warn you in advance that I do not enjoy summers in Japan. It is very humid and very miserable. People often tell me, "but you are from Hawaii". And I say, "Yes, but if it is humid, it usually means that it will rain. And once it rains, it usually cools down."

If you have ever visited Thailand, you will understand what the Japan summers are like. Anyway, more on this later...

Hope you are having a nice week.