loaf (dinner)

Saturday night we went to check out the Loaf's dinner menu.

There were some customers but not totally busy.

Dinner started off with their antipasto which comes with some salad.

I liked the carrot salad with a hint of orange in it.

And the frittata was served warm.

Between this and our main dishes there was such a long wait...

My main dish was grilled chicken with BBQ sauce.

I really liked how tender the chicken was and the roasted veggies served along side was good.

Satoshi had their steak which he said was very tender.

Despite the wait for our main dishes it was a nice meal.

Total with drinks was about 5600 yen (tax included)

I think the next time we come for dinner, we'll order different pupus...we'll be back.

shigezushi

The day after the typhoon passed, it was a holiday...since we had been cooped up indoors, we went to the movies and saw a movie that Satoshi was interested in seeing called "Sekigahara"....blood, guts, samurai...

Dessert was at the Babbi kiosk inside Hankyu Department Store...marron glacé & chocolat gelato...bummer that the marron glacé flavor was overpowered by the chocolat...

Dinner was at a sushi shop that Satoshi has been to with some of his baseball alumni...Shigezushi

The owner is such a cute and talkative man...

Some of the items we had we ikura soaked in some shoyu and other seasonings...

Tai (seabream) sashimi.


And hamo (pike eel)...so fluffy! with the way it was poached. (click on the photo to see the steam rising off of the hamo)

There was also some delicious katsuo (bonito), tender tako (octopus) and some other items, but we were having such a nice time talking story with the owner that I ended up not taking many photos.

Definitely a different experience than the conveyor belt type of sushi places, but I am glad we ate here.

We'll be back.

Shigezushi
2-6-28 Hotarugaike Higashimachi
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6845.2220

then & now

Twelve years ago (pre-blog), we checked out the area where the first Japan high school baseball tournament was held in Toyonaka, Osaka back in 1915.

Nowadays, the games are held at Koshien stadium during Spring & Summer.

Recently the area was refurbished.

I am bummed that they chopped down the tree that was there...why does Japan always kill the trees whenever they rebuild stuff?!

Love the baseball themed items around the park, like the places to sit.

The light fixtures.

The barriers around the park.

Across from the park, is a memorial area with plaques of all the winners from the games (only the summer games though).

This year the 99th tournament will be held.

It was nice to reconnect with this park.

Japan High School Baseball Tournament Memorial Park
3-3-1 Tamai-cho
Toyonaka, Osaka
About 7 minutes walking distance from Hankyu Toyonaka Station

the loaf cafe & bakery

Earlier in February a new cafe/bakery opened up...The Loaf Cafe & Bakery.

When I walked past on opening day, the line was krazy, so a week later, I went past again and there wasn't any line, so I picked up some breads for us to have for dinner with some wine.

Gorgonzola with honey & a bacon epi.

Then last week, I met up with Hiromi for lunch there.

Luckily she had made reservations...boy, was the line long to get in for lunch!

I ordered the pot-au-feu..which came with a huge salad and all-you-can-eat bread.

The portions are so huge though that we didn't get any refills on bread.

This past Saturday, Satoshi and I went for breakfast.

You can choose from their baked items and order coffee.

Loved the pain au chocolat croissant (chocolate in every bite!) and tuna danish.

Since we ate there for breakfast and most items had just come out of the oven, so everything was still warm!

I know we'll be back and hope this place will be able to make a go of things (the past establishments weren't too lucky)

The Loaf Cafe & Bakery
2-4-23 Seifuso
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6842.2217
Open everyday
Hours: Bakery 8:00-20:00, Cafe 11:00-23:00

wednesday

Wednesday, I went to Shonai to check out a park that I've seen from the train many times.

If I'm not mistaken, it used to be the property of Panasonic.

Every time we pass by on the train, there is no one in the park.

Even with the cherry blossoms, no one.

Well, I figured out why no one is there, they have so many "no" rules at their entrance.

"no eating, no drinking, no playing ball"...

No wonder no one is there.

Luckily, when I visited there were people sitting here and there on the benches that they have there.

Too bad they don't allow eating, it would've been nice to picnic under the trees.

I shot a short video of the area here.

After checking out the park, I walked to SidMid, a soup curry shop for lunch.

I ordered the kakuni (braised pork) curry...950 yen (plus tax).

This came with some saffron rice and a drink of your choice.

Since the weather was quite warm, I chose their iced chai.

The pork could have been cooked a little longer, the bottom part of the piece was quite tough, while the upper part was tender.

When you order you can choose your spice level (1-10), the first four are at no charge, five & six are an additional 100 yen, seven & eight are an additional 200 yen and nine & ten are an additional 300 yen.

There was another customer there when I went and I think he must've ordered a really high level of spice because I could hear him coughing a lot.

Me, I ordered my curry at level 2.

The portion was quite filling, lots of vegetables and soup.

Towards the end of my bowl, I noticed that there was something gritty in their soup.

I would go back when I'm in the area but try something else on their menu.

SidMid
1-5-8 Shonai Higashi-machi
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.7161.5879
Hours: 11:00-20:00 (or until they run out of soup)
check their facebook page for days off (Japanese only)

tartan nady

Yesterday, I met up with Fiona and her husband WR for lunch at Tartan Nady.

They are moving back to Singapore soon, and with their busy schedule, I was happy they made some time to meet up.

We all ordered the sapna lunch...salad, tandoori chicken, our choice of curry (we all chose mutton spinach), naan and a beverage.

The naan was on the sweet side but everything else was tasty!

I hope Fiona and WR have a safe trip back and that we'll re-connect in Singapore or in Japan again.

Take care you two!

mori no ohagi

I've been wanting to try Mori no Ohagi for some time now but their hours were kind of inconvenient for me.

So, I was happy to find them being sold at Hankyu Department store in Umeda.

Ohagi is rice that is covered with sweet bean paste. If you are interested in more details, I've written about this before here.

Anyway, these ohagi were tiny. 6 for 900-something yen...a bit pricey.

But, they had unique flavors.

The top row was walnut, edamame (soy bean), kinako (soy bean powder). Bottom row was hoji-cha (roasted green tea), roasted corn and sweet bean paste.

Roasted corn was interesting, but totally matched because the corn is naturally sweet.

I wouldn't mind trying their other flavors. And I notice their hours have been changed to more convenient times...I'll be back.

Mori no Ohagi
2-25-10 Naka-sakurazuka
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6845.1250
Hours: 10:00-13:00, 14:00-19:00 (or until they sell out)
Closed Sundays & Mondays

hounan ichiba

I told you a little about the Hounan Ichiba (hounan market) in yesterday's post.

This place is rather large and many eateries buy their ingredients from here.

There are many vendors selling different things. I thought their prices were quite reasonable.

In Japan, most vendors specialize in particular items, for example you buy fish from the fishmonger, meat from the butcher, etc.

Unlike the U.S., where most items are sold at supermarkets these days.

I picked up this bag of chirimen (whitebait)...200 grams for 475 yen. I divvied them up into 10 grams each and froze most of it.

Scored "bambucha" (huge) brussels sprouts...not sure how heavy these were but they were only 400 yen.

Which I used some in a Kimu-Taku stir-fry...we had this with lots of rice.

Huge San-Fuji apples, these are about 200 yen each, I think the markets sell each for more.

I also found super cheap goya (bittermelon)...2 for 150 yen.

I used 1 for goya tsukudani and the other one for goya champuru.

By the way, our weather is still funky, Thursday it rained.all.day.long.

And then yesterday there was hail and flurries!

Not to mention there was also a huge earthquake 5 or 6 level near Shikoku which Satoshi and I didn't even feel (we were in deep sleep), though it rocked pretty much all of Kansai and Kyushu...

At the rate we are going Spring is gonna whiz by and then we'll be left with super-humid-hot-blah Summer until October...sigh.

Hope the weather is warmer and nicer where you are.

Hounan Ichiba
right outside of Hankyu Shonai station
Toyonaka, Osaka
Open everyday except Sundays & Holidays
Hours: 9:00-18:00

ginza shokudo

Sometimes I find places to eat while riding the train.

This was how I found out about Ginza Shokudo.

I was on the local train and we were stopped at Shonai, it was then that I notice a tantalizing photo of a plate of food.

I looked up their info on Tabelog (Japan's Yelp) and noted it.

Yesterday, the weather was quite nice, and Satoshi had the day off, so we headed down to Shonai for lunch.

We got there a little after 11:30 and they were already quite full. Luckily, a lady was nice enough to let us sit with her.

I ordered their Daily...780 yen. And Satoshi ordered their Ginza Lunch...880 yen.

Both of our lunches started off with this...consomme soup with lots of root veggies in it, and a piece of tofu topped with pickles.

Here's Satoshi's lunch...a hamburger topped with their tomato sauce and fried shrimp (his fave). It also came with some potato salad, green salad and rice.

My lunch...grilled lemon herb chicken, asari (manila clam) milk soup, salad, napolitan (spaghetti sauteed in ketchup) and garlic cabbage.

Everything was delicious, the asari milk soup reminded me of corn chowder.

I don't think they should've given me the consomme at the beginning of lunch, I was quite full with all those soups! and gave most of my rice to Satoshi.

Lunch ended with a teeny jar of orange gelatine.

This was really refreshing and actually just the right size. Made with orange juice and orange pieces.

Apparently they source their ingredients from the Hounan market next door. We walked around this market after lunch and there were lots of reasonably priced foods and ingredients there.

I wouldn't mind coming back to try other items on their menu...we'll be back.

Ginza Shokudo (UPDATE:as of 10/2015, this shop is no longer in business)
1-9-17 Shonai Higashi
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.4866.6741
Lunch: 11:30-15:00, Dinner: 18:00-22:00
Closed Sundays & Holidays

p.s. it's Friday, hope you have a great weekend!

tartan nady

The other day, while it was flurry-ing, I took a rather long walk to Toyonaka and had lunch at Tartan Nady.

It had been over 10 years since I had eaten here (pre-blog). I had actually forgotten where the shop was actually located, but I was glad to re-connect with it.

I ordered their Tartan Nady lunch...1029 yen.

This lunch set came with 2 curries (mixed vegetable and chicken curry), a salad, a drumette and naan.

The salad and drumette were shoyu based.

The mixed vegetable curry was tomato based and wasn't spicy at all, I enjoyed all the different veggies like okra, cauliflower and zucchini.

I liked the spiciness of the chicken curry and the big chunks of chicken that were in there.

The naan was crisp on the side that stuck to the oven and fluffy on the side that puffs up when baking....mmm!

I'm glad this restaurant is still around and I hope to be back again for lunch soon!

Tartan Nady
3-11-45 Mukaigaoka, Rosa Mukaigaoka 1F
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6852.0950
Open everyday: lunch 11:30-15:00, dinner: 18:00-23:00

apsara cafe

After a weekend of junky weather (snow, rain & clouds), Monday was sunny, so I went walking.

I took the long way to Toyonaka and had lunch at Apsara Cafe.

Their lunch menu is made from local veggies.

I ordered their tomato curry...950 yen.

I think the pumpkin slices were slightly fried in coconut oil, you could taste a little coconut when you ate them.

Coconut oil is slowly becoming popular over here...

You can also choose between brown rice or 8-grain rice. I chose their 8-grain rice.

There was also a salad, some kinpira and a veggie stir-fry.

I really like their chopstick rests too, cute!

I'll be back.

Apsara Cafe (UPDATE:2018 no longer in business at this location)
6-1-3 Honmachi, 195 Street Building 1F
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6854.5188
Lunch: 11:00-16:00
Dinner: 16:00-21:00
Closed Wednesdays

playing tourist (day 2)

Monday, I met D and his friend at the Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda.

It had been about 10 years since I last went and they renovated the place since then.

The museum is dedicated to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen. His family home is located right across the museum.

Someone tell these kids that they weren't standing near the Statue of Liberty...that's what the smaller of the two was saying, "it's the Statue of Liberty"...

Most of their exhibits are in Japanese, so it may be hard to understand, but you can see how instant ramen has grown. These days, Nissin not only makes instant ramen but instant pasta, udon & soba too.

The highlight of this place is definitely making your own cup noodle.

For 300 yen, you get a cup to decorate. Choose your soup flavor and 4 toppings.

I chose the regular cup noodle soup, kim chee, cheese, roast chicken and the chicky naruto (like kamaboko (fish cake))

It was cool to see the diversity of visitors to this museum. From pre-schoolers to senior citizens. There were also a lot of foreigners.

This group was making LOTS of Christmas presents...

There is also an area where you can taste different instant foods made by Nissin.

D's friend insisted that we needed to eat ramen for lunch, so we went to Senri Chuo to his favorite ramen shop, Hokkaiya.

The ramen is a tonkotsu soup with other flavors added. I ordered the shoyu kim chee ramen. The kim chee was actually buta kim chee (pork with kim chee).

Delicious!

Then D's friend took us to the Banpaku Koen, the site of the World Expo in 1970.

The theme of this expo was the future so there were many futuristic displays and pavillions back then.

One pavillion is still around and this is where they exhibited some memorabilia from the expo.

The size of the park is 264 hectares (652 acres)...huge!

There is a small admission into the park, 250 yen. And an admission to see the memorabilia...400 yen. But it is a great place to hang with nature.

I ate my cup noodle the other day for lunch...so good!

D is off to other parts of Japan before he returns to Hawaii, I hope he enjoyed his time in Osaka. We enjoyed spending time with him and his friends.

Instant Ramen Museum
8-25 Masumi-cho
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.752.3484
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 9:30-16:00
Admission: free

Hokkaiya
1-3 Shinsenri Higashimachi, Senchu Pal 3F
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6832.2662
Closed Wednesdays
M-F Hours 11:00-16:00, 17:00-21:00
S, Su, Holidays Hours: 11:00-21:00

new friend

I recently met up with a new friend, Fiona.

She recently moved here from Singapore with her husband, who is studying at a local university.

We met up for lunch and tried a Korean restaurant that she wanted to try, Chingu.

I ordered the kimbap (Korean sushi), while she had the Bulgogi Chapchae.

Our meals came with some bancha (side dishes): omlette, kinpira gobo & kim chee. It also came with seaweed soup.

The owner also gave us some salad to share. The salad had slices of asian pear in it which gave it a little sweetness to it. There was also a little kick from it too, I think there may have been some kim chee sauce in the dressing.

The kimbap was delicious and really pretty looking.

After a pretty leisurely lunch, we went to have coffee at Sant'Andrea Cafe. I ordered the cafe mocha, but this one came with more whipped cream than coffee...

Then it was time to go, Fiona was kind enough to share with me some bak kwa from Singapore.

It is like jerky, but sweet. After tasting it, it reminded me of lup cheong.

Thank you Fiona for such a fun day, I hope we can meet up again soon!

Chingu
Labi Senri 4F
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6872.5837
Lunch: 11:00-15:00, Dinner 17:00-22:00

Sant'Andrea Cafe
Senchu Pal
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6872.7775
M-F: 7:30-19:30, S: 8:00-19:30, SU: 9:30-19:30

flat cafe

It had been 8 years since we checked out Flat (pronounced eh-flat) Cafe (pre-blog).

Since then, they moved the cafe from their spot a couple of streets down and brought it right above their bakery.

Pre-blog, they only made 80 rolled cakes a day. Not sure if that is how many they make these days.

The cafe traffic was really light, just my friend Hiromi, me and a separate group of women.

For lunch I ordered their dry curry which came with a carrot salad and drink of choice (I chose iced coffee)...1400 yen

The curry was way too salty for my liking, but the carrot salad was dressed with a nice citrus dressing, very refreshing.

Dessert was a slice of their rolled cake...420 yen.

The picture doesn't do it justice. It is 1/3 of the roll!

Light, airy, the texture was like chiffon cake and not too sweet, filled with fresh whipped cream. I was happy that they hadn't lost their touch.

Don't think I would go back for lunch, but would happily go back for tea time!

Flat Cafe
3-18-8 Uenohigashi
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6857.1266
Closed Wednesdays
Hours: 10:00-18:00

foodie kind of weekend

Saturday, the sun was out but the temperatures were way down.

Since Satoshi had to work, I went for a walk.

There was a Mini that I spotted from the train and wanted to check out in person.

You should know that riding the train in our area gives pretty much a bird's eye view of things. Most of the time you get views that you would not see while walking.

This Mini was the first left-sided steering that I've seen here. It also had a nice gas flap.

On the way home, I stopped by Suigetsu Park and caught this group of grandpas chatting and having fun.

I then stopped into Family Mart and came across Muji's Banana Baum Kuchen drizzled with dark chocolate. after seeing Manju's post, this was the perfect snack.

Sunday, Satoshi had the day off and we decided to visit several temples for hatsumode (first prayers of the year).

In Sone, we stopped at Hagi-no-dera, which is known for their god of promotions & success.

Then we walked to Hattori, about 15 minutes.

On the way to Hattori, I told Satoshi that I wanted to stop to photograph another Mini that I always see from the train in a parking lot.

Unfortunately, the parking lot is manned, so I couldn't actually go into the lot to get pictures.

Instead, I stood outside the lot and took photos from under the fence.

I think these were the first photos I got of a MINI that were up close.

At Hattori Tenmangu, we prayed to the foot gods and thanked them for keeping our feet in good shape.

Then we walked from Hattori to Shonai, about 25 minutes.

Satoshi was feeling hungry so we picked up a curry croquette (80 yen about US$.80) & a wagyu (Japanese beef) (70 yen about US$.70) croquette from Niku Fuji.

These were right out of the fryer, hot and delicious, not to mention reasonably priced.

After our snack, we walked around Shonai a little more.

There is a music university and Satoshi wanted to see it.

I was impressed because they even have an opera house.

Lunch was at a tiny shop called Boss. Their specialty is curry.

On a cold day like Sunday was, hot spicy curry really hit the spot.

Satoshi couldn't decide and finally ordered the fried shrimp with curry set (950 yen about US$9.50), this came with a salad, fried shrimp and curry with rice.

Whenever you eat curry in Japan, it seems that most do not have "stuff" in it, just sauce.

This curry had bits of beef but not a lot more, t is quite spicy and you can ask them for a milder version if you like.

I chose the gyusuji nikomi (simmered beef gristle/nerf) curry set (800 yen about US$8), this came with a salad, a huge serving of curry with gyusuji pieces and a tiny lassi (yogurt drink).

Satoshi wants to go back on a weekday to try some of the other items on their menu.

The weekend flew by but there was lots of walking and eating.

Boss
2-1-23 Shonai-higashimachi
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6332.9550
Open 11:30-21:30, Days off not set, call before going