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samurai007 (Offline)
JF Old Timer
 
Posts: 890
Join Date: Oct 2007
06-04-2008, 07:41 AM

All of my information is 10 years out of date now, and I don't know Tokyo much at all. But in Osaka, I always enjoyed eating at the various places in the restaurant and shopping area under Namba station. There was an excellent tonkatsu place there.

Other than that, if you can make it 50 minutes south from Osaka on the Nankai-Koya line, to the town of Hashimoto, there are 2 great restaurants just outside the Hashimoto train station. The 2 story triangle-shaped restaurant just across the street had the best kara'age I ever had in Japan, and just down the street was a tiny place that made the most incredible zosui I ever had! They cooked each individual serving fresh in a cast iron pot and brought the entire pot to your table when it was done! You then scoop out a bowl for yourself from the pot... 1 pot was enough for about 2 bowls. They had about 24 different varieties of zosui, but the chicken and rice (kashiwa zosui) was my favorite.

I recommend just trying a variety of different places and foods while you are there. When traveling, I often would just duck into some small family-run restaurant that may not look like much from the outside, but often had surprising good food at very reasonable prices. No need to go to fancy, expensive places, not for the kind of food you (and I) like.

Also, be sure to try Hakata-style ramen (also called tonkotsu ramen, with a white pork-flavored broth) and a real yakiniuku-ya, where you order trays of raw meat and cook it yourself on the grill at your table!


JET Program, 1996-98, Wakayama-ken, Hashimoto-shi

Link to pictures from my time in Japan
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