Asia Trip Day 8: Osaka for Kobe Beef (12/26/17)

Sleeping on the Shinkansen

The next morning we headed over the station to take the Yamanote line back to Shinjuku station to catch the Shinkansen to Osaka. On the first day, we made seat reservations at the JR office. The Hikari Shinkansen has reserved and non-reserved seats, and obviously it would be the safest to get a reservation. We selected a non-peak time (around 8:30 am), so there weren’t any large crowds. The ride from Tokyo to Osaka was about 1.5 hours. Xuezhu picked up lunch bento boxes from within the station.

Some toilets in Osaka. The faucet would run after flushing

We arrived at Shin-Osaka station, and transferred to the Midosuji line to arrive at Namba station. All of the points of interest for Osaka were within walking distance of each other. We dropped our luggage at our hotel, which was a typical hostel (HostelQ). 

I was feeling pretty fatigued because of the long day yesterday and the fact that I didn’t get too much sleep the night before. Near the hostel, we stumbled upon a cat cafe. It was inside a building complex that resembled an apartment. Strangely, leading to and inside the cat cafe were many Indian posters of Bollywood stars and Hindu gods. I thought this might mean the cat cafe was operated by Indians, but the girl there was Japanese. 

The rate was about 10,000 yen per person for 1 hour. The room was open and filled with cat furniture and about 13 cats. Despite the high number of cats, the room didn’t smell and looked very clean. Drinks were included with the visit, and we both got a chai tea. It was exciting to be see so many cats at once, however many of them were sleeping. There was one Russian blue that was very affectionate and eagerly jumped in my lap. The atmosphere of the cat cafe was very cozy with the ambient music and homelike decoration, not resembling an actual cafe at all. 

Fat Offers

While it was nice seeing all the cats, it was not the same intimacy as a familiar house cat. Cats themselves are not too engaging, unless they are really young or feeling active. By having a cat perpetually around the house, they do become a part of the home. The house would feel empty in their absence, even though they would just be laying around lounging. 

I verbally gestured to ask a Japanese man to take our picture
Many people were posing like the sign in the back, which is probably some famous brand

After getting our fill of cats, we left and headed to the Dotonbori shopping area, which is another popular tourist destination. Osaka is generally more old-fashioned than Tokyo, with one example being the large, physical advertisements of crabs, octopus, or sushi, rather than the modern LCD screens. 

In Dotonbori we ate takoyaki (octopus balls), which is an iconic dish in Osaka. I don’t recall seeing any street vendors serving them in Tokyo, so I suppose it’s a more regional dish. It was served piping hot with a lot of bonito flakes, takoyaki sauce, and Japanese mayonnaise, which made it very soft and quite rich. Xuezhu then got a melon bread with matcha ice cream. The melon bread was slightly sweet and fluffy, and served warm. The bread didn't have any melon flavor, but it was in the shape of it. The whole dessert was well-balanced, since matcha flavor is a little bitter.

$135 USD for a single melon (there were cheaper ones around $10)

Prices were slashed because it was later in the day

Dotonbori had many street vendors and shops, and was also a short walk to the Kuromon fish market. They had a similar selection of seafood as Tsukiji. We stopped to have some sushi have lunch. Considering the quality and freshness of the sushi, the prices were great. What we enjoyed the most was how large the portion of tuna is compared to the rice. I think this can only be done when the fish is so fresh and tender, rather than a defrosted fish that has different taste and texture. 

After this market, After this we visited the Sennichimae shopping area, which has many electronics stores and arcades. Xuezhu and I decided to briefly separate so that we could browse for cameras and so I could check out the arcade. We decided on a time and place to meet (however we didn’t really go too far), and the backup was that the arcade did provide WiFi. I went to the Taito Game Station, which was 5 floors of arcades. The first three floors were claw machines and the other two floors were games. There were many complex Japanese games that I couldn't understand, so I didn't bother trying to play them. I did find a Ultra Street Fighter IV cabinet, which is a game I was familiar with. I know "why come all the way to Japan to play a game that you could play anywhere", but I wanted to get my money's worth since each credit is 100 yen. I won 5 matches with Sagat (I picked him accidentally), and lost to M. Bison. 

The wrong steakhouse

We met up at around 4:45 pm to make our 5 pm reservation at a kobe beef restaurant. There was a bit of an issue though; months ago I made a reservation at a restaurant called “Steakhouse Ju Ju”, however in the itinerary I put in the location of another kobe beef restaurant called “Jyu Jyu Steakhouse”.  So when we arrived, there was some confusion with the host. He was very nice, however he only spoke Japanese. Thankfully, Xuezhu had a translation app so transfer information between us. 

The right steakhouse

Initially, he told us that they were already booked. But I told him that I made reservations months ago. He went to check, but couldn’t find my name. I connected to Xuezhu’s WiFi hotspot so that I could show him the confirmation email of the reservation. Once he saw the email, he realized the mistake we made by coming to the wrong restaurants. He was kind enough to call the correct restaurant explaining our mistake, and the other restaurant said it was no problem. We were both very grateful to the host and gave a sincere “arigatou gozaimasu”. The actual restaurant was only a 10 minute walk from the previous, which made it easy to switch them up due to proximity and similarity between names. Once we arrived, it did look much more similar to pictures online, and I recognized the elder chef from the images. 

The setting was similar to Sushi Dai, where we were seated bar-style to observe the chef cooking on the griddle. There was only one other couple eating when we arrived, and just one more couple arrived in the middle of our meal. We probably didn’t need to have a reservation for our timing, however it is always nice to be safe considering they only had about 12 seats. The waitress there was a middle-aged Japanese women and she was very nice.

Salad with sides of a mayonnaise dressing and a citrus dressing 

Grilled lotus roots, brussel sprouts, mushroom, and a type of beef organ 

Kobe liver

Sea snail

Similar to Sushi Dai, each course was grilled in front of us and served directly. The chef observed our eating pace and have our next course prepared only when we were ready for it. Because we took our time enjoying the experience, the whole meal lasted about 1.5 hours. We both ordered the “Casual Course”, which consisted of a salad, grilled vegetables (mushroom, lotus, brussel sprout), kobe liver, sea snail (?), 100g of special selection A5 Kuroge Wagyu filet or sirloin, garlic rice or bread, and finally a mango sorbet with fresh fruit (strawberry, melon, pear).

It was all tasty, but obviously the kobe beef was the main attraction. We asked for it cooked medium-rare, and it simply was seasoned with salt and pepper. There was an additional seasoning tray with salt and pepper, ponzu, and garlic soy sauce. Each steak was cut into bite-sized cubes during cooking, and served with fried garlic chips. 

I chose to eat most of the cubes with no additional seasoning except a garlic chip, in order to appreciate the flavor of the beef. Due to the high fat content, the beef cube was very juicy and tender. The fat was dispersed evenly throughout the meat, so it never felt dry as it was chewed. The simple salt, pepper, and garlic was the perfect complement to the beef flavor, which was naturally beefy and delicious. The high fat content made each bite very rich, so we spaced them out with palate cleansers and drinks so we could savor each morsel. 

Towards the end of the kobe beef, she warmed the bread and fried the garlic fried rice. I think she used some of the fat rendered from the previously cooked kobe beef. We were both feeling pretty full at that point especially because of the richness of the fatty beef. We each ate 100g of the kobe beef, which I initially didn’t think would be satisfying enough. In US, a standard steak dinner would be about 16oz (~453g). But with all of the additional courses, as well as the extremely high fat content of the beef, I was very full and satisfied.

The dessert was very nice too, although the mango sorbet wasn’t actually the star of the dish. Along with trying out the kobe beef, we were able to get a taste of the super high-quality Japanese fruit. The strawberry, melon, and pear were at peak sweetness and tenderness; a far cry from the hard, flavorless fruit coated in corn syrup found in cheap buffets. I think perfectly ripe fruit can never taste too sweet like candy does, perhaps because of the balance of water and texture. 

The WiFi password... in case you happen to be in the area

After our fantastic meal, I was too exhausted and had to retire back to the hostel around 8pm. Xuezhu had more energy and went back to the shopping areas for a few more hours. 

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