Osaka advice

[AsiaCommuter]

Stuck in Osaka with a client for a few weeks.... starting to miss Tokyo trips.

Anyway, my hotel is very convinient for the client office (30 seconds) but the hotel has no bar, no restaurant, and there is only a bottle of water in the mini bar! Breakfast is limited to designer danish cafe in lobby. That said the quality of the hotel and room is good (Brighton hotel Osaka for reference).

I love Asian food and Japenese in particular, any advice for restaurants and bars, any type is food is fine with me? Places that accept Western cards is a big bonus, English speaking is not so essential, pointing at pictures and hand signals often work.

As a side point, any suggestions for what to do for a weekend?

Thanks

[jhm]

I love Asian food and Japenese in particular, any advice for restaurants and bars, any type is food is fine with me? Places that accept Western cards is a big bonus, English speaking is not so essential, pointing at pictures and hand signals often work.

Lucky you! Really! Osaka is known to the Japanese as the "kitchen of Japan". What are you after ?

Sushi is better in Tokyo but Osaka is great for street food - okonomiyaki (Japanese style "pizza"); kushikatsu (battered food on skewers; cheap and with beer); and takoyaki (octoupus balls) are the most famous.

For fine (western) dining, there is (or was at least a year or so ago) a 3-star Michelin restaurant called Hajime (the 100 or so vege salad is interesting); and restaurants in the Westin (I've never tried), the Ritz Carlton; and the Imperial Hotel (e.g. Kamo - great views; steak; make sure you sign up for the IC club to get a discount). There's a St Regis too but at least when it opened, the Italian restaurant was not so good.

For Japanese, try kappo kaiseki (sitting at a counter with the kitchen in front of you) - Kahala is very famous (although an anti-climax for me at least) and Momen is good too (booked out months in advance though):

http://www.chubbyhubby.net/blog/?p=202

I think your hotel is located around Kitahama - the business district. You need to go to places like Namba in the south or Umeda around the station for lots of food options.

As a side point, any suggestions for what to do for a weekend?

Kyoto, Kobe and Nara are enough to keep you occupied for many weekends.

[jhm]

More in this other thread:

http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=114613

[AsiaCommuter]

Thanks JHM for the advice, I am going to venture out later and eat well, street food is a good suggestion and is always good for me after living in Bangkok.

Tomorrow I am going to have a day trip to Kobe. Had a walk around Osaka today but it's too urban for me, plus a tad hot today!

Cheers

[kapitan]

Thanks JHM for the advice, I am going to venture out later and eat well, street food is a good suggestion and is always good for me after living in Bangkok.

Tomorrow I am going to have a day trip to Kobe. Had a walk around Osaka today but it's too urban for me, plus a tad hot today!

Cheers

Why not day trip to Kyoto instead?

[AsiaCommuter]

Kobe or Kyoto, I don't mind to be honest. Someone I am working with here suggested Kobe, you think Kyoto is better for a day trip?

Cheers

[MAN Flyer]

but the hotel has no bar, no restaurant, and there is only a bottle of water in the mini bar!

Serious ?. Maybe a hotel change is in order.

[AsiaCommuter]

Serious ?. Maybe a hotel change is in order.

Yes, seriously, a first for me....

The only facility is the cafe, poor breakfast tray until 10am, then designer coffee and tea.

http://www.brightonhotels.co.jp/kita...fe/index.html/

The issue is the client have a very discounted rate, so I cannot challenge as we have to respect cost (unfortunately), although I am aware I can get a hotel with at least a restaurant and bar for more or less the same cash.

[phaleesy]

There are vending machines for drinks (and lots of other things) on the streets everywhere. (I love the vending machines in Japan!) Little eating places everywhere.

I don't see why it is that essential to have a bar/restaurant in the hotels at all to be honest. I seldom have meals at the hotels (including free 'western-style' breakfasts) and certainly not drinks.

[jhm]

Talking of okonomiyaki and as AsiaCommuter will no doubt visit the Umeda Sky Building for the nice views of the city from the top, I recommend Kiji in the Edo style food court in the basement:

http://tokyobelly.blogspot.com/2011/...iendliest.html

As the blog post says, the owner is very friendly and nice. It's very popular and tiny though so unless you get there bang on opening time, you'll have to wait (1.5 hours in the case of the blog poster!).

[AsiaCommuter]

There are vending machines for drinks (and lots of other things) on the streets everywhere. (I love the vending machines in Japan!) Little eating places everywhere.

I don't see why it is that essential to have a bar/restaurant in the hotels at all to be honest. I seldom have meals at the hotels (including free 'western-style' breakfasts) and certainly not drinks.

I agree, local food non-hotel is always the first choice... but, having the choice to have a salad or something simple when you get back at 10pm tired is equally important in a hotel. I often have to catch up on work so have a quiet drink in the bar with my laptop.

That said I have a great restaurant lined up tonight!

[CarbonMan]

Ramen Shop

If you don't mind skipping fine dining and is interested in local ramen, I would recommend this wonderful ramen shop found at this coordinates: 34.711341,135.499714. Go to google maps and drop those coordinates in and use StreetView to take a look.

It opens at 11 and closes at 4. When I was there, it had a perpetual queue, as there are no more than 15 seats in the restaurant. It's all in Japanese unfortunately and utilises the traditional vending machine to choose your dish - the waitress will politely guide you along. Go for the 1100yen option and ask for additional char siew - just don't tell your cardio.

The chef does everything from scratch, from the kneading of the noodles to the roasting of the char siew!

Highly recommended! I went there twice over a period of 3 days - even standing in the cold rain for 30mins to queue.

[cplh]

If you don't mind skipping fine dining and is interested in local ramen, I would recommend this wonderful ramen shop found at this coordinates: 34.711341,135.499714. Go to google maps and drop those coordinates in and use StreetView to take a look.

It opens at 11 and closes at 4. When I was there, it had a perpetual queue, as there are no more than 15 seats in the restaurant. It's all in Japanese unfortunately and utilises the traditional vending machine to choose your dish - the waitress will politely guide you along. Go for the 1100yen option and ask for additional char siew - just don't tell your cardio.

The chef does everything from scratch, from the kneading of the noodles to the roasting of the char siew!

Highly recommended! I went there twice over a period of 3 days - even standing in the cold rain for 30mins to queue.

another ramen place to try is Chuka Soba Hanakyo which is located in the shopping arcade east of the Kyobashi station. The owner used to be an ordinary company worker, but has now accomplished the dream of escaping corporate life that we can only dream about.
Hours: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, 5:00 pm to 1:00 am