Discover Osaka, Japan’s most dynamic food city, with these tasty morsels.

Osaka (大阪, Ōsaka) is Japan’s second largest metropolitan area after Tokyo. It has been the economic powerhouse of the Kansai Region for many centuries. Osaka was formerly known as Naniwa. Before the Nara Period, when the capital used to be moved with the reign of each new emperor, Naniwa was once Japan’s capital city, the first one ever known.

1) Indulge

Take a seat at the counter in Shintaro Matsuo’s unassuming, three-star Michelin restaurant Koryu and watch the 40-year old master chef create up to 12 different fine-dining dishes with Osaka specialties. Highlights include grilled hamo (pike-conger), horse mackerel sashimi in sudachi citrus dressing and skipjack tuna paired with an egg yolk marinated in soy. There are recent mixed reviews about this Michelin star restaurant due to the number of foreign tourists, which have resulted in subpar standards. The restaurant only serves foreigners after 9pm.

2) Dip

Osaka’s obsession with food is often summed up with the expression “kuidaore” which is often interpreted to mean “eat till you drop” but actually means to spend so much on food that you fall into financial ruin! Dotonbori is said to be the best place in Osaka to experience this kuidaore style extreme love of food!

Join the kerbside queues for Osaka’s most popular street foods: okonomiyaki (savoury batter pancake) and takoyaki (octopus balls). You will find them in the neon arcades of Dotonburi Canal area. Wanaka in the Senichimae arcade is one of the best for takoyaki, which is served with a thick brown vegetable sauce topped with bonito flakes. Look out too, for an angry-looking chef advertising kushikatsu (meat, seafood and vegetables on skewers, deep-fried in breadcrumbs).

3) Learn

Discover how in 1958, a man named Momofuku Ando invented instant noodles in the Osaka suburb of Ikeda. Ando was so shocked by the poverty of post-war Japan that he decided to create food for the masses that was cheap, safe, simple to cook, long-lasting and tasty. The chickens in his backyard inspired his first flavour – “Chikin ramen”. Kids can customise their own flavour in the My Cup Noodle factory at the back of the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum.

The story of the invention of instant noodles, the growth of this new industry, and the value of intellectual property are displayed graphically and chronologically in this museum.

4) Take a spin

1958 was a doubly great year for Osakan foodies: an innovative restaurant owner in the east of the city unveiled the world’s first conveyor belt sushi bar, named Genrokusushi. You can still watch your nigiri and maki rolls trundle past in the company’s modern branch in Dotonburi.

Each dish, from standerd dishes to seasonable dishes, is 125 yen, 135 yen with tax, which is an affordable price. You can definitely fill your stomach with several plates of sushi here.

5) Stock up

Once home to samurai blacksmiths, the artisans of Osaka’s southern suburb Sakai have since turned their expertise to producing some of Japan’s finest kitchen knives. Purchase your own Sakai cutlery, alongside a plethora of other kitchenware at Doguyasuji covered shopping street close to Namba station.

Final thoughts? 

Still thinking about whether to visit Osaka? It is significantly cheaper than Tokyo. Prices for hotels and restaurants in Osaka tend to be at least 30% cheaper than those in Tokyo, sometimes more. Osaka is not really about specific attractions. Rather, it’s a place that you experience in its entirety. You should just wander almost aimless and plunk down for coffee when you feel like it and let the experience of the city wash over you.