What to eat in Osaka: the dishes the city is known for

Osaka has a word for its attitude to eating: kuidaore, to eat to your heart's content. Osaka's tourism bureau traces it to a bottom-up food culture, built by people who cooked for their families and for guests.¹ That attitude explains why a first list of foods in Osaka is long, and why locals argue about which stall does it best. The arguments are part of the pleasure, and they start the moment you ask someone for a recommendation.

History fed the habit. During the Edo period ingredients from all over the country were gathered in Osaka, which earned the city the nickname the kitchen of the world.⁵ Merchants used restaurants for business negotiations, and chefs honed their skills as a result, so cuisine grew more refined.⁶ The two sides, rough street snacks and careful restaurant cooking, still sit a few minutes apart.

Under almost everything is dashi. Osaka's version is made from kelp from Hokkaido and bonito flakes from Tosa, and the anchovies of Osaka Bay and the Seto Inland Sea made cheap dried sardines available as well.⁷ You taste that stock in the udon, in the batter of the flour dishes and in many sauces. Learn to notice it and the whole menu starts to make sense.

Kushikatsu is meat and vegetables on skewers, coated in a batter of flour and water and breadcrumbs, then deep-fried, and it is famous for its no double dipping rule.³ At a counter you may not dip a bitten skewer into the shared sauce again, but you can eat as much cabbage as you like, and the skewers include beef, shrimp, asparagus, eggs and cheese.³¹ The bureau says Shinsekai is where to look, with Janjan Yokocho known as the town of kushikatsu.¹²

Udon is Osaka's gentle answer to the fried food. The appeal of Osaka udon lies in the harmony of soft noodles and a gentle dashi made from kelp and bonito flakes.²⁹ Kitsune, the sweet and spicy stewed fried tofu on top, was born in Senba, Osaka during the Meiji period, and the bureau says Osaka's kitsune udon stands out because of its carefully chosen dashi.^23,24

Osaka famous food also includes a wider variety of curry than other regions, according to the bureau, and yakiniku is starting to be recognized as a new staple dish among foreign tourists.^32,33 If you have only one day, do not try to eat all of it. Pick one fried thing, one flour thing and one bowl, and leave room for a second visit.

Japan's tourism board points to a few easy ways to eat well on a budget. Convenience stores stock kara-age, onigiri, bento boxes and snacks, and most are open 24 hours.⁸ At stand-up noodle shops you may need to buy a meal ticket from a vending machine first.⁹ Menus are often illustrated with photographs, and touch-panel ordering in many places makes choosing easier.³⁷

After dark the options widen. Izakaya serve a huge variety of dishes, typically tapas-style in small portions to go with drinks.³⁴ Osaka's tourism bureau says Ura-Namba has been a bar-hopping spot since around 2010 and is known for standing bars once reserved for older men and now popular with young people and women alike.^38,13 Hozenji Yokocho, a lane about 100 meters long, is lined with kappo, yakitori, oden and sushi restaurants and bars.³⁹

These are the places to eat when you have already had the famous dishes and want to spend an evening instead of a snack. A guided walk is one route into them, and ours spends 3 hours among the eateries of Shinsekai with 18 foods and 3 drinks. A solo evening works too if you are patient with menus and a translation app.