January 12, 2018
Kobe
FEAST
This place really looked like a diner with its long counter and bar stools; the front of the store had a station for making and selling steamed buns and dumplings.
Diner in Chinatown
Yeah, so I'm not a big fan of steamed pork buns because I usually find the bun is dry and really filling. And unfortunately, that's how I felt about this one. The filling was also kind of bland, the bitter mustard helping only a little bit.
Pork bun:
Next up was an order of ham fried rice served with egg drop soup. Like the pork bun, unfortunately, this dish was bland and rather nondescript. I guess the soup was OK. The rice tasted old and didn't separate nicely when you picked through it.
Ham fried rice w/egg drop soup:
This place batted three for three as the shumai I ordered, and I did so because of the front of the store selling them to walkers by, were on the tasteless side. Hey, I figure I need to hit a joint like this every now and again to keep everything else in perspective.
Shrimp, chicken, pork shumai:
Osaka
January 12, 2018
Once I got back to Osaka, I headed to the popular Namba district in Downtown. The place is full of shopping and restaurants, so I thought I'd check it out. And I ended up in my very first "conveyor belt" sushi joint. There might be an official name for them, but I don't know what it is.
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Three chefs were in the middle of the track prepping and serving the sushi. Even with the items not prepared to order, at just over a dollar per piece for most of the items, it's difficult not to like a place like this for a quick lunch or dinner. Of course, I wonder "how fatty can fatty tuna be when you only charge a dollar per piece?"
Sushi conveyor belt
Various sushi:
Unagi (fresh water eel)
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Broiled fatty salmon
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Lean tuna
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Raw ebi
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Horse mackerel
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Tuna diaphragm
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Fatty marlin
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Fatty tuna
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Steamed rice w/egg & pickled veggies:
Shitake (portabello) mushrooms & liver:
Various skewers:
After the tasty conveyor-belt sushi, I headed back to my hotel for a bit, then took a walk down to the Tenjinbashi Market for dinner at Sumibi Yakitori, or whatever the name of that mom-and-pop joint is from last night. I told them I'd show up last night, and Kiyotaka, the regular customer whom I met said he'd do the same.
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It turned out to be another fun evening, even if Mr. Makoro was sober tonight.
Sumibi Yakitori at Tenjinbashi Market