kushikatsu daruma and kinryu ramen

we just spend our morning packing up our baggage since today is the day we're going home. but husband wanted to make last minute shopping, so we headed back to namba where he could go to some electronic store while i tried to find hello kitty macaroni for our daughter. then i joined back with him and we were hungry and it was about lunch time. we strolled around dotonbori trying to find something to eat. every places seemed to be crowded due to lunch hour. so i thought why not try kushikatsu daruma. it was right in front of us that time. i thought we were gonna eat fried food with rice.. but... it turned out different.

so basically kushikatsu was one of osaka's specialty. it was basically fried stuff in skewer. the batter was different.. it was thin but crunchy. plus the dipping sauce. that was make kushikatsu different. so we went to their dotonbori branch, but there were many other branches around osaka. you just had to look for the angry-chef dummy or head that was maybe the mascot of kushikatsu daruma. and you might not need to understand kanji or other letter, just look at front of the text, and usually there's a letter that would look like a skewer (two boxes, one smaller on top and one bigger at the bottom both get crossed in the middle just like a skewer). the dotonbori branch was probably just had one floor, all of the chairs was facing the counter. though they say it was kids friendly, i don't think it was kids friendly, especially little kids. the chairs had no backing and it was really crowded and had narrow alley. even if you're not careful, you might elbow the person sitting next to you. if you're curious about their places, you could see them in their website.

anyway.. there was a host at front, and he told us to wait. apparently the waiting time was not that long. he asked them where we came from and he was delighted to learn that we're from indonesia. and he even knew surabaya! which was a surprise since most people only knew bali if we mentioned indonesia. since he knew we didn't speak japanese, the waiter then handed us the english menu. it offered ala carte, which means you could order individual skewer or you could order the set menu. there were 3 set menu, the tsutenkaku set, dotonbori set and hozenji set. basically they were the same except the number of skewers, which was 9, 12 or 15 skewers per set. and you got to pick one side dish, doteyaki, green beans or kimchi. you could share with other people, but no rice. so imagine our surprise that there wasn't any rice. so we ordered the set, i think we ordered the hozenji set which had 12 skewers.

though the kushikatsu was nice and delicious, the portion was tiny, considering they didn't offer rice or other carbohydrate. and the price was not cheap either for food that can be categorized as snack. the sauce was something between soy sauce and something that has a bit tangy taste to it. you weren't supposed to double dip, so make sure you dip enough for the whole skewer. it was not always meat inside the skewer, they had lotus root, cheese and even mochi inside the fried batter. the place was very busy and hot, we sat just behind the counter, where the staffs were busy cooking and frying skewers. so imagine all the smoke and heat mixed all together with people sitting and eating and talking. i imagine husband was not comfortable at all because he hated crowded places like that. so we ate as fast as we could and headed out.

then obviously it was not enough for husband, so we walked across the street and sat at kinryu ramen. kinryu ramen had several branches around the area as well, all you had to do was looking for the dragon on top of every branches. it was a small open stall, divided into two areas, the cooking area and the eating area. they provided several seating places but not chair, it felt like half-japanese style seating, so you had to fold your legs to eat from the table. not super comfortable if you're not used to seating like that. but they had other stall with chairs, and even standing one (with only one waiter cooking and serving and cleaning). there was a vending machine with english option, so you should order from the vending then handed the ticket to the waiter and then waited. if there were any seat available, they would told you to sit and cook your order.

kinryu ramen

the menu only had two options, less meat or more meat. we both chose the less meat. price wise, if you chose the less meat, it would be your cheapest ramen ever. they offered three side dishes on the counter, but all of them seemed to be kimchi or other kimchi variations, so we didn't get any. the ramen came in big bowl with basic broth soup and several slices of pork, and lots of green onions. the noodles was thin and straight, the skinniest among other ramen that we've tried. if you just looked for a fulfilling meal, then this is a good budget option for you. but if you're looking for the best ramen, then skip this one. it was ordinary ramen, though the pork slices was nice and tender, but the broth was not as rich as any other ramen that we've tried. but you still have to eat fast though.. it would turn gloopy if you're eating fast because of the fat content in the broth. this was our second time eating the ramen, first because we're curious about the one-man-stall, but i don't think we'd come back for more.