hawaiian pancake factory

we just finished our lunch and we wanted to stroll around the area since we haven't been there. and luckily for husband, there was yodobashi right after we exited the mall. unfortunately it was raining, so i couldn't go to umeda sky building let alone riding the ferris wheel.. oh well... hopefully we could go back again. so walked for awhile, and then we were tired but we didn't want to go back to the hotel just yet, so we searched for a cafe or someplace that sells light snacks or even dessert. then we found this pancake factory, thinking it would sell some dessert.

strawberry boba 

it was a small place in the mall, and it was decorated like hawaii to match the name, hawaiian pancake factory. all the staff wore hawaiian-themed uniform. they had this big banner at front to inform people about their new product, which was the boba drink. when we got to our tables, there was this card to inform people to avoid plastic straw. there was another small table at the back with two big jar of infused water and several glasses. we didn't know whether we could get the water for free or not since we didn't ask.

chocolate banana boba

unfortunately, most of the pancake or waffles option use whipping cream and none that comes with ice cream. several menu even a lunch menu, so it had meat like chicken and stuff. most of the menu had fruits like banana and strawberry, and lots of whipping cream. even their boba drink menu only had two option, one was chocolate and the other one was strawberry. the strawberry had strawberry bits and whipping cream aside from boba. the chocolate one had banana and choco chips and several chopped nut and lots of whipping cream. the boba was okay, but it was tiny and not chewy like the one we had at home. totally different kind of boba. and i didn't like that they use a lot of whipping cream. and to our surprise, though they put warning about not using plastic straw, they use plastic straw themselves! i thought they would use steel straw or glass straw when they put a warning like that. oh well...

it seemed like a decent place. i've seen several japanese people dining here, and almost all of them order the pancake or waffle, and it was only us who ordered the boba drink. but i don't think i would go back there mainly because it wasn't my taste. price wise, for a boba drink, it was too expensive. but all the pancakes price were quite decent, considering the size. anyway, if you like whipping cream on top of your pancake, then make sure to drop by while you were in yodobashi umeda. you can check their website here.

kuromon ichiba market

i've been to tsukiji market and nishiki market, so i figured why not go to kuromon ichiba market too? after all, we weren't able to go there the last time and we didn't have anything in our plan for the morning. we had dinner appointment that night, but nothing in the morning. so... to the market it is. husband also didn't want to eat a lot in the morning because he wanted to have his stomach enough for dinner. so i guess a little snack here and there would be perfect.

there were many entrances and this is just one of them

giant seafood dummy

and another one

so.. if tsukiji was a whole market without any shops and nishiki was a street long of food and another street long of shops, kuromon was something in between. though mostly it had food stalls, but there were some shops too. at tsukiji, there was some eating space. at nishiki, there was no dedicated eating space. but at kuromon, they provided the market maps, the market booklet (you could find out which stall sells which stuff) and even visitor space where you could sit and dine and go to toilet. and it was easier to find your way since they put big seafood dummy as marker. you just need to look up and find out which one you see, crab or lobster or something else.

the market map. see how big it is? all the colored dots were stalls

look how big those lobsters!

we decided to walk along the long street from the beginning to the end before deciding which one to try. if you wanted to get some ideas about what to eat, you can watch paolo's videos (just search paolo from tokyo in youtube). usually, his choice was appealing, but i didn't want to eat the whole shisamo fish, and i've tried korokke before so i didn't want to eat the same thing. so we ended up buying another grilled oyster. the one at kuromon was bigger than the one from nishiki, but i think the nishiki was juicier, but just a tiny bit. but it's more fulfilling eating once from kuromon, so price wise, it was cheaper buying just one for the two of us. then i saw the same stall sold scallops and octopus with quail. while we ordered them both, so while we waited the oyster to be heated, i bought the octopus. for the same price, i only got one in nishiki, but i got two in kuromon. but, visually, i could see that the one from kuromon was less red, and it affected the taste. it was less sweet than the one from nishiki.

fuqu fish

random flower stalls and it was fragrant!

we didn't get to buy oyster from nishiki, so we bought one from kuromon. we got three in a plate. i only had oyster in melbourne, so compared the one from melbourne it tasted similar. but i've tried the grilled butter one from tsukiji, and i think i like that one better. i found some stalls that sold fuqu aka blowfish, but husband told me not to eat that. he was afraid that we might get the poisonous one. then i bought some sushi. since husband didn't eat raw sushi (and unfortunately most sushi place in japan sold raw sushi), i didn't get the chance to eat any sushi yet.. so i decided to just bought the ordinary salmon nigiri one. the price was quite expensive, but even here sushi was expensive as well. and the last one i bought was cremia ice cream.

grilled scallops

oyster

i've seen cremia ice cream from anakjajan instagram. at first i thought what's the difference? ice cream would be ice cream. i've bought ordinary ice cream on the street and it tasted just okay. but out of curiosity plus it had chocolate option, so i bought it. and turned out it was different. the ice cream might taste similar, if not slightly creamier, but the cone was the one that make it different. it was crunchy but there was soft taste to it. not super crunchy like cracker, but like cookies. it was really nice. i never ate ice cream cone before since most cones were dry like crackers, but this one was different. i could finish one myself. totally worth to try.

octopus with quail egg

salmon sushi

okay.. compared from all three markets, tsukiji was the biggest but also most confusing. some of it was very wet and smelly since they sold seafood. not all stalls provide eating space too. while nishiki and kuromon were considerably slightly smaller and easier to walk around. nishiki was completely straight so it was easy to stroll around, and it was the cleanest among all. kuromon was somewhere in between. it was bigger than nishiki, and it had some wet areas and clean areas. it offered visitors lounge, and mostly you could eat in the stall. but the food was really similar to nishiki. some kuromon had it cheaper since it was bigger or comes in more amount, but it didn't always taste better. i like both the sushi and salmon bowl from kuromon and nishiki. but i like grilled scallops and octopus from nishiki better. overall, kuromon offered a lot of seafood options, more than nishiki. it also offered many traditional sweets and beef meat too.

cremia ice cream

i've seen people bringing their kids along. and just like nishiki, even though you could use strollers, i advise you just use your carrier instead since it could be super crowded and the alley was not that wide. and since most stalls offered raw seafood (well.. there were some fried food, but most seafood were raw), i think it's better to wait until your kids are older to go there. anyway, it was totally a good place to do some food fiesta, but again.. chose wisely since they sold it in pieces, so you might end up paying more than the meal you could get from restaurant.

matsusakagyu yakiniku M

and tonight is the night. before we started our holiday, husband asked me what i wanted to do. i told him that i only wanted to go to osaka castle. the rest was food trip. and i've made a long list of the food that i wanted to try. husband told me, we only have one stomach each, so better picked a good one. but it was impossible to pick a good one. everyone kept recommending different things. and even tripadvisor ratings were different as well. so far we got lucky.. most of the food that we tried were delicious, with the exception of the first kobe beef. it was overpriced. so, husband asked for another meat feast. i told him about matsusakagyu when we arrived at the hotel. told him that everyone kept saying to make appointment. he thought we could swing it just like kobe, but when he read more, he totally agreed that we should make appointment. apparently there were 3 branches in osaka, two of them were very close to us, the other one in namba was slightly farther, but not too much. he tried to book for our second night in osaka, but they were fully booked, all 3 branches. but he got lucky and score a spot in namba branch for your third night. so here we are, ready for our dinner.

welcome to matsusakagyu yakiniku M

it was important to be punctual in japan. they might give your seat away if you're not showing up on time. so we arrived there luckily in time. you had to carefully looking for it since apparently, their building wasn't that eye-catching. in fact, apparently, i've walked in front of their dotonbori branches without knowing that it was the place. if i hadn't look up and saw the name "matsusaka yakiniku M", i might miss it. same goes with the second branch. i walked near it and it was not eye catching, with black paint.. it was not helping to find it at all. so better arrive early so you could find the place on time.

the ala carte menu

course menu

when we arrived, there were double doors greeting us before we got to meet the host. but apparently they didn't get the information that we put in the appointment. when we made the appointment, we had to answer several questions like where we came from and what's the purpose of our visit, but the host didn't seem to know it all. she asked where we came from and to her surprise, when she knew that we came from indonesia, she immediately changed greeting us in indonesia. turned out that night there were 3 people from indonesia working there that night. they were students that work part time there.. somehow the company hired everyone since jwestbros also came across an indonesian student in other branch.

salad

kimchi set

short rib appetizer

i didn't know exactly how many floors were there, but we got place in the second floor. all the walls were painted black and the light was very low, so it wasn't clear to look around. but i remember the other grill restaurant in shibuya was also very dark and even they cover the eating place with curtain, probably to ensure privacy. same goes here. the wall was painted black and our seating were covered with curtain. they used sofa chair that facing each other with the table with installed grilled pan in between. then shortly after we were seated, the waiter gave us an apron and wet tissue so we could clean up. and he explained all the menu and gave some recommendation. he gave us time to make our choice and then we could ring him to come back and took our order.

beef sushi

garlic rice

beef ramen

there were 3 course menu, standard (all lean meat), marbled (all marbled meat, garlic rice and one sushi and desert of the day), and premium (all premium meat, 2 types of sushi, choices of main course - garlic rice or ramen or other two that i couldn't remember,  and your chosen desert). but there were some ala carte menu as well. if you didn't order any drink, they would give you free water. husband chose the premium one so finger crossed that it would be good. fyi, jwestbros suggested to order the marbled one and then one menu from ala carte that wasn't in the marbled menu yet.

the waiter offered to take picture of us

at first they would serve us appetizer, which was salad and a kimchi set. the salad was okay, but still i prefer the one from our hometown better. the kimchi set had 3 small bowls, two of them were kimchi, and the middle one was beef. i ate the beef with salad and it turned out delicious. then they gave 4 pieces of short beef appetizer, the waiter suggested to cook it just for a minuted both side, and he gave us several condiments as well. salt, soy sauce and one more but i forgot what it was. you could season the meat after grilling it to your taste. the meat was tender, but not super melting in your mouth type. then came the sushi. there was two of them, the lean one and the marbled one. the marbled one was more delicious than the lean one. the lean one was similar to the one i had at yazawa.

main course meat selection

then came our main course. husband got garlic rice and i got beef ramen. garlic rice was delicious, more like fried rice for us. basically it was rice mixed with fried garlic and bacon bits, so it was not halal. totally delicious. but if you had eaten chinese bacon fried rice, it would taste similar. the beef ramen was warm and delicious as well. the soup was made of beef broth and very light and heartwarming. the ramen was thin and soft. it was delicious, but since the broth was quite light, it slightly similar to instant noodle ramen. totally will warm your stomach, perfect for cool nights.

dessert

the meat came from different part of the cow, which i totally forgot by now. but the choices were sirloin steak, bottom flap, maboroshi and kyukyoku. they also available to choose in ala carte menu, so if i could make suggestion, pick maboroshi. it was the most tender, melting in your mouth type. totally delicious! they gave us four pieces for each type, so we got two each. if i got to put them in order from my most to my least favorite, it would be maboroshi, kyukyoku, sirloin steak and bottom flap. they were all tender and delicious, but some was a bit chewy and dry compared to the other. anyway.. the meat was totally better than the one at kobe! definitely skip kobe next time and just go to this place! and for desert, we picked chocolate ice cream. i was totally excited that they had chocolate ice cream. i thought there would only be matcha option. the ice cream was different though. it was tougher than usual ice cream. not as creamy, and not too sweet. but it was still delicious.

and that was our last night in osaka. it was a totally satisfying dinner to end our holiday. i totally recommend you to try this one, and make sure to make reservation. you could make reservation from their website, so no worry about not being able to speak japanese. will definitely come back if we could.

osaka castle

last time we were in osaka, my in laws and her colleague went to osaka castle before going to universal studio. but since it was raining and we were tired, husband decided to skip osaka castle since he thought the kids wouldn't understand anyway. so, when i knew that we could go in osaka for this trip, the only definite agenda was osaka castle. i knew i had to go there.. so i told my husband, i didn't have any other plan in osaka beside osaka castle and kuromon ichiba market. and he was like okay.. we could decide later since osaka was the last city in our itinerary. anyway.. it was supposed to be rainy later that day, but thank God it was a sunny day in the morning. so i dragged my husband to go to osaka castle before it was raining. anyway... we've been using the kansai area pass for the last 4 days and it was expired so we decided to just buy separate tickets for the rest of the trip. but if you wanted to save some money, you could buy metro all day pass but you need to buy it beforehand and then got it from the airport. you couldn't buy it at the ticket machine in the station.

the walk and gardening stuff seller (no need the map.. just walk toward the castle)

the playground near starbucks

so.. you could get to osaka castle easily, but since we were from shinsaibashi station, we arrived at morinomiya station then we walked for quite some time to get to osaka castle. along the way we saw some area where people sold plants and gardening stuff. the flowers were very pretty but unfortunately i couldn't bring it home. and half way, i could see a big starbucks and before the starbucks was a kids playground. i saw some students playing over there. so if you brought your kids and they were tired afterward, you could bring them there to play in the playground while you take turn resting in starbucks. the walk toward osaka castle was quite far, and it involved several stairs. after the stairs, there was another walk a bit around and then across the bridge to finally get to the outer field. husband forced me to take some rest in the outer field before went in to the castle. oh well.. it was a chance to take a few photos though..  that day it was very crowded. there were a lot of students there. and as cute as it is, in japan, the rule was never take picture of the students, because it violated their privacy.

another view from the walk to the castle

i think there's a shrine nearby

anyway, the outer field was a big open space, so when it's raining, you would have to bring your own umbrella because i didn't see any bench under any shade. there was toilet at the outer field, but we didn't go there. there was a ticket vending machine on the right side (when you faced the castle, it would be on your northeast side). there was an english menu, so you could totally do it yourself. choose the right number of adult (or kids) and then put your payment and got the ticket. you had to hand out the ticket to the booth and got a booklet there as well. now, at the booth, i saw a sign "no stroller allowed in the castle today". well, before going in, i thought perhaps it was temporary. but after going in, i would say you shouldn't bring any stroller. there was another flight of stairs going up the castle. and as you went up, you got to decide whether to use the elevator or the stairs. you needed to wait in line to get in the elevator, but you could go upstairs instantly. and the elevator would only stop at the 5th floor and if you wanted to go up to 8th, you'd have to take the stairs and then use the stairs again to go down to the first floor. so, that's way i thought it wasn't wise to bring a stroller even though they allow it. better use your carriers.

crossing the bridge

osaka castle

yep.. me while waiting husband

anyway, the field was crowded, but there was a short line in the elevator line, so we decided to take the elevator. we didn't go up to the 8th, so we only explore from the 5th downward. anyway, you should follow the directions because it would lead you to circle the castle in uniform way so that when you've finished the whole floor, you could take the stairs to go the floor beneath you. and the stairs were separated, the upstairs and downstairs. the reason was the stair was quite narrow and only fit for an adult to pass, so if you took the wrong stair, you might jeopardize the flow. and you couldn't take any picture or video on the 3rd and 4th floor. and they put an officer to make sure anyone didn't violate the rule. on the last floor, you could take picture with the old japanese clothing in front of a green screen, and the green screen would change into osaka castle background. anyway.. there was a lot of information about japanese history especially the one involving osaka castle.

the ticket machine. 600 yen per adult

left to wait for the elevator, and right if you wanted to walk up the stairs

floor map

there was several toilets, but i didn't think they had both female and male toilet on the same floor. i totally forgot whether or not it had changing table, btu the toilet was clean as usual. anyway.. i think you could spend an hour or more in the castle. it was totally informational and it was up to you whether you want to see everything slowly or skip some things. there were not only displays and pictures, but also some videos as well. i think bigger kids could enjoy it, but smaller kids especially the ones that still couldn't read or understand english might not. but they display were pretty interesting with some clothing display and stuff, so probably they might enjoy it too.

another look from the side

lake around the castle

can you see the tiny boat?

anyway, there was this big lake surrounding the castle, and since we didn't take the same exit as the way we came from, we could see that you could ride a boat circling the castle. on the side of the castle there was another hall where you could watch magic show but at night only. you could also enjoy fine dining there as well. there were several stall selling snacks and of course lots of vending machine selling drinks, so you didn't need to worry when you were thirsty or hungry. i totally recommend visiting this castle as it's quite historic, but some mentioned that since the castle was not an original castle from the past, and it was rebuilt, they didn't like that this one had lost its authenticity. if you had similar view with those people, then you should head to another castle, himeji or another one which i couldn't remember the name.

mizuno

we didn't have any other thing to do in the afternoon since we were not lucky to book matsusaka yakiniku that night, so we had nothing to do. plus it was raining, so we decided to just go to dotonbori and enjoy some street food. the last time we went to dotonbori, we only managed to try takoyaki so we wanted to try some more. if you had no idea, some famous street food were takoyaki, okonomiyaki, melon pan with ice cream or custard, kushikatsu (basically just fried skewer things) and many more. there were a lot of stalls selling similar stuff, so better do your research and find out which one you want to try since you only have one stomach.

mini yamaimo-yaki

anyway.. it was still raining for a bit, so we thought we might find a stall that we could sit inside to eat. we wanted to try another takoyaki, but not another kyo-chabana. 3 most popular okonomiyaki in dotonbori and namba area were chibo, mizuno and chitose. i've tried to pin all the places that we wanted to see or eat at in the google maps, but somehow it got confused that day. we didn't find out that chibo was nearby even though it was the one we wanted to try. so we went to mizuno instead. we also didn't know that mizuno was a michelin restaurant, not until we got inside.

mini modern-yaki

it was easy to find. from kinryu ramen on the right side, walk straight for a bit then turn right. you would see mizuno on your left. there was a short queue outside, so we waited and got handed the menu, but it was in japanese. we asked for the english menu and they had english menu. there were a lot of choices, but since we were hoping we could eat some more on the street, we decided to choose a set menu. i was not sure whether or not you could share a single okonomiyaki, but if we were to eat separate two okonomiyaki, i didn't think we could finish them all. so we decided to get the menu that has two mini okonomiyaki. you can see their menu here. and this is their website. our pick offered mini yamaimo-yaki (with two toppings, pork loin and scallops) and mini-mix modern-yaki (with 6 toppings and noodles).

the restaurant has 2 floors, the first floor has a big semicircular counter with hot surface on top with a chef behind it. and there were several chairs facing the counter. it was quite crowded and the alley was not that big, so you couldn't walk pass behind the chairs when there was another person walking the opposite way. there were no waiting place beside the cashier. the stair was quite steep and narrow too. there was a sofa at the top of the stair so some could wait outside. the seating arrangement on the second floor was different. it has several sofa chair facing each other with a table in between the chairs. the table has a cooking surface, but it was not on all the time. the seats were enough for 2-4 people. once you have made your choice, the waiter would take your order and then another one would come and prepare the cooking. the chef prepared both of your dishes on the tables in front of us.

since we ordered the mini ones, it was half the size from the one we had at kyo-chabana. it had two toppings, pork loin and scallops, two each placed exactly at quarter apart. the batter was not as thick as kyo chabana and it didn't have much cabbage too. they also put the sauce pretty earlier than the one in kyo chabana. toward the end, the chef asked us whether we like some mustard or mayo on top. we asked for little mustard but normal mayo. it was ready faster than the modern-yaki, since it had fried noodle in the batter. we finished the first one before the second one was even ready.

the first one was delicious. since it didn't have thick batter, it was not as fulfilling as the one from kyo-chabana. and it was the one we hoped for. we didn't want to be super full. for me, i like this one better, but unfortunately, i didn't like the pork loin topping. since the meat was small, it became hard and a bit dry. the other one was delicious as well. it tasted like fried noodles with a bit of batter with sauce and mayonnaise. it had all 6 toppings, but only one each.

though i like this better than the one at kyo chabana, but i couldn't say that this is the best since i haven't tried them all. what i like better from this one was this didn't have thick batter so it was not much to digest and they didn't put tons of sauce as well, so it wasn't too tangy. for me, i like mizuno better than kyo-chabana. price wise, it was probably standard for okonomiyaki. next time i will check chibo out since it was rated better than this one. have you tried all three? which one is your favorite?

gyukatsu motomura

we were just visiting osaka castle, so we thought why not eat nearby in that area, or head to umeda area. so we googled and turned out there was gyukatsu motomura in a mall at umeda. so we decided to head there. actually, i was hoping that we could go to umeda sky building as well and probably check the ferris wheel, but the rain has catching us. it was raining while we ate and it was still raining lightly, so i didn't get the chance to see the umeda sky and the ferris wheel.

gyukatsu motomura was at lucua osaka mall. there were two malls, lucua osaka and lucua 1100 and both of them were connected at some floors. but the dining hall was on top of both malls, the 10th floor. okay, we didn't take a look at the mall inventory, so we just went straight looking for gyukatsu motomura. however, after we finished our lunch, we decided to take a look around and found out that there were kushikatsu daruma, moritaya, higashiyama, tonkatsu maisen A, and a ramen shop that was very busy. there were other restaurants, but those were the ones that i recognized. you can check the whole food floor here.

the menu

anyway.. we arrived at lunch time, but we were lucky the people were already inside, and there was only a short line outside. the waiter gave us the menu book when we were near the door and there was an english menu but apparently they didn't have much variation. they only had a beef katsu in two variation, the 130 g and 260 g. and all the rice was barley rice. you can check the menu here. we both ordered the same thing and not long we were allowed to go inside.

side dishes
L-R: potato salad, grated yam, sweet potato

once we were inside, the waiter put a numerous side dishes and he told us that we could pick 3 side dishes each. the waiters could understand english but only speak limited english. anyway.. he didn't explain what kind of dish they were, so we were guessing. there was kimchi and probably other kimchi variations, judging by the look, but some were hard to guess. i decided to pick what i thought would be potato salad, steamed sweet potato (but it was already cold) and probably grated yam. husband picked steamed sweet potato, and the other two i totally didn't know. the sweet potato was okay, it was sweet and tender, but nothing special. the potato salad was very delicious. and it worked well with the beef later. the grated yam was the worst, i didn't like it. it felt sticky and slimy and not appealing at all. oh well.. considered i was lucky since i got it right 2 out of 3.

i put my side dishes on top, then the dipping sauce below. the gyukatsu on the right, barley rice and miso soup near me
they gave free hot ocha, but it had that coffee taste as well, so i didn't like it

the beef came not long after that. the waiter set the cooking area first. he would lit the candle under the hot stone and then he told us how to cook the beef. since the beef katsu was thinly sliced, he suggested to just cook it for one minute each. there were two dipping sauce, soy sauce and miso sauce. the miso sauce was a bit sweet and tangy. and there were three salad dressings at the table, but i could only catch the lemon dressing which was obviously a bit sour. i didn't like the cabbage salad and the miso soup. they didn't use seafood in the miso soup and just put tofu bits, and it tasted weird for me. the barley rice was warm and delicious and the barley didn't taste weird or hard. you could add another bowl of rice for free, but only one time (yep.. of course i had to add another bowl! husband didn't though..)

the beef had fried coating just like other katsu, but the meat inside was still rare. so we had to cook it ourselves. we decided to follow his instruction but we found out that a little bit longer was the way for us. the meat was very juicy and tender, and it was weird since the meat has been fried for a short time and then grilled. 130 g was half the usual steak size, but since we ate it with rice, the portion was enough for us. i suggested you grilled the slices individually and ate it as soon as it was ready, but you could also cook them all at once then enjoyed it. or did it half-half. anyway.. the place was not too small for a mall stall, but if you brought your kids, you had to make sure that they could sit quietly since there were so many stuff on the tables. i didn't see any kids dining there with us, so i wasn't sure whether or not kids are allowed. the tables was 2-4 chairs per table, but there was bigger table with sofa chair at one side, so probably it was a better seating option if you bring your kids along. anyway.. there were other gyukatsu motomura branches in osaka and other city as well, so make sure to check whether or not you have one near you. totally worth trying, totally worth the hype.