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