A popular street full of shops and street vendors in Osaka
Intro – This is the street with the famous Glico Man which gets a lot of foot traffic and is full of other shops. We went mainly to try out some street food and check out the shops
Ambiance – Casual, night market vibes
What we ordered
Takoyaki from Takoyaki Juhachiban Dotonbori – We got the half & half, which is half the takoyaki topped with salt and seaweed, and the other half was topped with bonito flakes and mayonnaise. It was fully covered in crispy tempura flakes, making it the crispiest takoyaki I’ve had thus far. The octopus inside was also a generous portion. Both flavors were very well seasoned. I think I preferred the salt flavor more because it stayed more crispy and I tend to enjoy foods on the saltier side. We didn’t have much takoyaki in Japan but this was the best by far. However, I just don’t think takoyaki is a top-tier dish. Rating 7.3/10
Meat skewer from this random meat stand – The street had a surprising amount of meat skewers. My wife was craving some Wagyu after seeing these skewers. We searched around the street to find one that didn’t seem too overpriced. We got the cheapest beef skewer which was around 50 USD for 3 I believe. I don’t quite remember what the pricing was but I remember it to be expensive. Upon the first bite, it was very very fatty, mildly beefy, and a little chewy. It was also underseasoned so we had to ask the cook to salt it a little more, which made it better. This was slightly fattier than the Nishiki Market one we had but it was nowhere near as good. It was too chewy for high-quality beef and the beef flavor wasn’t as prominent as the one at Nishiki Market. This was overall just very overpriced and not as good as the other skewer. However, strictly based on taste, it’s still great beef. Rating 8.2/10
Melon pan from this Melonpan stand – I typically don’t like melon pan but it looked good and I was craving something sweet. The melon pan was very very soft but I wish the outside was crispier. It only had 1 texture, which was soft. It was similar to a Hawaiian roll in both taste and texture. We ordered it to be filled with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was nothing special and honestly didn’t add much to the melon pan. The ice cream honestly may have taken away from the melon pan. The whole thing needed to be a little sweeter for my taste or have more flavor. The vanilla ice cream was even mild in vanilla flavor. It kind of tasted like just cold creamy bread. Not appealing. Rating 5.4/10
Strawberry daifuku mochi from Strawberry Mania – I’ve been wanting to try one of these the entire trip and unfortunately didn’t get one at Nishiki Market so I had to get one here. We got one filled with red bean paste and the other one was filled with a peach filling I think. I don’t remember too much about the peach one but I do remember the red bean one being my preference. The texture was great but the flavor was overall disappointing. The mochi was very soft and the red bean paste had a pleasant sweetness. The strawberry was also decently sweet but the treat didn’t taste greater than the sum of its parts. Each individual piece tasted like how they were supposed to taste, and you just had them all in the same bite. One element didn’t elevate the other. It was a nice treat to have but nothing special. Rating 6.7/10
Conclusion – This was a very lively street to walk around on and buy something that catches your eye or fits your appetite. It was just sad that everything we got was a little disappointing and nothing was worth getting excited over. The best thing I ate was another Cremia cone but I’ve already written about that cone when I had it in at Nishiki Market. Basically, the vibes are nice to walk around if you’re in Osaka, but don’t expect mindblowing street food.
Overall Rating – 6.9/10