Sunday, September 02, 2007

Yakitori Akiyoshi near Umeda Station

Negi Kushiyaki

This was a completely random shop that I stopped at here in Osaka (I can't read the address but I think it's on Ohatsutenjin Dori on the first floor of the US Biru building...the phone number is 06-6316-0753). To be honest, I wasn't even sure of what kind of food they were serving when I walked in. But my question was answered I saw a very long U-shaped counter surrounding a yakitori grill in the middle. There was also an interesting metal running board of sorts built into the top of the counter, where they placed your freshly grilled meat selections directly onto. At first I wasn't quite sure why, but I later realized that there was some kind of heating element underneath to keep the meat warm. Veggies, however, got their own separate ceramic plates.

As Eddie Murphy says...now that's a FIRE!I got my usual favorites, although they did a number of things differently here. Take for instance the kawa, which was cut surprisingly thick. That meant that it wasn't going to be the thin crispy bits of heaven that I had come to love so much, but fortunately this wasn't soggy either and was still full of that yummy chicken skin taste. They also paired it with a yellow Chinese mustard that was so strong that it almost brought a tear to my eye. I asked for a recommendation as well. And while I'm not quite sure exactly what it was that he gave me, I suspect that it was intestine, judging by the tough texture (like eating a giant rubber band) but full of tasty grease that oozed out with every bite.

Still, this wasn't exactly the runaway hit that I was looking for (it turns out that this is actually one big chain across the country). Indeed, after walking back out onto the street, I came across an endless number of restaurants with every turn in the surrouding Hanku Higashidori area, such that I immediately regretted not having shopped around further before sitting down at this place. Well, the sheer number of restaurants in this area is simply mindblowing, and it's going to be very fun taking a go at many more of them in the upcoming week.

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