道頓堀 Dotonbori @Osaka

A trip to 大阪 Osaka cannot be without a walk on 道頓堀 Dotonbori!

We idled for quite a while at a cafe in 難波駅 Namba Station before the skies turned dark and we reluctantly get up from the comfortable seats and made our way to 道頓堀 Dotonbori in the slightly drizzling weather.

The first thing to do was of course to take picture with the famous Glico Man, showing a giant athlete on a blue track as a symbol of the Glico candy (headquartered in 大阪 Osaka)!

The rain was intermittent as we strolled along the streets, so we also followed the rain and did some sourvenir shopping while the rain fell and continued strolling when the rain stopped. 🙂

We tried たこ焼き Takoyaki, the signature snack of 大阪 Osaka, at 2 different stalls (くれお一る Kureaaru, and あっちち Acchichi) with snaking queues. The first one was a twist to the traditional たこ焼き Takoyaki and included sauces such as ポン酢 Ponzu which was refreshing. The second was a more traditional stall that has been around for many years and the たこ焼き Takoyaki tasted yummy!

We continued with our sourvenir shopping and simply enjoying the atmosphere until our stomach growled again. So we advanced to 錦 わらい 道頓堀店 Nishiki Warai for another 大阪名物 Osaka signature food, おこのみ焼き Okonomiyaki!

We ordered a 京天焼き Kyoten-yaki (a pork pancake with lots of vegetable on top and noodles within), a わらい焼き Warai-yaki (traditional vegetable pancake) and a 鉄板餃子 Gyoza (dumplings cooked on a hot plate).

Unlike the last time we were in Japan and eating おこのみ焼き Okonomiyaki where the server cooked the pancake in front of us, this time the server actually cooked the pancakes in the kitchen and only placed the cooked pancake onto the hot plate in front of us. This sort of lose the excitement of watching the flipping of the pancake. Nevertheless the pancakes were delicious and we had a good time eating and chatting our last night in Japan away…