Second time lucky scoring the popular Kani Doraku kaniman

There are three famous landmarks in Dotonbori.

First is The Glico Man, the world famous icon of Osaka.

Second is the toy-looking but fully functional Don Quijote Ferris wheel.

And third, is the big animatronic snow crab mounted on the signboard of Kani Doraku’s main store. Its moving claws and vibrant colours giving it an amazingly lifelike appearance.

The Wife and I are huge crab fans. Whether it’s at home in Singapore or overseas during our travels, we actively search for places that serve the crusty crustacean.

And in Osaka, when it comes to crab, there’s no bigger name than Kani Doraku (かに道楽).

During our previous visit, we thoroughly enjoyed a crab kaiseki lunch there. This time, we wanted to try something different — their kaniman, or steamed crab buns.

After spotting the snow crab signboard from afar, we slowly strolled over to the shop.

Despite the supposed popularity of the buns, there didn’t seem to be a long queue. In fact, there wasn’t a queue at all.

As I got closer, I could see “本日完売” prominently displayed on a sign, highlighted in yellow for added effect.

If you read kanji, you’ll know that they are the four most dreaded words you’ll ever see as a tourist.

A more detailed notice beside it said: “Kaniman sales start at 11:30am” in Japanese, among other things.

Learning from our mistake, we reached Kani Doraku at 11:15am the following morning. Only to be greeted with a long and snaking queue.

Starting from the cashier at the main entrance, down a flight of stairs, stretching across the length of an entire ramp, round the corner of the building, and then some.

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I dutifully joined the end of the line, keeping my fingers crossed that supply would keep up with the overwhelming demand.

The queue started moving once the clock struck 11:30am, and I slowly inched my way forward.

Thankfully, there was a purchase limit of four kaniman per person, and the steamers remained well-stocked by the time I got nearer to the finish line.

Each bun was going for a relatively pricey ¥500, but that didn’t stop customers from snapping them up eagerly.

I was tempted to max out my quota and buy four, but sanity prevailed and I got two instead.

Armed with the precious pair of fluffy white buns, we found a nearby bench to savour the steaming hot kaniman.

The shop’s name was proudly seared on the surface of each piece, but we hardly noticed it as we hurriedly ripped open the fantastically fuwa fuwa skin.

Once the amount of crab in the filling was revealed, it was obvious why they charged what they charged. The generous lumps of flesh smelled, and tasted, fresh and not at all fishy.

Two small packets of Kewpie mayonnaise was provided, and we squeezed some out to try. It was wasabi-flavoured and paired well with the filling, giving the bold crab flavour a softer edge.

The mayo was worth trying out once, but we quickly went back to having the kaniman au naturel and savouring the unadulterated crabbiness.

Despite the initial intent of slowly enjoying our buns, they were wolfed down in just a couple of minutes. I was regretting not being greedy earlier, so that we could double our enjoyment.

My consolation was that we succeeded on our second try, and didn’t have to come back another day to make it third time lucky.