In any given city, it’s the locals who know where to find the best places to eat. This is especially true in Osaka, the kitchen of Japan, where kuidaore (食い倒れ) or “eating until you drop” is a legitimate pastime.
According to tabelog.com, Japan’s definitive food guide, there are 67,960 eateries (and counting) in the city. It’s an impressive number, just slightly more than half of Tokyo’s 134,334.
We wanted to visit a Japanese izakaya, somewhere popular with the residents that served value-for-money food and drinks. Filtering for “izakaya” only whittled the list down to 17,258.
The top ranked ones seemed quite expensive, and fancier that what we were expecting. I tried reading through the individual reviews, but that quickly became tedious.
That’s when we remembered that TommyTommy Japan, one of the YouTubers we follow, is an Osaka native. I found an old video he uploaded, featuring a popular salaryman izakaya near Dotonbori that he visited with a friend.
Sushi Sakaba Sashisu (すし酒場さしす) was exactly what we were looking for. It had good ratings, not only on Tabelog 3.42⭐/5.00 (198 reviews) but also on Google 4.2⭐/5.0 (838 reviews).
Location
Google Maps said that the izakaya was located in B1F of Namba Walks, a sprawling underground shopping district connected to Namba station.
We walked down a long stretch of shops and finally spotted the unmistakable cloth norens in Section B29. A crowd control divider stretched out from the entrance, and ran along the entire length of restaurant.
In his video, Tommy had warned that Sashisu attracted long queues during normal meal times, and the long divider was proof of its popularity.
Since the place was open continuously from 11am to 9pm, we decided to get there at 4:30pm for an early dinner. We were rewarded with an empty line, but even then, the inside was already half full.
The Secret Life of Hippos
I have never seen a real life hippopotamus.
All the online videos I’ve watched show how relaxed and carefree they are. Semi-submerged and slowly floating down rivers without a care in the world.
Well, now I know why they look so zen.
Whenever they get hungry, they simply sneak off to the nearest izakaya and scarf down some nigiri sushi, together with copious amounts of sake.
Apparently, this is a practice that dates back to ancient times.
The Japanese word for hippopotamus is kaba (カバ), and the place where people go for drinks is called a sakaba (酒場). Coincidence? I think not.
When I grow up, I want to be a hippo. But until that happens, I’ll have to settle for a seat at Sushi Sakaba Sashisu.
Where highballs go for just ¥290, fresh sea urchin for ¥590, shrimp tempura for ¥380 and a wide assortment of nigiri and maki sushi for only ¥150 a piece.
Menu
While it’s primarily a hangout for locals, word must have spread internationally. Because the laminated menu wasn’t just printed in Japanese, it also included English, Chinese and Korean translations.
Not that you’d really need them, since almost all the food items came with photos. We could have easily gotten by with pointing, but it was good to know what we were actually ordering.
All the usual suspects were present.
Sushi, not surprisingly, occupied an entire page of the double sided A3-sized menu. There was, of course, nigiri, as well as several choices of gunkan and a wide variety of hoso maki.
On the other side, standard izakaya fare was to be found. Evergreen items like chikin (yes, that’s how I spell it) karaage, boiled edamame, chawanmushi, tempura and many others.
We knew, then and there, that our challenge was not what to order, but what to leave out from our order.
But First, Beer
“Nama bīru hitotsu kudasai (生ビール 一つ ください)” is one of the few Japanese phrases that I still remember from my salaryman days.
Back in the day, during my four year bimonthly commute to Tokyo, it was the magic key that unlocked an ice cold beverage at the end of a long, hard day of work.
The Wife decided to opt for something slightly more exotic. The perilla lemon sour she ordered was not bad, but nowhere as satisfying as my mug of freshly-pulled draft beer.
Act One
To kickstart our food adventure, we ordered Sushi Sakaba Sashisu’s signature potato salad. A big spoonful of ikura, delicately balanced on the heaping mound of mashed potato, elevated the otherwise humble dish.
Unlike creamier versions, a lower mayo-to-potato ratio was used, resulting in a drier and chunkier texture that paired well with the fancy topping.
Next came a pair of velvet shrimp sushi. They were lightly torched to bring out the sweetness of the meaty white flesh, as well as to add a playful crunchiness.
The accompanying wasabi came in small self-service packets and tasted surprisingly good. Punchy but not overwhelming, with the slightest hint of fruitiness.
To warm our stomachs, we followed up with a bowl of asari clam red miso soup. Compared to the white miso soup more commonly found in Tokyo, this red one was richer and more up my alley.
We continued with a trio of white meat sushi, including sea bream (tai), squid (ika) and scallop (hotate). Needless to say, the freshness and quality surpassed what was available in Singapore.
Intermission
Since I was playing sake bingo throughout this entire trip, I scanned the menu to see what was available. The sole entry was a Kikumasamune (菊正宗) sake, a generic brand that was just meh.
However, there was another line that stated: “We have other sake. Please see attached sheet.” The Toyobijin (東洋美人) from Yamaguchi (山口) prefecture immediately caught my eye.
It was a sake that I had wanted to try, but one that I hadn’t seen in Singapore. After placing my order, our server came back with a 1.8 litre bottle of Junmai Ginjo 50 and started pouring out a glass.
As it started overflowing into the saucer underneath, two ojisans at our adjoining table enthusiastically cheered her on to keep pouring and she graciously obliged.
For ¥550 a glass, with the generous overflow, I definitely got my money’s worth. The Toyobijin was smooth, full-bodied, fruity and a total joy to drink.
Act Two
With our gastric juices all fired up and sufficient alcohol flowing through our veins, we picked up the menu again and shifted our stomachs into second gear.
The chawanmushi we ordered had a cheese and black sesame topping that looked, and tasted, quite unique. It didn’t seem like the flavour combination would work, but it turned out surprisingly good.
We usually don’t order unagi in sushi form, and prefer to have it at a specialty unagi-ya in donburi or hitsumabushi. I’m glad we made an exception, because it had a nice smokey char and was as tasty as any we’ve had before.
Given the quality of the sushi we had so far, I was excited to try their maguro a.k.a. tuna.
There are three main cuts served: akami (赤身), chutoro (中トロ) and otoro (大トロ), with increasing levels of fattiness. Otoro is the most popular choice, but I personally prefer chutoro for its balance of fat and flavour.
I had both of the delicious morsels all to myself, as The Wife’s tuna boycott (because dolphins) was still in effect.
No night out at an izakaya is complete without a plate of chikin karaage.
The ones at Sushi Sakaba Sashisu came as drumlets, with a blob of mayo and half wedge of lemon. They had less meat than traditional nuggets, but made up for it in their fun factor.
Remember the unagi sushi from earlier? Well, we liked it so much that we had it again. Since it was our last order, I snuck in an uni gunkan for good measure.
Our total bill came up to ¥6,710, a really good price given the quality and quantity of what we had eaten and drunk.
As I was lining up at the cashier’s to pay, I caught a Tomichelin sticker on the wall, complete with a Japanese-looking marshmallow man exclaiming “おいしい!” (oishii).
It’s TommyTommy Japan’s stamp of culinary approval, and based on our dinner, I would definitely look out for other places that carry that mark.
Return Visit
Less than 24 hours later, we were back. This time for a late lunch at 2:00pm, after the rush had subsided. We had to wait, only for a couple of minutes as they cleaned our table.
Yes, I know, we should have explored other restaurants since we in Osaka for only a few short days. There are plenty of other options (67,959 of them, to be exact), but we just could not get Sashisu out of our minds.
Especially the special menu, written entirely in Japanese, that was ignored the night before.
We had ordered exclusively off the multi-lingual menu, but couldn’t shake the feeling that we missed out on the good stuff.
So, armed with Google Translate’s camera function, we confronted the language barrier head on. Most of the items were understandable, but some, like “Ara’s Redness” and “Bruce Lee”, were outright mysteries.
But First, Sake
I skipped my customary nama bīru and went straight for nihonshu. Unfortunately, out of the four that were listed, only the Kirakucho (喜楽長) from nearby Shiga (滋賀) prefecture was available.
Unfortunately, there were no enthusiastic ojisans to pressure our server this time, so there was only just a tiny overflow, more for symbolic purposes.
The sake was drier than what we’re used to, but still quite smooth and enjoyable. I would have very much preferred the Toyobijin, but it must have been wiped out the previous night.
It went really well with the “Assortment of three types of sashimi” though. Two slices each of salmon, sea bream and yellowtail were arranged prettily on shredded radish and shiso leaves, with a blob of (maybe) wasabi on the side.
Buri, Three Ways
We decided to live life dangerously, and ordered the mysterious “Ara’s Redness”, together with “Today’s Kamayaki”.
The former turned out to be red miso soup with a hearty chunk of fish, nowhere near as dramatic as the translated name. And the latter was a simple, but perfectly, grilled fish collar.
To make it a hattrick, we added a “Boiled Fish” and was served a meaty hunk of what looked like braised buri, or amberjack.
Come to think of it, the previous two dishes were probably buri as well.
Which is great, because it’s one of our favourite fish. Its versatility as a cooking ingredient was evident from the boiled, grilled and braised items on our table.
Curtain Call
The rest of our lunch included “Grilled Nodoguro Nigiri”, “Grilled Shrimp Samadhi” and “Fried Oysters”, all of them specials, and finally, hotate and shima aji sushi from the regular menu.
We had to resist the urge to order the unagi sushi (again), and consoled ourselves with the anticipation of indulging in an unagi-only meal in Kyoto the following week.
The total bill for lunch was ¥4,895, even less than our previous meal
While we didn’t get to try every item on the menu, we had sampled enough to know that Sushi Sakaba Sashisu was a keeper. A place that we could go back to, time and again.
Great food, good sake and a friendly, albeit somewhat noisy, environment that’s a favourite with local Osaka residents.
Oh, and also, hungry hippos.
Kansai Winter 2024
Heartwarming matcha soba by the old folks of Torikiku
The broth had a clear citrusy note of sudachi that shone through, plus something else that we couldn’t quite identify. Whatever it was, it made the dashi taste extra special.
Katsukura: Sometimes, all you need is some deep-fried pork
Whenever we find ourselves in Japan, our number one pick for crispy and juicy tonkatsu is invariably Katsukura from Kyoto.
Kawaii temari sushi for breakfast at OMO5 Kyoto Gion
Apparently, its petite size and easy-to-bite form factor makes it the ideal choice for geishas who don’t want to smudge their makeup.
Waking up to the smell of freshly-baked bread
The next morning, as dawn approached and sunlight started peeking through the blinds, we were awoken by an enticing and unmistakable scent.
OMO5 Kyoto Gion is great, but not so good on the knees
It’s right in the heart of the historic geisha district and offers a good combination of price, location and size. But if you have bad knees, stay clear of the Double Zashiki Tatami Room.
Catching the Kyo-train Garaku from Osaka to Kyoto
There are many ways to travel between the two cities by train, but the most beautiful and elegant one must surely be the Kyo-train Garaku rapid limited express.
Nihonshu bingo at Yamanaka Sake Ekimaru in Umeda
We were only halfway through our Japan trip, and I had already managed to move my progress bar from 36% to 53%. Crossing the halfway mark felt like a significant milestone.
The complete Club Level experience at Ritz Carlton Osaka
When travelling to a foreign land, hotels are usually just places to spend the night. But sometimes, they can be destinations in their own right.
Ritz Carlton Osaka: Camping out at the Club Lounge for all our meals
I had booked one night in a club level room, which included access to the legendary club lounge. And for the next 24 hours, all our meals were sorted.
Fancy champagne high tea at Ritz Carlton Osaka
Checking into a hotel is typically a mundane affair, except when you book a room with Club Lounge access at the Ritz Carlton in Osaka.
The oishii asagohan at Yawaragi in Shinsaibashi
At night, Yawaragi is your typical salaryman izakaya. But at the break of dawn, it transforms into an atypical breakfast spot, famous for tamago dashimaki prepared à la minute.
Going down the gachapon rabbit hole at #C-pla+
I sumimasen-ed my way inside and found a sea of gachapon machines. Wall-to-wall and three storeys high, there must have been hundreds of them packed into that small space.
Supamakettos are tourist attractions too
If Forrest Gump had made a trip to Japan, he probably would have said: “Life is like a supamaketto. You never know what you’re gonna to get.”
Second time lucky scoring the popular Kani Doraku kaniman
Despite the supposed popularity of the buns, there didn’t seem to be a queue. As I got closer, I could see “本日完売” prominently displayed, highlighted in yellow for added effect.
Foraging for food at Kuromon Market, the kitchen of Osaka
Kuromon has gotten a bad rap in recent times, and has been labelled as an over-priced tourist trap. But if you steer clear of the expensive seafood, there are still many value-for-money gems to be found there.
Shabu shabu and sukiyaki for one at Shabuwara Namba
I can see why Shabuwara has such a high rating on Google Maps. It’s especially friendly for solo travelers, since each diner gets their own individual pot.
Design Pocket Osaka makes amazingly lifelike food samples
After having your fill of Japanese street food at Kuromon Market, you can stroll over to Design Pocket and buy plastic versions of the exact same items as souvenirs.
Doteyaki at old-timey Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho
Doteyaki was on our shortlist of local Osaka specialties to sample, and we had somehow serendipitously stumbled upon it.
The giant Tempozan Ferris wheel is actually kinda scary
Standing at 112 metres, it’s equivalent to 42 stories of a typical HDB flat. Putting it into perspective, that’s almost double the height of the building we live in.
Back again at Osaka Kaiyukan for a magical marine adventure
Compared to other aquariums we’ve visited in Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong, there’s just something extra special about the immersive experience at the Kaiyukan.
