A quick Osaka tour with my usual senior colleague. Of course, we ended up craving for kushikatsu. [Summary] A kushikatsu restaurant that focuses on beef. Not bad, but not particularly delicious either. The sauce is mild with a balance of saltiness and spiciness. Two men (eating moderately) spent around 6300 yen. The beef-centric menu made it feel a bit pricey. [Details] Beef 100 yen Thin coating, with a nice fatty texture. Pork belly 180 yen Juicy pork fat flowing out. Chicken tenderloin with yuzu pepper 200 yen Refreshing chicken tenderloin with yuzu pepper. Gizzard 120 yen Cut gizzard with a nice texture. Shishito peppers 150 yen Simply delicious. Lotus root 120 yen Soft lotus root. Smelt fish 200 yen Opened smelt fish, tasty. Pickled ginger 100 yen Sour and spicy pickled ginger. Quail eggs 150 yen Two quail eggs. Thick-cut beef tongue 300 yen Refreshing and thick beef tongue. Sirloin 300 yen Juicy with a good amount of fat. Harami (skirt steak) 250 yen Juicy with just the right amount of fat. Crunchy cartilage 150 yen Very crunchy texture with a good bite. Better texture than gizzard. Doteyaki (grilled beef and tripe skewer) 400 yen Tender beef and firm konjac with a soy sauce dominant flavor.

I went to see Tsutenkaku and ended up eating kushikatsu in Osaka, Shinsekai. The restaurant is located a little off the main street, so it's a bit hard to find. I ordered a set menu with a variety of meats and vegetables, as well as a seafood platter. They also gave us some shumai as a complimentary dish. The sauce was quite strong, so dipping everything in it made it too salty. About half the amount of sauce was just right. The restaurant was full, so it took about 20 minutes from ordering to being served, but the food was delicious.

There has always been a question that I have been curious about! In the bustling area of Shinsekai where there are many kushikatsu shops, there is a completely unknown and new shop waiting for customers, but they never come. So, the staff are constantly doing street sales activities. How does a shop like that fare? The shop is listed on Tabelog but has no reviews. There is a board at the entrance to attract customers, with kushikatsu starting at 50 yen. First, you have to order a drink - Coke Highball (Black Nikka) for 400 yen or Jack Daniel's for 550 yen. Which one would you like? When ordering kushikatsu, you write it down on a piece of paper and hand it over. Surprisingly, the 50 yen kushikatsu is... only shumai! Other kushikatsu items start from 100 yen, with items like beef for 100 yen, squid for 150 yen, and octopus for 150 yen. The shumai for 50 yen was unexpectedly small, with only one piece! The other kushikatsu items were almost the same size as the shumai! The taste wasn't bad though, especially the beef which had a nice hormone-like flavor. The ice in the drinks was the right amount, and the counter seats were in a private setting, making it easy to do SNS activities after eating. Thank you for the meal! As a side note, when it came time to pay, the unexpected happened - it was not included in the price. It was a separate charge. Looking back, I realized that they didn't provide the free cabbage that usually comes with kushikatsu (probably an additional charge).

The draft beer had a strange smell and tasted bad. The deep-fried skewers were decent, but the cabbage that usually comes for free was missing. I should have just gone to a chain restaurant. The cleanliness was also lacking.

Under the Tsutenkaku Tower, there was a flyer with a call-in offer of skewers starting from 50 yen. Intrigued by the low prices and the promise of a free recommended skewer upon arrival, I entered the restaurant with some skepticism. However, upon looking at the menu, I realized that the 50 yen skewer was only for shumai. And the recommended skewer turned out to be shumai skewers as well. Disappointed, my group ended up ordering four beers, three soft drinks, six skewers, and one okonomiyaki, which arrived quickly. The bill came out to 3000 yen. It was a very unsatisfying meal, and I definitely won't be returning. I guess this is not a place that expects repeat customers.