Osaka Restaurants To Add To Your Next Japan Itinerary

Let’s try some Osaka Restaurants from this trip that blew my mind! As someone who’s always looking for good spots while traveling, Osaka’s food continuously made me feel like I’ve found a brand new favorite. From a curry restaurant that convinced me to enjoy eggplants, to unique overstuffed onigiri that turns into ochazuke, these local favorite restaurants have surprised me from beginning to end. If you’re planning your Japan trip, please, stop by Osaka, and add these restaurants to your list!

Exploring Osaka: Japan’s Kitchen

I’m taking Dom and My Mom around Osaka for the first time, and we’re eating everything we can! Osaka is known as Japan’s Kitchen, so I know the food would be delicious. But, I don’t think I was prepared for how much I would fall in love with the food in this city. Not only did we get to try some of the best takoyaki in Dotonbori, but we also had an amazing dessert cafe tour around the city.

Today, I’m sharing some of the must-try Osaka restaurants I definitely recommend trying for yourself when you plan your next Japan trip. From some of the best curry I’ve ever tried to delicious beef tongue specialty restaurants, here are some of the spots I found that I would definitely come back to the next time I’m in Osaka.

Premium Overstuff Onigiri (End with Ochazuke!)

Our first stop was this onigiri spot that I have saved immediately when I first saw it: Onigiri Gorichan. This place is known for their oversized freshly made onigiri stuffed with so much filling! It’s one of those spots that looks really simple, but the second you take a bite, you understand why people line up for it. I know you can get really good onigiris in convenience stores in Japan, but this was on another level.

There are so many different toppings available, from classic ingredients like salmon roe and pickles to premium toppings like seared marinated fatty tuna. And, you can have any combinations of these toppings at around 499-799 yen each (~$3 USD). These rice balls are massive. The rice was warm, the seaweed crispy, and every single one packed with so much filling. And, you can add a bowl of their miso soup to make it a full meal in the best way possible.

Pro tip, definitely make sure to save a little bit of your onigiri at the end. That way, you can make ochazuke, or brothy rice, for free. Just add in the hot tea, seaweed, green onion, and sesame seeds they provide, and you got a perfectly warm bowl of ochazuke to end our first official meal in Osaka. We loved this so much that we actually came back on our last day and brought it to the airport. It was that good! Definitely a 9/10.

Charcoal-Grilled Eel Rice Bowls

For dinner. We randomly stumble across this restaurant that already had a line 5 minutes before it even opened: Hozenji Yamakazu. Whenever I see a lineup of locals before a restaurant opens, I feel like that is always a good sign. So, of course, we decided to line up to see what the hype was about. I’m so, so glad that we did. This restaurant specializes in jiyaki unagi, which means eel grilled directly over charcoal fire instead of being steamed first.

We got their unagi rice bowl (2970 yen, $18.75 USD) and unagi egg rice bowl (2090 yen, $13.18) set, which comes with a broth. I also ordered their unagi rice box (4180 yen, $26.38 USD) that also has the eel liver soup, which was so good! The eel has this crispy, smoky exterior, with really soft, rich, and buttery interior. The texture, the smokiness, the sauce, and the rice together was so delicious. They provide 2 extra spices to go with your eel: black sansho pepper mix, and whole Japanese sansho pepper. My personal favorite is the freshly ground whole Japanese sansho pepper, which adds a lot of umami spicy flavor.

This was one of those meals where I knew immediately that Osaka is going to be a dangerous foodie city for me. The restaurant was completely full after just 30 minutes of opening. If you guys come here, you can make a reservation online to make sure you get a spot. Or, to simply walk-in, make sure to come around like 5:20-5:25 PM and wait in line.

Hole-In-The-Wall Curry That Made Me Like Eggplants

If there’s one place that you have to add to your Osaka itinerary, it is this hole-in-the-wall Japanese curry restaurant that literally blew our minds called Kusaka Curry. The menu was super simple, just 6 different plates of curry with extra available toppings. Everything was made right in front of us, and just watching it all happen made me so hungry. We ordered 3 different ones to try: Fried Egg Pork Cutlet Eggplant Curry (2050 yen, $12), Hamburger Steak Curry (1650 yen, $10), fried eggplant curry (1650 yen, $10.41)

As someone who has my fair share of curry, this one was completely different. Their curry is made with Japanese beef and a special house-made spice blend. The sauce is thick, glossy, and coats every grade of rice. It was a perfect balance of rich, savory, smoky, and slightly sweet. It’s very comforting at the first bite, but the more you eat, the more the depths of the different layers of spices come out. And, even with the layers of beef, spices, and richness, it’s not too heavy at all.

My favorite was definitely their deep fried eggplant. If you know me, you know I don’t even like eggplant at all! But, it was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and made perfectly to soak up all that delicious curry sauce. This curry was so good, we all finished everything on this plate. It was 10 out of 10. Highly, highly recommend. Make sure to make a reservation when you visit, because this place is really small and does fill up super fast.

Wagyu Beef Bento Box Lunch

This might be our most anticipated meal of our foodie adventure day: Wagyu Beef Bento Box Lunch Sets from Wagyu Idaten. We lined up at 10:30 am for a ticket for the 11:30 opening just to make sure we get a spot. While waiting, we had the chance to complete our Dotonbori Takoyaki Ranking as well as trying some delicious Osaka desserts. Finally, after an hour of waiting, it’s time for our Wagyu Lunch Boxes.

They have so many different options to choose from, including tataki, sukiyaki style beef, grilled wagyu, and so much more. Each set comes with a soup, and a range of condiments to enjoy with your meat. We started with the Seared A5 with Garlic Ponzu (2480 yen, $15.65), with an egg yolk and the perfect amount of garlicky ponzu sauce drizzled over. Then, we also had the Seared A5 Uchihira (2430 yen, $15.34), a beautiful bed of lightly seared beef. Lastly, we ordered the Osaka Tataki and Kobe Sukiyaki box (2580 yen, $16.28). The beef was so so tender and rich for each box, and the rice soaked up all the sauce.

I love that it felt special, but still really easy and casual for lunch. I also personally found this to be the perfect amount of Wagyu for me, compared to having a huge Wagyu barbecue at night. These bento boxes felt really rich and satisfying without being too heavy. So, 10 out of 10. Plus, I honestly really, really appreciated their ticketing system. It allows you to walk around, snack a little bit, shop nearby, then come back when it’s almost your turn. This was 100% worth checking out!

Okinawa-Style Noodle Soups

I’m already planning my next trip to Japan, but I’m not sure which city to go to between Kyoto, Sapporo, and Okinawa. So, what is the better way to help me decide than trying Okinawa-style noodles at Okimen Tengan? This place is special because of their focus on their dashi and noodles. Okinawan soba, though called “soba”, isn’t actually buckwheat noodles, but it’s more of a chewy wheat noodles in a clear, comforting broth.

The broth here is made with ingredients like katsuobushi, kombu, Okinawaa salt, and dried clams. So, it has a really clean but deeply savory flavor. Compared to ramen, it has a super super light broth but still so much umami flavor. Then, it’s combined with different toppings. We ordered the Sanmainiku soba (1100 yen, $6.94), with a large slice of 3-layer pork belly simmered and grilled. We also had the Pork Cartilage Soba (950 yen, $6), with big chunks of super soft pork cartilage. Lastly, the Okinawa soba (880 yen, $5.55) is packed with a special seaweed from Okinawa.

The noodles here were so, so comforting, and the staff was super nice. They even introduced us to a super spicy Japanese chili paste to pair with our noodles. This was honestly the perfect first meal for our last day in Osaka. Cozy, warm, and exactly what we needed.

Local Fave Homemade Chicken Paitan Ramen

After a full day of exploring Minoh and Katsuo-ji, the famous Daruma temple, we actually went back to this local ramen shop that caught my eye earlier: Komugi To Ikiru Michi. I knew we had to come back because of the long lines of locals right in front during lunch hours. Their menu items focus on 2 main things: noodles made in-house with Hokkaido wheat flour, and a deep, white chicken broth.

Their absolute must try is their specialty Chicken Paitan ramen. The white chicken broth looks light, but it’s almost a milky-rich, creamy sip. Despite being almost frothy like Cappuchino, the flavor itself is light enough for you to keep drinking. The broth clings well to the freshly-made noodles, which has a bouncy texture and releases more wheat aroma as you chew. After a long day of adventuring and walking around, it’s a nice bowl of noodles to recover with.

Beef Tongue Specialty Japanese Grill

For the last dinner of our trip, we’re so glad we trusted the locals again with Gyutan Charcoal Grill Yoshiji. This tiny, unassuming Japanese grill restaurant specializes in Sendai recipes, especially beef tongue. The owner actually opened this restaurant simply because he himself loved beef tongue. In fact, in their menu they have a full page of only beef tongue dishes.

Dom, my mom, and I each got 1 serving of their signature grilled beef tongue (2100 yen, $13), which comes with barley rice and a few side dishes. It was savory, slightly sauced, and grilled to perfection. We also ordered their Oxtail soup (500 yen, $3), which made this meal extra comforting. With bites of grilled tongue and sips of soup, It was simple, but super super heart warming. The perfect ending note to our Osaka foodie trip! If you love beef tongue and Japanese-style barbeque, this is the shop for you!

Steal my Osaka Itineraries to Plan Your Next Japan Trip!