I’d heard there was a pretty good Japanese restaurant in Shinsaibashi, the heart of Osaka’s nightlife — think Kabukicho in Tokyo — so I went to check it out. It had been a while since I’d seen this friend, so we had to go somewhere tasty ^_^
It’s a small place called Minato.
Apparently the owner trained at a well-known Japanese restaurant before opening this place. The atmosphere is a bit casual and the prices aren’t too steep. It’s not exactly cheap, but it’s the kind of place you can use for all sorts of occasions.
Chopsticks
First drink: Otokoyama Junmai Ginjo
It has a light sweetness to it.
Tofu
Eaten with wasabi, it’s clean-tasting but with a slight kick.
Greens dressed with yuzu
This was the starter.
Sashimi
I recognized the maguro and the hirame, but I didn’t know what the third one was, so I asked. It looked like buri, but it turned out to be shima-aji (striped jack). It’s a premium fish that costs several thousand yen apiece, so I was surprised to see it at a place like this. The taste was superb, but the portion was so small it barely counted as a palate cleanser. It looked like it would be amazing as shabu-shabu, but the ingredients are pricey, so I’ll have to be content with this much.
Grilled Kobe beef
Real Kobe beef. It was tasty, but again the portion was so small that it was over almost before it started. A bit of a letdown.
Shirako
This is fish milt. Creamy and delicious, but this time the seasoning was a little on the light side.
Grilled anago
It doesn’t measure up to a proper eel specialist, but as a snack to go with drinks it was nicely done.
Ginkgo nut and squid tempura
Both the bite and the ingredients are top-notch. But maybe because of the small portions, or maybe the prices, I seem to have been the only one who ate without a second thought and enjoyed it.
Continued in part 2.