The Dotonbori shopping district feels like the beating heart of Osaka and is the epicenter of one of the best food cultures in Japan. Chances are you’ll spend a large portion of your time in Osaka exploring this central area, gawking at its blaring neon lights, characterful 3D restaurant signs and unique food choices.
Hundreds of restaurants are packed into Dotonbori’s busy main street—so much so that the choice can be overwhelming for new visitors, and it’s easy to fall into expensive tourist traps. But it is possible to eat cheaply in the area if you know where to look.
Here are five spots where you can try some of the region’s most famous dishes on a budget.
1. Takoyaki: Honke Otako Dotonbori
Takoyaki (fried octopus balls) are possibly the most famous of Osaka’s many signature dishes. Dotonbori hosts dozens, perhaps hundreds, of stalls for the snack—often distinguished by their giant 3D octopus signs.
Honke Otako Dotonbori is the oldest and perhaps best-known takoyaki shop in Dotonbori, and undercuts the majority of its competition—with the standard six balls, smothered in toppings, coming in at a mere ¥500. It gets extra points for the ample seating in its back room—if you’re okay with the barebones but atmospheric surroundings—and its wider menu offering a range of dishes for larger meals. That said, you could happily exist just on takoyaki for a day if you wanted to—the balls are a filling, flavorful snack, and add more weight to the Osaka philosophy that everything is better when fried.
1-4-14 Dotonbori, Chuo Ward, Osaka - Map
Price: ¥500–¥1,500
Hours: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
www.dotonbori.or.jp/en/shops/85
2. Okonomiyaki: Takohachi Dotonbori
Takohachi Dotonbori, right opposite Honke Otako, prides itself on offering as many Osaka specialties as possible and is one of the best places in Dotonbori to get inexpensive okonomiyaki—a very popular dish combining pan-fried batter, cabbage and a choice of toppings, like meat, cheese and vegetables (making it a good option for vegetarians). Basic options start at around ¥1,000, but we recommend piling on the toppings for as much extra flavor as possible.
Click here to read more.
- External Link
- https://gaijinpot.com/
4 Comments
Login to comment
falseflagsteve
To be honest, this looks like a paid advert for Dotonbori area.
Three reasons not to dine there; High prices, not the best quality an full of tourists. It's lie advising people in London to eat around Leicester Square.
If you want decent and cheap takoyaki and okonomiyaki head to Shin Sekai, There are a few small places with okonomiyaki starting at 600yen, even seafood mix is under 1000.
Kinryu Ramen is horrid, mind you it takes all sorts,lol Better to hit one of the chain stores.
As for yaki soba, dont eat it you see but 650 is over the odd fo basic in Osaka .
Avoid the Wagyu place, overpriced. Head towards Shinsaibashi on the back streets and there's a few reasonbly priced places.
Roy Sophveason
It's the tourist heart of Osaka, together with the adjacent Namba, Amemura and Shinsaibashisuji areas. Visited by tourists, inhabited by tourists and those who cater to them.
Do go there for laughs, the sights, the spectacle, and to take the obligatory picture in front of the Glico man.
Do not go there to genuinely experience Japanese culture or food. I am genuinely sorry for everyone who gets their culinary baseline there. Even if they don't look it on the surface, many of the eateries are chain stores with standardized menus. And the other eateries do not fare any better; You have no idea how criminally bland Japanese food can be until you had Takoyaki off a Dotonbori street vendor.
If you want to get cheap food, or good food, or ideally both ... go literally elsewhere. Step out of your hotel, check in which direction Namba and Dotonbori are, and then walk for five minutes in the opposite direction.
kohakuebisu
Kinryu hits the spot when you're on the grog, which is all a stand-up ramen should do. As eaten by Harrison Ford, in an advert for Kansai Cellular (the precursor to "AU"), for anyone wanting the full "its just like Blade Runner" experience.
It was twenty years ahead of its time, but Haagen Daaz used to have an Alice in Wonderland like shop right on Doutomburi bridge. It was really trippy inside, with mini roundabouts, carriages, weird mirrors etc. If they had it now, it would be massive on Insta.
piskian
Don't eat there.
Just take in the sights.
Five minutes across the road, you're sure to find much better fare at reasonable prices.