The moment you walk into Dotonbori street, which is the main restaurant and snacks store street, you will see many restaurants selling similar menu items. One of the items you will keep seeing will be the fried skewers
Fried skewers weren’t really on my list, but we were still slightly peckish after the small portion of Yakiniku. We were strolling down the Dotonbori street, and I decided to hop into one of these fried skewers restaurants since it was my nephew’s first visit to Osaka, and he had not tried Kushikatsu before
The restaurant is huge and we were shown to their 2nd floor, where there were many empty tables available. There are many sections of the restaurant which are separated into different areas, and some areas were fully packed. We were shown into an area that was empty but quickly filled up while we were in the middle of our meal
The order is placed through the iPad, which is passed to us by the server once we are shown to the table. There is also a simplified chart on the wall to show you each of the fried skewers they have available, which is quite a huge variety. On top of the skewers, they also sell Takoyaki, noodles, as well as other small snacks and dishes, which is great for supper. Each table is equipped with a tray of sauces, which includes the sweet soy sauce, chilli powder, normal soy sauce, as well as mayonnaise
As this was our 2nd meal for the night, I only ordered a small number of skewers for trying, which included the eggplant, lotus root, pumpkin, oyster, mushroom, pork meat and chicken meat. Each skewer is coated with a light batter so the skin is not overly thick. The skewers were very crispy with a slight oiliness to them, so you cannot really have too many skewers on their own. My personal favourites include the eggplant and pumpkin, which were very soft and sweet inside, so they are a perfect match with a crispy skin. The lotus root was crunchy, but some parts were slightly hard. The fried meat ones were quite tough, so I needed a ton of sauce to moisten them
One of the best dishes here was this fried chicken cartilage, which was served with a wedge of lemon. The citrus from the lemon cuts the oiliness from the dish and makes it more refreshing. The cartilage was crunchy and savoury, which makes a good beer snack
Last but not least, we ordered 1 serving of Takoyaki since this is a must-eat in Osaka, but this was really very disappointing. We originally wanted to order from the popular store, but the queue was too long. The ones made in this restaurant tasted like one of those sold in Singapore night markets. The skin was not crispy, and the inside was mushy and felt undercooked. I had 1 ball and really did not want to eat another one as wasted calories
Overall, I felt this meal was more of an experience, and the skewers were slightly too oily. I am not sure if the other popular stores for Kushikatsu would taste better, but I am sure that the Takoyaki would be much better at another store
Address: 1 Chome-6-10 Dotonbori, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 542-0071, Japan
Opening hours: 11 am to 1 am
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