We woke up refreshed the next morning and went to the Kuromon Ichiba 黒門市場 for sashimi breakfast. This market is Osaka's equivalent of the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. So of cos we must pay a visit!
Our hotel, City Plaza Osaka, in the day. It is a few trains stops away from the city's centre but the room rate is cheaper and comes with a free rooftop onsen that we used every night from our second day of stay!
AND, they have massage chairs outside the onsen which also can be used for free. So we would soak in the hot spring, and then relax in the massage chair before going back to our room to watch tv. Shiokness!
The market entrance
Morning view from our room.
Walking into the market which sold lots of dried goods, kitchen essentials as well. I bought a tamagoyaki pan here which I can probably use when we move into our new house by the year end.
Now to the exciting food section.
Pufferfish! We had pufferfish sashimi for breakfast later! Achievement unlocked!
The biggest reward of visiting the market: we came across a tuna cutting ceremony! I was so excited and insisted that we stayed on to watch the whole thing. This is like something on my bucket list!
There was much fanfare to the tuna cutting. A shop assistant kept shouting to attract the crowd and the aunties were all crowding around to watch the ceremony. The tuna sashimi ended up in our bellies later.
The shop where the tuna cutting ceremony took place.
The sashimi platter we bought at the shop. Tuna belly sashimi there. Such bliss!
Pufferfish sashimi which had no taste, as what people who have eaten it have said. But ah well, we can know check it off!
Despite the happy times at the market, I was rather upset and threw a mini fit as we were leaving the market. I realised I had dropped my camera cover along the way when snapping photos in the market and was quite pissed.
Dear helped me to walk through the market again to find the case but he couldn't locate it. So after accepting that the case is lost, I grudgingly left the market to carry on to Den Den town (it's the Akihabara of Osaka).
It was the first time I lost something on a trip and wah lah, a camera casing lor, so mafan to replace. The only consolation was that the leather casing was old and peeling after being tossed along in my bag.
Nonetheless, it took a little while for me restore my mood.
At Den Den town where my friend and Dear were shopping for toys excitedly.
After shopping, it is eating time again. We planned for a crab feast and went to Kani Doraku which is famous for affordable crab sets.
Lunch time sets were the most value for money and we rushed to have a late lunch to take advantage of the cost savings.
Our private room. Nice to be out of the cold and so Chel Chel can come out to play.
There were quite a few courses of crab cooked in different ways. This is steamed crab rice.
Crab sashimi
Crab chawamushi
Can also add dashi broth to the steamed rice.
The only non crab item: ice-cream for dessert.
We stumbled out of the restaurant with a full stomach and walked off the calories by proceeding to the kitchenware street. Osaka is the kitchen of Japan, so I must buy nice and cheap kitchen accessories here for keepsake right? Lucky I have a nice friend who was willing to accommodate me.
I ended up buying chopsticks, a couple of plates and soba set. Sounds pretty crazy rite, lugging these things back. But the food bloggers also do this when they travel and I want to have the smug feel of using utensils that are made in Japan haha.
We explored the surrounding area and then proceeded back to Namba to visit shops that we had left out the previous night.
The night was cold and it was zero degrees Celsius lor. Thus we unlocked another experience: having ramen outdoors on a zero degree night.
This was the famous Kinryu ramen. But I feel taste is so-so.
Gyoza to share after shopping for snacks in the snacks shop meant for tourists. I am amazed at the Jap's creativity in creating snacks that are gimmicky but yet makes you feel like buying.
It was great to have a hot soup of ramen on such a cold night. But our hands were freezing and pained from the cold. Even holding chopsticks with your bare hands was unbearable. Dear ate with his gloves on.
After dinner, we went back to soak in the hotel's onsen. There were both indoor and outdoor onsen. Super shiok to be in the outdoor hot spring waters with the cold wind blowing around you. Another experience unlocked!
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