Dining Tip #1 | Department Stores ~ Top floors and basements

Top floors

In big department stores such as Isetan (Kyoto Station) or Takashimaya (Namba Station, Osaka), the top floors are reserved for restaurants and fast foods. All very affordable, of course.

Ramen heaven

We had our first authentic ramen at the 10th floor of Isetan. The 10th floor housed the “all-ramen” restaurants. Despite the numerous ramen outlets, there is always a queue. After all, shop spaces are tight, so a queue outside is quite normal. Don’t despair, the Japanese eat fast too. The wait is anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. We looked for one that had the shortest queue. The hubby was in ramen heaven, as you would be.

At Takashimaya Namba, the food court is from the 8th to 10th floor. We had our first taste of Osaka’s Okonomiyaki there. This is like the Japanese version of pizza that consists of flour batter, eggs and an assortment of ingredients. Mostly cabbage, and a choice of pork, seafood mix etc. Gabo enjoyed this new find. So it must be good!

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki meaning “grilled” or “cooked”. – Wikipedia

Okonomiyaki. Photo courtesy of http://www.closetcooking.com/2009/05/okonomiyaki-japanese-pancake.html

Basement floors

The bottom floors are reserved for grocery and “Depachika” (oh-my-goodness all sorts of Japanese delicacies, pastries, cakes, kakanin…). You will literally be walking into eye-popping visual food nirvana. Here let me show you in pictures!

My thoughts exactly

Simply stunning

Foodgasm

Foodgasm, Part 2

Melt in your mouth Roll Cake. To die for Rhubarb Crumble.