Osaka Shinsekai Food Tour

Eat your way through 13 different dishes of Japanese cuisine in Osaka’s Shinsekai district with your own guide on a Shinsekai food tour. Florentyna Leow explains how the evening unfolds.

[A view of Tsutenkaku Tower along one of the streets of Shinsekai - image © Florentyna Leow]

Tokyo may have the highest number of Michelin stars in the world, but it’s Osaka that’s known as the city of “kuidaore” --- to “eat until you fall over.” Whether you’re a casual food lover or the type to plan your holiday entirely around eating, West Japan’s largest city is a must-visit on the basis of its cuisine alone. But in a city of thousands of restaurants, where should the first-time visitor begin?

That’s where a food tour comes in. Here’s our in-depth review on this 13-dish food tour in Shinsekai, Osaka, and how you can join on your next visit to Japan.

[Our guide played “guess what this is” with us. We won’t spoil the surprise - image © Florentyna Leow]

Why Do a Guided Food Tour in Osaka?

The best reason to join a guided tour, in one word: Efficiency. If this is your first time visiting Osaka, you have a limited time frame in which to experience what the city has to offer. (Which is fun, but perhaps not fresh off a flight.) Think of a food tour as a quick but thorough orientation to Osaka’s food scene, where you can sample a variety of dishes and tastes without having to make every single decision.

On this Shinsekai food tour, you also have access to a fount of local knowledge and angel of logistics: your guide. They know the area well, take care of all the ordering (so you don’t have to figure out what’s good and what’s not on an extensive menu), answer all your questions about food and drink (including what not to bother with), and most importantly, provide context on what you’re eating. It’s like being taken around town by a knowledgeable local friend for a few hours.

The guides are all long-term residents/serious eaters and they really know their stuff. We won’t spoil all the details for you, but our review below should be enough to give you an idea of what it’s like. You can join the guided tour via GetYourGuide. You can book similar Shinsekai tours on Klook too.

[Ebi mayo, or battered and fried prawns slathered with a rich mayonnaise sauce. Better than it sounds --- you’ll wish you had a plate of rice alongside - image © Florentyna Leow]

Things to Know Before You Go

• The tour typically costs around ¥13,000 per person. 13 dishes and 2 drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are included in the tour price. Customers must cover the cost of any additional drinks.
• Instructions for the meeting point in Shinsekai are very clear and are emailed directly to you via GetYourGuide.
• Group sizes are kept small, a maximum of 9 people. However, they will run the tour even if you end up being the only participant.
• Train transport costs are not included in the tour. However, we only needed to ride the train once to get to the meeting spot; the rest of the time, we walked in the same neighbourhood.
• Go hungry! You’re unlikely to need dinner afterwards.

[Skewered chicken thigh and negi (Japanese leek), grilled over charcoal - image © Florentyna Leow]

Walkthrough: Osaka Shinsekai Food Tour

Our guide for this tour was Mr. N, a long-term resident of Osaka. There were nine of us that evening visiting from various places --- Texas, Hong Kong, Toronto. He was an obviously experienced guide, managing to coax laughs and conversation out of the quietest members of the group over the evening.

Throughout the tour, he would parcel out anecdotes and short lectures on the historical context of where we were and what we were eating --- never too much, just enough to help us understand while having fun. Just as importantly, he would highlight and clarify aspects of Japanese restaurant etiquette, like what the bamboo cylinder on the table was for (to deposit your used skewers).

[Skewered pork and negi (Japanese leek), grilled over charcoal --- a crowd favourite - image © Florentyna Leow]

We began with a short walk through Janjan Yokocho, the covered shopping arcade near our meeting spot. Our first stop was an izakaya, where Mr. N had us sample four small plates --- grilled shishito peppers, marinated nagaimo (Chinese yam), a grilled pork-and-leek skewer, and a grilled chicken-and-leek skewer. These were tasty and well-executed.

[This dish was a surprise hit with the American guests - image © Florentyna Leow]

The marinated nagaimo with freshly grated wasabi was an unexpected hit with the group, myself included --- even having lived here for a decade, this wasn’t a dish I’d ever ordered. It had the characteristic slipperiness (some might describe this as “sliminess”) of the yam, but also an addictively light, crisp crunch.

[You’re unlikely to go home hungry with the amount of food you eat on tour - image © Florentyna Leow]

We continued our stroll down Janjan Yokocho and onwards into the neighbourhood, barely walking a few minutes before our next stop for gyoza. This was a large chain restaurant, which isn’t something that first-time visitors would necessarily know. That being said, the gyoza were very decent --- good examples of the genre, and Mr. N patiently walked the group through the basics of making a dipping sauce.

[You can eat takoyaki in Tokyo, of course, but it really does taste better in Osaka - image © Florentyna Leow]

It wouldn’t be an Osaka food tour without takoyaki --- balls of hot batter and octopus chunks, griddled and topped with mayonnaise, brown sauce, and whatever else you want. Our third stop, barely a minute down the road from the gyoza restaurant, was an open-air takoyaki joint called Ichiban. We couldn’t say for sure that this was indeed the best takoyaki in town, but was again a solid and delicious example of the genre. Showering crispy garlic on takoyaki is a touch of genius; this should be an option at all takoyaki shops.

[The infant-like Biliken is honestly quite creepy - image © Florentyna Leow]

We took a quick walk around the neighbourhood --- “the Coney Island of Osaka,” as Mr. N described it --- to digest and prepare for our next stop. Mr. N showed us some of the sights, explaining the history behind Tsutenkaku Tower and introducing us to local mascot Billiken, the God of Things as They Ought to Be.

[This is the sort of wholesome food that’s easy to graze on while drinking - image © Florentyna Leow]

Our next stop was a tachinomiya (standing izakaya) back along Janjan Yokocho. We sampled another assortment of dishes designed to pair with sake (which most of the group drank). Cold somen noodles on ice was a first for many in the group; it paired quite nicely with the butter-sauteed eringi mushrooms.

[Tonpeiyaki is not especially photogenic, but it does taste good - image © Florentyna Leow]

A particular highlight here was tonpeiyaki, a pork and cabbage omelette that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. Imagine a hot tangle of crispy pork belly and sauteed shredded cabbage and bean sprouts, wrapped in a tender omelette and drizzled with brown sauce. It was a tad lighter than the usual mayonnaise-slathered versions, but no less tasty.

[We were instructed to pour sauce over our skewers, instead of dipping them in a communal pot as one might have done pre-COVID - image © Florentyna Leow]

Our final stop featured a taste of kushikatsu, a Shinsekai speciality we’ve written about before. After most of us had our lemon sours in hand (this was new to most of the guests, and popular for its easy-drinking qualities), a plate of nagaimo kushikatsu arrived. The mountain yam again, but battered and deep-fried until hot and tender. We liked the sense of continuity Mr. N built into the tour, by calling back to the start with the same ingredient presented differently.

[We still think of these chicken wings - image © Florentyna Leow]

Perhaps even better than the kushikatsu, however, were the deep-fried chicken wings. These were slathered with a gloriously sweet-sticky sauce and showered with black pepper. A true standout dish, and one we were sorry to see disappear. The final dish of ebi mayo (prawn in mayonnaise sauce, topped with ikura) was delicious, but already too much by the time the wings had been devoured.

Three hours flew by, thanks to Mr. N’s hospitality, friendliness, and stellar hosting skills. The other participants clearly enjoyed the evening as well, and several of them made plans to drink together later in the evening in a different part of town. If you’re on the fence about a food tour in Osaka, we’d suggest joining one. It was good value for money, and a fun, tasty experience that’s ideal for the first-time visitor.

Osaka Shinsekai Food Tour

Admission:

From ¥13,000 per person; purchase online at GetYourGuide and Klook.

Nearest Hotels:
Check availability and pricing for hotels near Shinsekai on Booking.com or Agoda.com.

Near To Here:
Shinsekai is located in Osaka’s Tennoji and Abeno area. See our complete list of things to do in the Osaka’s Tennoji and Abeno area, including places to eat, nightlife and places to stay.

Where Are These Places Located?

• Open the Osaka map
• You will see the list of places on the left hand side. (Click the 3-line icon in the top left corner if not). Scroll down or use the map search (the magnifying glass icon) to find the place you want.
• Click the name of the place in the list. Its location pin will be highlighted on the map.
• Map pins are color coded - BLUE: Hotels / Ryokan / Guesthouses | VIOLET: Ryokan | PINK: Places to Eat | GREEN: Shops | YELLOW: Things to See and Do
• If you’re using the map on your phone, open the map and then search for the name of the place. The map will then zoom in on its location.

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