We went to Dotonbori on the evening of day 2 in Osaka. Despite its hype, I must agree that it’s a must-visit for first-timer like myself. It’s the symbol of Osaka in my book. I tried to deny that but when I finally stood in front of the Glico Man signboard, that feeling of ‘Yup, I’m really in Osaka man!’ really hits me.
The first thing we ate at Dotonbori is Ganso Kushikatsu Daruma 元祖串かつ だるま 道頓堀店. It’s a restaurant that specializes in kushikatsu 串カツ (also known as kushiage) which is deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables and are dip in sauce. Kushikatsu is said to be originated from Osaka, so yup try this dish if you’re here. This particular restaurant is quite famous and has branches in many places. This is a branch as well.
This is the ground floor with counter and table seating. We sat on the first floor. The frying station is also located above. Yup, there are many customers but we didn’t have problem finding seat. Thing is the place is really loud. Not really a pleasant dining experience since I was quite tired.
Ganso Kushikatsu Daruma English combo menu. We didn’t order the combo as we wanted more freedom.
Ganso Kushikatsu Daruma English menu. Not all staff knows how to speak English and so we waited quite a bit before we can have our questions asked.
Since hygiene is really important, they don’t allow you to dip your kushikatsu more than once into the sauce (seen in the photo on the right). What if you want to dip one more time? That’s where that plate of cabbage comes into play. Use the cabbage as a spoon/bowl and scoop the sauce. Then you can either dip your kushikatsu into the cabbage-filled sauce or just pour the sauce from the cabbage to your kushikatsu.
Our kushikatsu. Problem with sharing a tray of kushikatsu with your group is you have no idea which ones are yours. Since they’ve been breaded and fried you can’t really pinpoint what’s inside except for some. So we asked the staff to name each and everything. LOL. However we can’t remember some of them and more confusion ensues. In the end, I ate what the other have ordered and vice versa. Haha
Price ranges from 120 yen to 240 yen per skewer. This tray plus caplis water @ 300 yen and sweet potato shochu @ 420 yen in the end totaled at 2,916 yen (~RM110+). Not cheap right? This plate couldn’t even feed us properly and yes also the fact that we didn’t order much. We wanted to save our stomach to sample other food.
If I could choose, I would order more meat and less vegetables as meat kushikatsu is the best. Personally, I’m not a fan of the sauce (intense flavor). So I either dip the kushikatsu a little with it or didn’t dip at all. Overall, the kushikatsu is not bad. They are fried to perfection. Oily? Sure.
Address:
元祖串かつ だるま 道頓堀店 Ganso Kushikatsu Daruma
1-6-4 Dotonbori
Chuo-ku Osaka-shi
Osaka
or
大阪府 大阪市中央区 道頓堀 1-6-4
Tel: +81-6-6213-8101
Opening time: 11.30am-10.30pm, daily
Nearest stations: Namba, Nippombashi
Map:
No Comments