Adventures of Dotonbori 道頓堀 & お好み焼き

Once we actually got to Namba, it was a mad house. People everywhere. Food and restaurants everywhere. Shopping everywhere. If there's one thing Japanese people are good, it's food and shopping. Okay that's 2 things. 

Dotonbori is actually a long street, with shops, restaurants, food stands, and arcades on both sides. It runs parallel to a river or canal that makes for a nice deck area to hang out and eat your street food aka たこ焼き takoyaki (canal seen below).

We didn't get a chance to eat takoyaki たこ焼き just because I knew my おばあちゃん was making some that night. So we meandered through the crowds, checking out some of the gift shops, going into the arcades and trying out the UFO catchers (which is a totally different subject I will write about but my 外人 husband had never experience this and was totally hooked on it). Dotonbori is a crazy touristy place but we saw a lot of Japanese people there too, hanging out and meeting up with friends. If you don't like the crowded hustle bustle, this is probably not the place. Demographics consists of mostly young adults. Definitely not a place to bring your grandparents. 

Come lunch time we were pretty hungry. One of the difficult things to do in Japan is trying to decide what to have for lunch. First of all, there are just way too many choices!! Damn it!! It's overkill. Seriously. I couldn't decided if I want to eat at this お好み焼き restaurant or the one a few steps away. Not only does the Dotonbori area have お好み焼き, they have the usual suspects like カレー，豚カツ，ラーメン，焼き肉，天ぷら and so on. It's really a foodie's paradise. I wish I could stay a month just to try out one area's restaurants. So finally we decided on お好み焼き at creo-ru くれおーる(http://www.creo-ru.com).  

Address: くれおーる 道頓堀店

オウジビルディング, １丁目-６-４ Dotonbori, Chuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0071, Japan  http://goo.gl/maps/dAuv6

I guess being a foodie from Los Angeles I kind of expected alot. It was so so. I think my mom or おばあちゃん can make better お好み焼き. We actually had to wait a good 30 minutes or so because it was crowded during lunch time. Strange. I've never really waited for a restaurant in Japan. So finally we are seated upstairs at a small table with a high tech menu and a large basket underneath the table. Apparently the basket is for the ladies to put their purses in... I'm only assuming so the purse bottom doesn't get dirty?...Anywho, the menu in itself was another crazy thing. You selected your orders with a talking electronic pen which  reiterated your orders. Hmm. No actual person taking your order. We weren't the only ones having a hard time with this thing. Other natives were actually having a hard time with this thing. We actually had a waitress help us out with the ordering. 

Service was godly slow. Ugh. Again with my LA expectations. We usually wait no more than 15-20 minutes for our food maybe. However we must've wait at least 30-40 minutes for our food. Oh yes, another Japanese norm. Smoking in the restaurant. Totally allowed. That was strange. However, strange as I am, I actually like the smell of smoking. Probably because it reminds me Japan. I don't really mind it. If I smell someone smoking in LA it actually makes me feel nostagic and reminds me of Japan. 

豚玉お好み焼き　－　キュピーマヨたっぷりととんかつソースもたっぷり。かつおぶしはあんまり好きじゃないからとりました。ふんわりしてたのはいいけど、やわらかすぎました。ちょっとネチョネチョしすぎて食べずらかった。おばあちゃんの手作りの方がおいしい！

And that's the verdict of the Okonomiyaki. There were plenty of places that also looked good, but again, we only tried one off the main street in Dotonbori. I occasionally make this at home so it's not something too special for us. I would much rather eat sushi!