Osaka: Derek's Last Stand

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Derek and I dropped into Osaka on the evening of January 20th. He was to fly out on the morning of the 22nd, giving us one full day to explore the city.

However, we did not just sit idly by and waste one of our two precious nights left together. No. We ate two dinners.
The first was this wonderful katsu with another vibrant orange-yolked fried egg on top. Along with some tuna.

Next, we went to a tofu restaurant, initially to try just their tofu tiramisu (which I saw on Instagram). However, we were so enthralled by the menu we ended up enjoying fried tofu, tofu skin dumplings, crab croquettes, and my favorite, fresh tofu cooked right on the table. The tofu cooked in that box to the left of Derek.


I am not a huge tofu person, but this blew me away. The tofu was so rich and creamy and silky smooth. Wonderful texture.

The tofu tiramisu was a major crowd pleaser. One of the top desserts of the entire trip for sure.

The next day we got up early to seize our last full day together. What a day of eating we had. First, we enjoyed the Osaka riverfront.


We enjoyed a convenience store pork bun and Krispy Kreme donut breakfast. Then we went over to the Osaka castle. Very nice.


Next we visited a Kobe beef bowl restaurant I saw on Instagram. This was another adorable Japanese culinary experience. Derek and I have both grown fond of Japan's open kitchen concept. It's really fun to watch your food being prepared. Especially when it's this mother/daughter duo cheffing up the most beautiful cuts of beef.


This was yet another stellar meal. I need to figure out where these eggs are coming from. I am such a sucker for raw vibrant orange egg yolks. This was a simple meal masterfully prepared. Rice, onions, beef, and egg yolk.

After this food success, we began walking towards our next food destination.  


We made it about seven minutes before we were drawn to a fast moving line of locals. They were waiting for this small shop pumping out croquettes and other fried goods at an impressive rate. We hopped in line and enjoyed some fresh katsu and croquettes. A little double fried food combo to wash down the beef.


We made it another three minutes before seeing a cream puff store. We ate five. And then we made it to our next food destination! An onigiri place. I ordered the salmon roe. It was very good, which was about the highest rating attainable given how much physical discomfort I was in at this point.


We kept walking and digesting. We hopped on a subway to head back downtown. By the time we got off, our appetites had returned. Time for our sendoff meal. No better last supper than some more wagyu baby!


This beef was so good. Insane. Just look at the marbling. Derek was covering his eyes and ears to induce sensory deprivation to fully appreciate the flavor. We were in heaven.


Sufficiently stuffed, we walked back along the riverfront. Until,
"Dessert?"
"I could."


And that's how we found ourselves spending $15 each on these absurd dessert parfait concoctions.


Neither one of us knew anywhere near 50% of these ingredients. But they were quite tasty.

And if you give a mouse a dessert parfait ... he's going to want McDonald's. So that is how we capped off our final day. No better way.


For those of you curious that is a daily food total, per person, of:
  • One convenience store pork bun
  • One Krispy Kreme donut
  • One Kobe beef bowl with egg
  • One fried pork katsu
  • One fried croquette
  • 2.5 cream puffs
  • One onigiri
  • Half a platter of wagyu
  • One dessert parfait
  • One McDonald's burger
And that is how we do it. Just like when Jake and I descended upon that mall in Bangkok, we had to go out with a bang.

The next day, Derek woke up at 4:30am to catch his early flight to London (go read his blog post about it).

As I've tried to highlight throughout these posts, Derek was an incredible travel companion. Booking hotels, running to ATMs, eating 4,000+ calories per day, he did it all. I feel so fortunate and thankful that he took the time to fly across the Pacific to join me for this stretch of the trip. It was so fun. He will of course be missed. Especially because Derek was my final companion of the trip. I am now solo until I return to America. Crazy. Thank you Derek for joining this traveling circus and adding your own spice to it. Until our next adventure!


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