A note on the words: dote-yaki is beef tendon simmered slowly in sweetened miso until it goes soft, an Osaka drinking standard. Kushikatsu are bite-sized pieces of meat, seafood and vegetables threaded on skewers, breaded and deep-fried, and eaten with a thin brown sauce. Tonpei-yaki is thin pork wrapped in a flat omelet and finished with brown sauce, mayonnaise, aonori and katsuobushi. Konamono means the flour-based dishes Osaka is known for, like okonomiyaki and takoyaki. Otoshi is a small appetizer you’re charged for — it’s the cover charge, not a scam. Daytime drinking is a genre of its own here. Naniwa is an old name for Osaka, still used on signs. Aonori is powdered green seaweed and katsuobushi are shavings of dried, smoked bonito that curl in the heat. Izakaya means a Japanese pub.
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Isohachi on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. So, this time I went to Isohachi, down in the basement right outside Shin-Osaka Station. I’d been hunting around for somewhere I could drink from midday, but the places that were open were few and far between. This one was. Since I’d come all the way to Osaka I wanted to eat something Osaka-ish, and there was a sign outside saying Naniwa cuisine — perfect.
It even says “how about a daytime drink?” on the board, so that’s settled.
What’s more, around here a lot of places have you step outside to a shared restroom, but Isohachi has its own inside. They’ve thought of everything.
Assorted sashimi, three kinds: 1,330 yen
Dote-yaki: 770 yen
Tonpei-yaki: 880 yen
A place with all sorts of single dishes on offer. I decided to order as I went, picking out whatever I felt like eating.
So: an otoshi and a highball ordered, and we’re off.
The first thing I ordered was the dote-yaki.
Mm, that’s good.
In Tokyo it tends to be offal stew, but dote is beef tendon. The scent of the white miso and that sweet-savory seasoning are just right.
Perfect with a drink.
And this is the assorted kushikatsu.
Osaka means kushikatsu! Meat, shrimp and onion. You take the sauce from the table and pour it over. This goes with drinking too. The highballs keep on coming. Ordering skewers as the main event at a dedicated kushiage place is great as well, but ordering a little of this and a little of that like this while you drink is lovely.
The clincher is this tonpei-yaki.
Osaka means konamono, flour-based dishes, but tonpei-yaki is almost entirely egg! Maybe it’s healthier than the flour ones.
There’s a good amount of pork inside, it’s dressed with sauce and mayonnaise and aonori and katsuobushi, and one more bite and you’re in Osaka. And it’s a decent size, so it’s genuinely filling too. For 880 yen, that’s good going.
One thing led to another and I ended up staying right up until the last moment before my Shinkansen left. If you’re thinking of going for a drink at midday while waiting for a train, Isohachi is a pretty good bet! They’re properly open from lunchtime, and there’s a restroom on site. There are plenty of Osaka-ish things on the menu, so even if you find yourself thinking “I didn’t really get much of a feel for Osaka…” you can come here and at least get the atmosphere. A good place.
Japanese Cuisine Isohachi (Izakaya / Shin-Osaka Station, Higashi-Yodogawa Station, Nishinakajima-Minamigata Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
