Hi I'm Thomas and I'm Sheena and we're Chasing a Plate. Today we're in Osaka at
the Kuromon Ichiba market. We've been traveling for about eight months
eating so much street food and we're really excited to see how this place
stacks up let's go check it out.
We're starting with takoyaki a famous food in Osaka
they're basically octopus balls so a wheat batter is cooked in a griddle pan
and they add dollops of octopus and spring onions into the mix then it's drizzled
with this sweet sticky takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise and green laver flakes
which is a type of seaweed and then they sprinkle a handful of bonito on top. I love
the way the bonito flakes dance on top of the takoyaki it ooks like the whole
dish is alive. Bonito is a fish so the flakes have been dried, fermented
smoked and then just shaved.
Wow, look how that is falling apart it's gooey, it's creamy, the chunks of
octopus are really tender, the zing of the spring onion, that mayo and that takoyaki sauce
and that smoked flavor from the fish- it is one hell of a good snack. It's so gooey
I can hardly pick it up, I've got to get this thing in my mouth or it's gone
oh wow that's really hot. Oh my god it's so hot haha. It's so doughy, like really runny still you can hardly keep
it on the skewer. It's got a huge chunk of octopus inside which is really tender, it's not
chewy, I can find octopus- people overcook it
it becomes really overdone and rubbery but it's very tender mmm there's like a
ginger flavor coming through. And then I love mayonnaise so there's a tanginess
from the mayo on the top hmm it's a real challenge to get in your mouth when it's
that damn hot but wow- they are like Sheena said an awesome
snack. Those takoyaki were brilliant they were light, they were fluffy, they were
full of flavor but they weren't too filling which is perfect because we're
on to find the next street snack.
we're trying oden which is a real homestyle kind of dish basically there's
a huge vat of bubbling broth and all sorts of things are being cooked in the
broth or soaked in the broth to keep them warm. There's daikon, we've ordered some
beef gristle and some fish cake. I'm going to dig in with the daikon because it
looks like it soaked up all that broth. Hmmmm it's really hot but it's soaked up all of
that flavorsome broth, it's so sweet it just melts-in-your-mouth that is
really really good. Especially because I find daikon a little
bit bland so that is just perfect because it's just been infused with
flavor. l'm going to try the beef gristle mmm that again, super tender and it's sweet from
the broth that is really really good. I'm going to try the fish cake I believe
it's got burdock root inside which is just a root vegetable not something I
think I've had it but I can't really recall having it so it looks like the
fish cake has been deep-fried before going into the broth
hmm there's so much sweetness in the flavor I think the broth is like a soy dashi
broth they're so really simple. The root doesn't taste like
much, although it's got an earthiness to it not fishy like zero fishiness
just really nice firm texture mmm this is way better than I thought it would
be it looks just sort of like meh you know
whatever but it tastes great hmm what's this again? Daikon, I always always forget
the word daikon I have no idea why. Whoah wow,
it tastes like a roast dinner on a Sunday hmm the soy has created like a, as
if you've made a really sweet gravy for your roast potatoes and it's given the
daikon a burst of flavor. I love it. I might as well try the beef while
I'm here. Whoah, it's so tender, like tendon you always think oh
Christ here we go I'll chewing all day on that, but it's not, it's fall apart almost
rips apart like that is nothing like any tendon that I've ever had- this is so
much better than I expected. That broth is magic so I was going to be wasting
a drop of that
Scallop time- we got the cheapest one so there's five hundred, eight hundred and
a thousand yen. We got the smallest one just because we want more tummy space
but it's been cooked on like on the charcoal straight on the grill with soy
butter, how interesting does that sound. It's got this amazing um dark brown sauce
because of the soy butter mix and all the scallop juices, it's nice and firm hmmm
that is so well cooked oh my god it's tender
I think scallops are one of the most beautiful shellfish because they don't
hit you in the face with fishiness or saltiness or sea basically they're just
that, that beautiful like underlying shellfish flavor which this has in
bucket loads, beautiful texture that is so good I'm going to try a little bit of
the, it's like the roe-y bits it looks like, oh that's so creamy oh wow
that's like a really fatty skin bit of the chicken almost oh you're going to
love this Sheena, give it a go. Oh yeah oh that buttery aroma is so fragrant I
can't wait to try this
hmm really sweet scallop, it's not chewy at all it's just been perfectly cooked
I'm going to try this roe because it looks sensational- that just melts in
your mouth and has taken on that soy and that butter. Oh that is really, really
delicious
We've found a little restaurant that is serving suji negi curry so that's beef gristle and
spring onions that have been stewed in a special sauce for two days and then
cooked in a curry sauce it looks absolutely brilliant
this is a must eat when you're at Kuromon market- that gristle has got a
beautiful coating of fat it just melts in your mouth and that curry is just
really mild, really sweet it's got a really strong hit of our spring onions. That
with that sticky, glutinous-y Japanese rice that is heaven on a plate. I
can't really add much more because Sheena said how good this is and she's
right oh my god it's amazing
I just can't stop shovelling it in my mouth. We've added these little pickles that they have
on the counter which have a little bit of bite, a little bit of tang oh my
god, it's absolutely unbelievably good what a dish. Doesn't look like much just
some brown curry and some rice. Wow! That flavour!
Suji Negi curry at Pyjamarama a must eat. That was so fantastic. Ice cream
time, look at this ice cream this is black vanilla but I think from
deciphering the picture it's got charcoal in it
So vanilla ice cream- vanilla soft serve even though it looks like this. Side note-
charcoal best thing in the world to have in your travel medicine kit so get
charcoal tablets if you ever feel a little twitch in your tummy, start
popping charcoal look it up to get more information but it takes poisons out of
your system so if, it's not such a problem here in
Japan but eating street food in some places in the world can be a little bit
dodgy so we always always always carry charcoal and it has saved our bacon so
many times when we feel well not so many times, but when it does save your bacon
you know that you are so lucky to have not got sick, so a few times we've felt
twangs, started knocking back charcoal and it just completely cures you but
look at the color of it from the charcoal
but it's super funny it just tastes like a vanilla ice cream oh look at the cone
it's beautiful like a flower I love it. Kuromon Ichiban market was awesome to
explore, there's tons of fresh produce, seafood, pickles, little shops and a whole lot of
food I've got a black sesame soft serve.
it's just so fragrant, it's creamy really delicate tasting, but you can still
definitely taste that hit of roasted black sesame. Perfecto! Remember if you're
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we're in Japan for another week and we've got lots of Japanese content
coming still so please subscribe thank you so much for watching we hope we've
inspired you to eat and explore like a traveler, not a tourist
see you next time, sayonara!!