Kushikatsu Yaekatsu Fried Skewers📍Shinsekai Osaka 新世界 串かつ 八重勝 ☏ +816 6643 6332

Kushikatsu_Yaekatsu_Fried_Skewer_Shinsekai_Osaka_新世界串かつ八重勝

One of my bucket list dishes to try in Osaka was kushikatsu which are deep fried battered meats and vegetables on skinny wooden skewers.

We roamed the Shinsekai 新世界 area the whole morning, and was ready for a sumptuous kushikatsu pigout 😝

Paiseh (a bit shy to say), Yaekatsu 八重勝 was my first kushikatsu experience 🤭

There were a few kushikatsu restaurants in the area, we picked one using the trusty Singaporean method - choose the one with the longest queue, which was Yaekatsu 八重勝 that day.

It was just steps from Dobutsuen-Mae 动物园前 subway station.

It is said that kushikatsu was invented right here at in Shinsekai in the 1920s and Yaekatsu 八重勝 was one of the pioneers. So lucky, we 🙏

Yaekatsu 八重勝 was full during lunch. We waited about 30 minutes before we were seated.

All counter seats, which I liked as I enjoy watching the frenetic but well oiled action at the open kitchen.

Customers after us, I believe had to wait one hour as the queue grew twice as long after we were seated.

Anyway, we eat lo.... .

Simple reminders on kushikatsu etiquette for everyone's enjoyment e.g. no double dipping into the shared sauce pot. Japan is still largely a community oriented society where people are respectful and considerate towards others.

The menu - everything on one page, bilingual with English so order was easy.

どて焼 miso stew of beef tendon meat. I love this. The skewered tendons stewed in a nutty creamy rich miso sauce till soft and spongy.

The chefs fry the orders in batches. They observe the pace and progress of the customers, providing a continuous supply just as the customer finishes eating a previous batch. So, the deep fried skewers always land freshly fried, piping hot at our seats.

No rushing due to counter crowded with stashes of food nor idle time gaps waiting for the next dish to arrive. It was a steady smooth flow of hot dishes 🙏 👍

えび shrimp crusted in thin, lightly crisp golden brown panko breadcrumb batter...

... which kept the crustacean cocooned inside, juicy and crunchy tender. The light batter did not feel greasy or oily at all.

Dip the deep fried skewer in savoury sweet tangy kushikatsu sauce which is made with a blend of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and other secret ingredients (which each restaurant has their own recipe).

Staff will keep the dipping sauce constantly topped up.

串かつ beef.

ししゃも shishamo smelt.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we repeated all our orders after finishing our first round 😝

Our order sheet - we were billed exactly ¥10000 which came to about SGD$80 for three of us.

Great experience. Delicious food, mingle with locals, taste authentic Japanese cuisine in a hyperlocal setting and atmosphere. The type of eating experience I travel for.