Gyoza no Osho, Namba

Tucked in behind Namba Hips Pachinko Parlour to the left is an unassuming branch of the Japanese gyoza chain store "Osho." Osho is incredibly cheap, and does a variety of Chinese dishes, including a great mapo dofu, sweet and sour pork, fried rice, and massive set menu items. They vary a fair bit from store to store, some of them lay on the chili nice and thick, some places verge on bland, but they always have chili oil amongst their sides if the dish needs spicing up.



The staff were two pretty young Japanese girls, and they were very helpful and efficient when we placed our order and paid. We now have a "pointo cado" for this Gyoza no Osho. How nice. The sides included pepper, salt, shoyu, gyoza sauce, chili oil and chili sauce. The main ply of their trade is gyoza, so the sides are geared toward making your own gyoza sauce in the wide flat little bowls that they have under a little dust cover to the side. The atmosphere was clean, the lighting was soft, but the music was ridiculous, frantic, keyboard instrumental music.

I have tried the Osho "stamina" ramen on a previous occasion at the Tennoji branch of Osho, and it had a lot of tomato, cabbage and carrots in it, and I didn't really rate it that highly, so when I ordered the Kotteri Ramen, I didn't expect anything amazing. And rightly so. It was an unusal ramen, at best. The broth was so thick it was almost like sauce rather than soup. It was flavoursome, savory, but a bit oily and the body was bordering on unpleasantly viscous. I didn't end up finishing the broth, which is unheard of for me.



The toppings were very ordinary too. The sliced pork came from a packet, the preserved bamboo shoots were a bit tough, but the long onion tops were fresh, and it came with a nice big dollop of chili/garlic paste on top. What was extraordinary though, was that the noodles were either hand made, or failing that, very, very good packet ramen noodles. They had a perfect texture and remained tender, yet al dente until the last bite.



These gyoza were incredible, the dough was fine, and the bases crispy. Better than I have had at other Gyoza no Osho. For ¥500, you'd be hard pressed to find better ramen. So, the verdict is: go for the ramen, but stay for the gyoza.

Broth - 2.5/5
Toppings - 2/5
Noodles - 4/5
Atmosphere - 2/5
Service - 3.5/5

Sisen Ramen

On the road that runs up the left hand side of the Namba City building, on the left hand side of the street, under the expressway, you may come across this lovely little Chinese style ramen joint. The sign says Sisen Ramen in English, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it.

The atmosphere is relaxing, with wooden panels, soft lighting, and what appears to be Chinese film score music being softly piped through the place. The service is loud, but not particularly friendly - though it has varied from visit to visit, this being my third visit, or maybe fourth. We are handed an oshibori (moistened towelette) and a glass of water.



We order the number one recommendation on the menu, the Tenten-men. This is not technically a ramen, but I'm not here to split hairs. I'm here to eat noodles in broth. The sides include chili oil, pickled gourd strips, roast garlic chips, soy sauce, salad oil, shichimi (Japanese 7 spice mix), salt, pepper, crushed fresh chili, crushed garlic, and S+B brand season all.

The broth in today's noodles is slightly oily compared to other visits, but it is still richly flavoured. It is a little spicy, but the dominant flavour is sesame. The sesame nuttiness is extremely appetising. The toppings include bok-choy, bean shoots, green onion tops, sesame seeds, and the all important roast pork, which comes in moist, sweet chunks, rather than the usual slices. This is some of the best pork that has ever passed my lips. Beautiful, tender stuff. It begs description. The vegetables match well with the flavour of the broth, and the entire flavour sensation dances between sweet, hot, spicy, and richness in a very pleasing way.

The broth is very hot, even for a ramen, and almost scalds me when I am slurping my noodles. The noodles are pretty good, but nothing much to write home about. On the side sits a little frosty lychee, which refreshes me greatly afterwards, and I dab my fingers and mouth with a knapkin. It was just a little too oily today. Pity, I've had it on other days and it's been magnificent, but today is the day we do the write up, so unfortunately I won't be rating it as highly as I would have on other visits.



A very Chinese styled ramen place, but well worth visiting. I left full and satisfied.

Broth - 3.5/5
Toppings - 4/5
Noodles - 3/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Service - 2.5/5