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

A Ma and Pa Ramen Place

The next ramen adventure was in Tezukayama, near where we live. There is a tram line that heads south to Sumiyoshi Taisha. North of where the tram line goes over the Nankai Koya line, the tram leaves the road - when heading south, the road veers off to the left, the tram veers off to the right. About 20 metres south of the Y shaped intersection, you will find this little ramen place.



We parted the red, head high, curtains that sit outside most ramen stores, and came face to face with two kindly, elderly Osakans.

"Okiniii!"

It felt a bit like going to grandma and grandpa's for a ramen. The decor was a little drab, but this is a Chinese food joint in Osaka near a train-line, so it's not going to be the Ritz Carlton.

We took off our shoes and sat facing each other on a raised platform. The little red cushions were comfortable enough, but for people who don't spend much time sitting on the floor, this is tough stuff on the lower back. The TV behind me was a little too loud, but that's OK. I think Ma and Pa might be a little deaf, and if not Ma and Pa, the clientele seemed to be all over 70, so it was probably for their benefit too.

The menu was pictureless, and full of kanji (beyond my reading ability) and so I struggled through the katakana/hiragana options and we settled on ordering a kimchi ramen. For no better reason than because I can read "キムチ."



The broth was a Tokyo style, soy broth, but made with Osakan light soy sauce, so the colour was lighter than many of the ramens I have enjoyed in Eastern Japan. The toppings included bean shoots, preserved bamboo shoots, green onion tops, three slices of roasted pork back and, of course, kimuchi.

The noodles were a bit Maggi, two minute noodles, but really, for ¥550 it was more than passable. I don't expect gourmet noodles for ¥550. I do when I'm paying ¥800-900 yen for a bowl of noodles, but this was more than acceptable. I looked around and saw that they do a variety of Japanese and Chinese dishes including gyoza, fried chicken bento, and other bigger soups.



The sides were fairly stock standard. Salt, soy, gyoza sauce, salad oil, and white pepper, but I was particularly taken by the Szechwan sauce that they had on the side that tasted of "Flower Pepper" - I would like to know where I could buy some of that stuff.

Ma and Pa were both very nice to us, and smiled a lot, but didn't fawn over us. Pa supplied the requisite "gruffness" where as Ma supplied the homely vibe. I would come again because it didn't leave me feeling like I'd been smacked in the head with a ramen overdose. It filled my belly, and left me content.

Broth - 2.5/5
Toppings - 3/5
Noodles - 2/5
Atmosphere - 3/5
Service - 4/5