Well, this is the 2nd one for "Something Japanese" that I wrote around the end of last month and introduced Japanese local foods mainly noodles.
But, first of all, I need to mention what's going on right now in Japan.
The torrential rain in the western part of Japan has killed more than one hundread people and there are also many people who are still missing or evactuating. I read especially Hiroshima, Okayama and Ehime prefectures in the the Western Japan are seriously damaged.
I'd like to offer my deepest sympathy and to send my thoughts and prayers to people in the areas affected by the racord rainfall.
Today, I wanna introduce local foods and noodles I had in Osaka.
First, かちん鴨うどん, Kachin Kamo Udon, of 道頓堀 今井, Doutonbori Imai.
I had this gorgeous Udon when I took a trip to Osaka and Kyoto in February this year. Their Kachin Kamo Udon is more expensive than their other Udon noodles, I guess, but it's worth eating. Its soup was not too heavy and tasted great. They have Kachin Kamo Soba as well.
According to one of my favorite guide books, ココミル, Kokomiru, the word かちん is 公家言葉, Kuge Kotoba, and Kachin means a rice cake in Kuge words. Strictly speaking, ココミル's Osaka edition says that. Kuge was a court noble, and they dominated the Imperial court in Kyoto, which is located near Osaka. And 鴨, Kamo, means a duck, though it's not a Kuge word.
I have to confess that I liked this Udon the best among Osaka local foods I had during the trip, though I tried several foods in Osaka including Eggs 'n Things Osaka locations' limited menus, haha.
Still, I think Eggs 'n Things Japan should start store-limited menus again. Well, I wrote about Eggs 'n Things Shinsaibashi, Lala Port Expoicty (Osaka) and Umeda-chayamachi in "Mahalo Nui Loa Ke Akua." As I mentioned sometimes, many locations of Eggs 'n Things in Japan are not offering exclusive items anymore except Umeda-chayamachi location.
You know what? I wondered whether I should go to Doutonbori Imai or not around Doutonbori because I'd already had other foods and beverages such as Takoyaki, two exclusive items of Eggs 'n Things Shinsaibashi, and store-limited beverages of Tully's Coffee.
I was looking at the map, and then, Osaka's old man suddenly spoke to me. He said, "どこいくん？道迷うてるん？ 連れてったる！" or something like that. It's Kansai dialoct. Since I don't know Kansai words well, I'm not sure I've just written right Kansai dialect or not. Anyway, it means "Where do you want to go? Are you lost? I'll take you there!" and he did take me to the restaurant. On our way to Imai, he told me that the eatery has a long history and has been very famous among local people too.
You know, we have to be cafeful when strangers speak to us like that. But, while I was in Osaka, I met some Osaka people including women who took me to a destination even though I just asked how to get there and told them they don't bother to. I think Osaka people are kind in general and want to take care of people.
Well, you know, it's said Kansai's soup is different from Kanto's one. I did realize this when I had that Udon in Osaka. You know what? Some cup noodle brands even have released Kansai and Kanto versions for the same cup noodle item. Isn't it interesting?
Next, "Octopus Balls with Cheese Sauce" of 道頓堀 赤鬼, Doutonbori Akaoni.
Wow, they have their own English website.
The eatery seems popular among tourists. It is listed in the Michelin guide in 2016, 2017 and 2018, they say.
Though their new type of Takoyaki were not to my taste, I thought their Octopus Balls with rich cheese sauce must be loved by people especially from other countries.
I picked out a purple heart sticker and put it in the Kanto region in the map. Osaka is located in Kansai, 関西. while I came from 関東, Kanto.
Well, as I mentioned at the begining of this blog post, many people in western Japan were killed by the heavy rain, and many Japanese news articles use the words "西日本," Nishi Nihon, and "豪雨," Gouu. The former word means Western Japan and the latter is torrential rain. 西日本, or Western Japan, includes Kansai region, while Kanto region is a part of 東日本, Eastern Japan.
Well, the names of the two shops I've just written include the word 道頓堀, Doutonbori. Doutonbori is a famous area in Osaka, and lots of tourists from abroad as well as Japanese are visiting the place.
Nowadays, a lot of restaurants whose head stores are located in Osaka have their locations in Tokyo as well, so if you missed a chance to have local foods such as Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki while staying in Osaka, you may be able to try them in Tokyo.
For example, though I was very interested in new styles of Okonomiyaki served by 京ちゃばな, Kyo Chabana, which has a store in Doutonbori, Osaka, too, I didn't have time to go to the eatery while I was there.
Instead, after I came back to Kanto region, I went to one of their Tokyo locations and tried their popular items.
They say their Tomato Okonomiyaki received some award from MAFF, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Kyujo Green Onion Yakisoba.
Though both were a little too strong or too salty for me, the staff were very cheerful and great. I might have been under the weather then and my sense of taste might not have worked. Or they just were not to my taste. It could be.
I thought 京ちゃばな was born in Osaka since Okonomiyaki is very famous in Osaka, but later I found that it was born in Kyoto, like the name includes the kanji character 京, Kyo, from the word 京都, Kyoto.
Well, when I took the trip to Osaka and Kyoto in February this year, Tully's Coffee was doing "MIX & MATCH" and offering Osaka-limited menus and items for a limited time.
I wanna say, なんでやねん! It's called 関西弁, Kansai-ben, or Kansai dialect.
なんでやねん can be used in many situations, I think, though I'm not from Kansai. Well, in this case, it means, "You gotta be kidding!"or something like that.
Well, Osaka is also famous for its comedy and comedians, and a bow tie sometimes stands for comedians. I mean, some comedians wear bright and shining bow ties, so that's why Osaka-limited teddy wears one.
If you know Tully's Coffee very very well, this must be very funny, right?
I think these Osaka-limited teddies and tumblers are still available at some Tully's Coffee shops in Osaka though limited foods and beverages of "MIX & MATCH" are not anymore for sure. Osaka-limited "Tully's Card" in the same design is not, either, I guess. I should have known "Tully's Card" much earlier. Damn it! Oops, sorry.
"MIX & MATCH" offered exclusive food and beverage items including Osaka-themed pancakes, and gave away Osaka-limited stickers to those who ordered Osaka- limited beverages; Osaka Mixed Juice ～Honey Included～ , and Hot and Iced Strawberry Cheese Cake Latte.
Mixed Juice and Strawberry Cheese Cake are also popular in Osaka. I didn't know that, actually. I came to know that thanks to Tully's local items.
I tried both limited beverages ... I had Osaka-limited beverage 5 times in total, and I remember I had Mixed Juice three times. I loved it. I prefered it to the other one. Above all, I wanted to get all the stickers. There were 5 colors.
I couldn't take good photos of the stawberry ones, unfortunately. I got them to go, and the right picture was taken in the hotel room. I stayed in Kyoto Brighton Hotel as I wrote in "No Rain, No Rainbow" that month.
I took the left photo after coming back home. Gee, my table was not clean ...
Anyway, I got all the stickers, and the leopard one is for my darling.
There are lots of Tully's Coffee around Osaka Station, and I visited as many as possible. One of them had the board like this. It says, " Welcome to OSAKA "
The customers put stickers on their countries.
.Just click each photo for its bigger one to check your countries. Did you find any stickers?
Though Tully's Coffee already ended their Osaka-limited "MIX & MATCH" campaign, their 花のれん なんばグランド花月店, Hana Noren Namba Grand Kagetsu Store, which opened at the end of last year, still has exclusive beverages and goods, I think. This Tully's Coffee collabrates with Yoshimoto, a famous company especially for its comedians, and Namba Grand Kagetsu is a theater located in Osaka run by Yoshimoto. It seems it was once owned by Yoshimoto.
Tully's Coffee Hana Noren Namba Grand Kagetsu has these limited beverages and items.
Left: White Royal Milk Tea
Right: Red Cafe Latte.
I forgot which was my favorite, but at least they both tasted really good. They were beautiful. They even smelled good. I guess the red one smelled like roses. 
They also have 花月ラテ, or Kagetsu Latte.
The latte is served with the kanji character like this.
It has three kinds of kanji characters we can choose from; 花月, 花 and 月.
I chose 月, which can be also read as Tsuki, or the moon in Japanese.
I like this kind of thing, you know. 花 can be read Hana, which means flowers.
They also have limited goods like these.
There are Osaka-limited tumblers, store-limited ones and mugs.
It's the store-limited Teddy. The charm says "NAMBA GRAND KAGETSU."
Well, I'm going to add "Something Japanese Ⅲ" and it's introducing Kyoto's local foods and so on.
Yep, Kyoto again.
At first I thought I'd add more sentences to this blog post, but I don't have time. Instead, I'll write another blog post on the same theme sometime.
... I wonder if Eggs 'n Things Kyoto is still offering their "Kaoru, Uji Matcha Pancakes" even though many of the locations in Japan had to stop their exclusive items. I hope so. I heard their matcha pancakes had been very popular. Also, their local eggs benedicts were really good. I really liked them both.
I wonder why Eggs 'n Things Japan decided not to serve local menus ...
Actually, I know why, haha. And I'm still so sad.
Just check out the photos of exclusive local menus of Eggs 'n Things locations in Japan;
"We can't make pancakes without breaking eggs Ⅰ"
"We can't make pancakes without breaking eggs Ⅱ"
And these are news pages from the official website of Eggs 'n Things Japan. They have official photos of store-limited menus.
The first news about store-limited menus was released last year after many of the locations started their own limited menus in April, 2017.
The news released on January 9, 2018 announces the renewal of exclusive local menus.
I forgot to add this one ...
It was the last store-limited item I had at the end of February this year. Many of the locations stopped exclusive menus that month, I guess.
It was a new exclusive item of Eggs 'n Things Chiba; Chicken Cobb Salad Bowl. I liked this one, too. Their new one just started this year but ended later, so it didn't last at all.
Aloha.