Due to corona virus crisis, restaurants have been having a hard time struggling to survive. Here are some photos taken in April at a restaurant near Korien station , Keihan Line , Osaka. The restaurant was empty as everyone did not want to go out and eat due to the fear of getting infected by the virus. It was rather quiet in Osaka in April anyway. Therefore I took advantage of the situation to visit
this restaurant, Tanabe, to have a relatively expensive lunch. Kaiseki ,a traditional Japanese course meal, comes with appetizers,
sashimi, soup, grilled and deep fried items.It is indeed one of my favorite styles of Japanese cuisine . There I had the course for lunch at 3000yen.
To begin with, they served spinach and sea urchin on top. A lot of people including some Japanese , to my surprise, do not favor sea urchin unless they have had a really good one. It is just like durians - a tropical fruit with a distinct smell- a taste to aqcuire. A friend of mine who had had the orange shellfish back in her country , Malaysia , had been so unfortunate that apparently the one she had tried prior to her first trip to Japan had been awful. Having had genuine fresh sea urchin in Tsukiji market in Tokyo, she fell in love with it automatically!!
The one shown in my photo was fabulous too. The chef also used it for the sauce to accomapany the slices of beef. The grilled fish was simple
but rich aroma filled my mouth and melted on my palate at the same time. The rice was cooked just for my family alone in an earthenware pot. It was full of dried shrimps and broad beans. The green was so striking and appetising ! Though we were very full, we managed to finish half of it and the rest , the chef`s wife packed it for us to take back home. They had some good sake too. We tried three different kinds and because the prices were reasonable, we let the chef`s wife recommend. The total bill was 12000yen including tax.
I do not consider 4000 yen lunch is cheap but the content and quality of the course made it seem rather reasonable.
Since I cannot visit anywhere for now , I have decided to share all my pictures and talk about the great food I have come across here in Japan so that I can imagine and remember them. I have selected Tanabe for my first recommendation as there are a lot of non -Japanse residents living around Keihan Line which connects Kyoto and Osaka. There are numerous places available in Osaka to entertain us and due to the competition, we make a good bargain . It was during my first visit in Osaka on business 25years ago that a Japanese business man taught me so called ` Osaka Philosophy ` on obtaining services .
He said` When you pay an awful amount of money, you surely expect good stuff in return. But we Osaka citizens find that rather tasteless and silly.
We believe in obtaining things that are worth a lot more than what we have paid . Mind you, it is quite different from being stingy`. He chuckled. Since then I have decided to practice this custom .
Though we would like to go back there again, we have not been able to as the situation has become worse ; the number of people who got infected has increased but people have begun going out to eat . We would rather avoid the crowd at this very moment.
If you happen to be using Keihan Line to go to work or college ,please drop by when corona subsides. I heard they are relatively quiet during the weekdays so if you are free to go then, you may jolly well be lucky to have the place to yourselves- just like we were.
Unfortunately I shall not be until perhaps next March. Appreciate if anyone goes there and give me your feed back!!
