Many readers already know that food takes a priority when Ms Buddha and I travel, and one type of place that is great to get food is to visit the local markets in a city. So on our Easter trip to Osaka, we decide to visit the Kuromon Ichiba Market.
The market itself is actually pretty massive and is home to a lot (and I mean a LOT) of stores selling things from bonito flakes to wagyu to sashimi. What I do like about this market is although you may not find the best of the best of every product here, what you will be able to do is have a chance to try out all the typically great foods in Japan in one centralised location.
Walking into the uncovered area, it’s actually quite easy to get lost because there are multiple intersections, but since that there’s good food practically everywhere, getting lost doesn’t really matter.
For the adventurous types, there are multiple places that sells Fugu sashimi, which is the poisonous puffer fish that Homer Simpson ate by mistake and then thought that the chef was yelling “Food Good” when they were yelling at him. I don’t have a fascination of tasting poison, so I didn’t try it this time.
Next was something more up my alley, offal, I caught a whiff of it from a distance and although most people steered away from it, I drifted towards it with great eagerness. The awesome lady selling it was a pro promoting her stall (we even took a photo together). After seeing us take a photo – more people drifted over!
The offal itself was delicious and very tender! Frankly, I would’ve preferred it with a little more spices, but the quality of the meat was clearly good because it had a very fresh beef taste to it!
Next was a love that Ms Buddha and I both share – sea urchin, there are many many many stores selling freshly prepared sea urchin, so you really can’t miss them. Each one cost about 1,800 yen and you just point and they start preparing them.
After the preparation – you are presented the urchin in a manner that makes it impossible to not want to dig in straight away. And when you taste fresh sea urchin, you will not go back! The creaminess is top top notch and the flavour was superb – a must try!
Further roaming brought us to a grill eels store, which was delicious in many ways – over the years, I’ve had less eels because it’s actually quite fatty, although Ms Buddha continues to love it because she can’t get fat.
After eating so much savory items, it was tiny for something a little sweet – so we walked past a very modest little store that had a small mochi counter – the seller himself was very humble and modest, and clearly not a typical salesman – he was very polite but a bit shy – definitely has a sense of sweetness in an environment where so many other store were much more upfront! The mochi itself had an incredibly springy (something I like) texture – and they weren’t too sweet, which is also what I like!
After eating so much, we walked a bit more (to try and walk the food off) and found something that Ms Buddha properly places as the top of her list! Tuna Toro – fatty tuna belly!
They were on sale as well since that the market was about to close soon and I convinced her to just get the most expensive ones and the cheaper option as well. They were absolutely delicious and you can always tell that Ms Buddha loved it as well when she can’t hold her smile in!
Buddha Explores 
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