The sun was shining so we took advantage of the light and warmth to head out to the Dotonbori district. It is famous for oversized signs and specialized eateries. We passed on the okonomiyaki restaurant featured in Netflix's "Street Foods Asia" as the wait was very long. Added to the line factor a fried pancake with cabbage was not as appealing as it may sound. Instead we went to a crab themed restaurant, Kani Doraku, with a huge animatronic crab above the entrance. The dining room was up on the third floor and it overlooked the busy street and canal. The seating was not fully on the floor but the sunken area for our legs was not standard sized either. We ordered a crab multicourse meal with boiled crab, crab sashimi two ways, one leg and the other soaked in white soy sauce. This was new for us and we would have been more apprehensive had we not seen live crabs in the tank on the first floor. The freshest category of seafood is "alive". Then we had grilled crab, crab gratin with crab sauce, and deep fried crab. They brought over a little grill and placed a pot on it which they left off to the side. It was cooking rice for a half hour and when the time was up our server put some crab meat on top and brought the pot over to our table. This was the "crab with rice cooked in a pot" dish. She served this with a small bit of Japanese pickles and finally ice cream with a hot matcha sauce. A delightful lunch for all to enjoy.
Up and out before noon!
The very busy bridge that the Glico Man can be seen from
Watching a cruise boat pass
Many folks were adopting this pose, arms up in victory!
Are these bits of hot dog stuck to the outside of the cheese dog?
The mural was showing multicolored people eating noodles or are the noodles escaping from the men?
Takoyaki are the fried octopus balls
Walking under an old wooden bridge
A scattering of folks in traditional garb. Many shops rent out the whole kit and caboodle
Dragon meat for sale here?
The Billiken is serving up the fried stuff
Our dining location Kani Doraku
Follow the golden calf
Down by the waterfront
This was on our list of possibilities but the plastic dome seemed to eb a lens that would concentrate the heat from the sun and it was too nice of a day to be cooped up
Our first attempt to find a table was thwarted...
No reservations at this restaurant means no table
The hand to the left, emerging from the building looks like it belongs to the angry man to the right
At the "we fry everything" place
Not what I would call appetizing
Crabs, now that is the ticket
Live crabs in the entryway
Five different kinds of crabs in the tank
The hostess makes sure we go to the correct floor
The view from our seats on the third floor
Sunken seating areas with a hot pot hole in the table
Soon this place will be full
A crab picking tool along with our chop sticks
Not easy on the servers
Some of the boiled crab still on the plate after we dove in
Oh my, this crab is raw!
The rice is cooking off to the side
Sashimi is a fancy way to say raw. It was very sweet and tender.
The crab custard
Crab themed chopstick holders
A very cute bowl!
Filled with crab gratin: aka crab mac n cheese
nice drawing on the chopstick sleeve
The rice is still cooking
Pickles!
The rice is served
Crab on top and brown crunchy rice on the bottom
Deep fried crab
A vigorous mixing of the matcha
Green and strong soon to be poured over the ice cream
Another mystery, is all the food served frozen? Further investigation determined that customers pick the frozen bits they want and then put it into a microwave. Fact is even weirder than fiction.
Some cheery cherubs
Another not quite appetizing advertisement
Our Dotonbori visit
It has been 1 year and 296 days since we began our Migration
