Osaka Noodles City

I went to Osaka Noodles City a few weekends ago.

There is a new area in Osaka called Nanba Parks, and Osaka Noodles City is one of the most popular restaurants, from what I could see. Posters around
Nanba park compared the parks to Central Park in New York City. Maybe it is the closest thing in Osaka to Central Park... but, take my word for it, they are very different things.

The store offers many of the different styles of noodles that can be found in Japan all in one place. They have Kishimen from Nagoya, Romen from Nagano, Hakata Ramen from... Hakata... and some other things that I honestly couldn't tell you all about. I had a kind of cold udon from a place up north near Akitaken. Good stuff. This handout shows which shop represents which noodles from where. Here is a picture of a handout with some of the different dishes.

The entire park complex just opened last week, so there are a lot of 観光客 even from just within Japan. Visitors... The park actually has plants and things, so it seems that lots of old people show up just to get their "nature" fix for the month. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to spot grass while living in the big cities of Japan....

When we found the restaurant because there was a huge line in front of it. We lined up at about 11:50, and were told that the wait would be about two hours. If I wasn't coming from out of town
I never would have waited, but, we decided to. We got into the restaurant at about 12:30. One of the Osaka-jins that was with us told me that they told us the huge wait on purpose. Since Kansai people are considered to be so noisy, many of them will get upset and leave if told there is such a long wait. This is good, cause they'll be back later when it's not so crowded. Also, if told 2 hours, and they get in after only waiting 30 minutes, they're 大喜び、 super happy. If they are told 30 min, and get in after a 35 min wait, heads will roll.

Well, maybe not that extreme, but it's fun playing the stereotypes. Heh.

Once you enter the restaurant, there is a separate restaurant for each type of noodle you can try.
Hakata Ramen seemed to be the most popular with an additional hour wait or so, while the place with Italian
noodles was pretty much empty. There is also a noodle gift shop next door with over priced noodles of every variety you can check out before you leave.

If you get to Osaka anytime soon, check it out. It's a pretty fun place!

On a totally unrelated note, I just decided I want a new pair of jeans. Levis here can cost like 100 bucks. 12000 yen. Not even joking. There was one store with a pair of jeans that were all beat up in a glass case. I kid you not.

I'll be wearing my boroboro zubon until they vanish thank you very much.

-Harvey

Posted by Harvey at October 17, 2003 09:35 PM