Osaka, Japan｜Okonomiyaki Kiji

Our experience at this restaurant was fantastic! I don’t tend to leave reviews, but the owner made us feel very welcome. He apologized for the wait which almost an hour, but to be fair it was during lunch hour. We were sat at the chefs counter, and the owner would occasionally make jokes and conversation with us. We had mentioned it was my birthday and he and the other chef sung happy birthday to me. He also gave me a little souvenir as a birthday gift upon leaving. His English is quite good and I’d come back again! Also, the food was delicious! The menu was difficult to navigate because Google translate couldn’t translate it correctly, but we got what was recommended to us and it did not disappoint!

Recommended by xhs, it's a 10-minute walk from Osaka Station. There are irregular breaks every month. Follow the map and go to the left on the first floor of the building. The clerk will ask you to order first, speak a little Chinese, "pork/beef", and ask you which country you are from. After a while, the shopkeeper's grandpa will directly say hello in Chinese, "Please use it slowly" and "Is it delicious?" Hahaha, interesting grandpa. I asked for pork and beer. I also want to try other flavors, but I can’t understand them without Chinese~

Our last dinner on this trip and decided to go to Kiji to have okonomiyaki and yakisoba since we skipped it the last time due to the queue. This time, we went early and managed to get a table before the crowd came. The friendly owner-chef spoke English very well and offered to start us off with 2 okonomiyaki and 1 yakisoba when he saw us struggling to decide what we wanted. The three dishes that he came back with is delicious especially the yakisoba. After which, we ordered fried udon and another okonomiyaki (seafood). To note, the okonomiyaki is different from the usual Osaka ones as it does not have so much batter and it bring forth the prominence of the shredded cabbage. It should also be a reason why we are not that full and able to polish up 3 okonomiyaki, 1 yakisoba and 1 yaki udon. Highly recommended but do go early.