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Yomiuri Shimbun

Osaka Gourmet EXPO 2025 Ongoing at Osaka Castle Park; 30 Pop-up Food Stalls Offer Unique Tastes

Osaka is often referred to as the city of 'kuidaore' (to collapse from overeating). What that means is that while people in Kyoto spend their money on kimono, people in Osaka spend their money on food. Osaka, in other words, has a culture of eating untill you drop. As I was born and raised in a family of gourmet food lovers in Hyogo Prefecture, which neighbors Osaka, I was asked to report on the Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025, a food event taking place alongside the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. 'Alright, let's do this. It's time for a kuidaore foodie report!' I thought to myself, feeling fully motivated, and headed to the venue: Osaka Castle Park's Taiyo-no-Hiroba (Sun Square). The entrance to Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025A seating area inside a huge tentVisitors chat in the seating are also seats it comes to Osaka's specialties, you can't ignore okonomiyaki, takoyaki and horumon-yaki. All of these hot dishes are cooked on a griddle, and the two days that I spent at the venue were incredibly hot. As the name 'Sun Square' suggests, the sun was beating down relentlessly. Even though it was only June, the temperature was approaching 35 C, and it wouldn't have been surprising if someone had dropped even before they'd started to eat. Despite the heat, the view of the 30 food stalls lined up with Osaka Castle in the background was truly impressive. Okonomiyaki with a fluffy textureBonne Qualite's menuBonne Qualite staff cooks okonomiyaki. The first stall I visited was Bonne Qualite, where I ordered pork okonomiyaki. It's the first food stall opened by the French restaurant Lumiere in Osaka. The restaurant's famous chef designed the stall's menu. The dining area for the event is located inside two large, air-conditioned tents in the center of the venue, where you can order from a seat of your choice using a smartphone. Once your order is ready, you receive a notification via email and can pick up your food from the stall in front of the tents. The piping hot pork okonomiyaki was fluffy and extremely delicious. According to the employee who made it, the use of aburakasu, a specialty of Osaka, is what makes it unique. Aburakasu is generally made by frying beef intestines in oil until crispy. It's commonly used as a topping for udon noodles in Osaka. The aburakasu enhances the pork's aroma. Dried shrimp is added to the okonomiyaki to further enrich its flavor, while pickled radish and ginger provide a refreshing balance. I also enjoyed the crispy texture of the dish. Ayaka Isobe serves takoyaki is hot and fluffy on the I ordered takoyaki with sauce at Konamonya Hachi. The first thing I noticed was that the takoyaki balls were very big. The outside was crispy, and the inside was creamy, offering the perfect traditional texture. The flavor of the eight takoyaki balls, made with a secret, bonito-based dashi broth, along with bonito flakes, spring onion and green nori, exploded in my mouth. This eatery chain, which uses custom-made copper plates with excellent heat conductivity, originated in Nara and has grown to have over 40 shops nationwide. The stall manager, Ayaka Isobe, 35, saw the sweat pouring from my face and kindly offered me a bulging stomach, I headed to Osaka Minami Horumon Center. This eatery has its origins in the street stalls of Nishinari, Osaka City, the birthplace of horumon-yaki (barbecued offal). I ordered mixed horumon and harami (belly meat). The rich, secret sauce, passed down through generations, blends perfectly with the Wagyu beef offal, making it incredibly delicious. I couldn't resist and purchased a draft beer at the Suntory booth inside the dining tent. After sweating a lot from the three consecutive hot dishes, the beer was exactly what I needed. Delicious sweetsMatcha is currently enjoying a huge boom among foreign visitors to Japan. At a shop called Lazy Ice, I found and ordered a parfait featuring matcha ice cream and matcha-flavored Japanese confections, which was sweet and delicious and instantly cooled me down. 'We added warabi mochi (bracken-starch dumpling) and shiratama (mochi balls) to evoke a Japanese image. We make it low in calories,' Lazy Ice President Tetsuya Yamamoto, 56, told me. The store name is said to reflect their wish for people to feel lazy and happy while eating something sweet. Finally, at Mou×Mou Milky Paradise, I tried the soft-serve ice cream made with milk from Kyushu's Aso area. It had a rich flavor but was refreshingly light. The ice cream is handmade at the venue. Ramen with black pork cartilageAs a ramen reporter, I was intrigued by Kurobuta Nankotsu King, with its catchphrase, 'It's not tonkotsu; it's nankotsu!' (Nankotsu refers to cartilage.) I ordered the nankotsu mazesoba, a soupless ramen topped with cooked black pork nankotsu instead of the usual chashu meat. It was my first time trying it, but contrary to the image, the nankotsu had a melt-in-your-mouth texture with a sweet, umami flavor, which made it exceptionally delicious. 'Black pork nankotsu is a very rare cut that is not generally available,' said Mitsunori Hasuta, 60, an employee at a meat processing and wholesale company, which opened the pop-up ramen shop for the event. 'This ramen can only be eaten here.' His tanned, rugged body exuded energy as he spoke, perhaps because of all the black pork nankotsu he eats. Mitsunori Hasuta at the Kurobuta Nankotsu KingSoft and delicious black pork nankotsuMix well before eating 'Only 300 grams of black pork nankotsu can be obtained from a single pig,' Hasuta explained, adding that compared to regular white pork nankotsu, the meat has a rich, deep flavor but is light and easy to eat. The company has a factory in Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, where they process the nankotsu and send it to the event venue in vacuum-sealed packages. Mazesoba is a dish in which you mix the noodles and toppings together before eating. I mixed the thick noodles and a small amount of sauce made from black pork broth with spices and ground sesame seeds, green onions, garlic chips, chinese chives and egg yolk. It was spicy and delicious.*** Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025 Hosted by the city of Osaka and supported by Suntory as an event alongside the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025 is taking place at Osaka Castle Park's Taiyo-no-Hiroba through Oct. 13. Around 30 food and beverage booths are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is free. In the evenings, there are live music performances and other shows on a stage inside the seating area.■Ramen of Japan e-book now on sale An e-book featuring 30 ramen shops from across Japan that were introduced in my popular column, Ramen of Japan, in The Japan News is now on sale. Use it as your ramen guide in Japan. To purchase a copy, scan the QR code below. ▼Click the icons below to purchase 'Ramen of Japan' for just ¥ 楽天Kobo> Apple Books> honto>