Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Eat takoyaki
Batter balls with a piece of octopus inside, cooked in a dimpled iron pan and topped with sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes. The centres stay molten.
They are scalding: bite the first one and wait half a minute. The bonito flakes move in the steam, which shows the dish just left the pan.
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Try okonomiyaki
A thick pancake of batter and cabbage with add-ins, griddled and finished with sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and bonito. The Osaka version mixes everything into the batter.
The Hiroshima version is layered and includes noodles, and it is a different dish. Many places cook it on the teppan built into your table.
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Eat kushikatsu
Meat, vegetables and seafood on skewers, breaded and deep-fried, with a shared sauce on the table. Ordered one at a time and eaten in a run.
The cabbage on the table is free and refilled, and it doubles as a sauce scoop. The Shinsekai district is the home of the genre.
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Try kitsune udon
Thick wheat noodles in a pale broth with a slice of sweet fried tofu. An Osaka invention, and the broth here is lighter and gentler than in Tokyo.
The Kansai broth uses pale soy and kombu, hence the clarity. The name means fox: fried tofu was said to be the fox's favourite food.
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Try conveyor belt sushi
Sushi on a belt where the plate colour sets the price and the bill is counted from your stack at the end. A cheap, fast way to eat fish.
An order placed on the tablet arrives fresh rather than on the belt, which is better. Ginger goes between different fish rather than on top of the sushi.
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Try kushiyaki in an izakaya
Meat, vegetables and offal on skewers over coals, seasoned with salt or tare sauce. Ordered in small waves through the evening alongside beer.
You will be asked shio or tare, salt or sauce; take salt the first time. The otoshi, a small dish brought immediately, is charged for and not optional.
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Try horumon
Beef and pork offal grilled over a rack, an Osaka speciality dating from the post-war years. The name comes from a word meaning what gets thrown away.
You grill it yourself on the tabletop rack, as with yakiniku. Start with the softer cuts, which menus usually illustrate.
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Have dinner at a kappo counter
A ten-seat counter where the chef cooks in front of you and serves one seasonal dish at a time. A format looser than formal kaiseki, and it originated in Osaka.
There is often no menu: they ask what you avoid and build the meal. Book ahead; the seats are few.
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Try fugu in winter
The poisonous pufferfish, prepared only by licensed cooks: translucent slices of sashimi and a hot pot. The season runs from autumn to early spring.
Osaka is the historic centre of fugu eating and consumes more of it than anywhere else in Japan. The licence is required by law and hangs on the wall.
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Try battera and oshizushi
Pressed sushi: fish and rice packed into a wooden box, weighted and cut into blocks. The Kansai style, older than Tokyo's nigiri.
The classic uses cured mackerel with a sheet of kombu on top. It keeps longer than nigiri, which is why it travels in bento boxes.
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Eat taiyaki Desserts and pastries
A fish-shaped waffle filled with sweet bean paste, custard or sweet potato. A street sweet baked in front of you.
The thin crisp version and the thick soft one are two genres, both good. A good one carries the filling all the way to the tail.
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Try dango and warabimochi Desserts and pastries
Rice balls on a skewer in a sweet-salty glaze, and warabimochi jelly dusted in kinako soy flour. Both are restrained by Western standards and served with tea.
Kinako brings a nutty flavour rather than sweetness. Dango are soft when fresh and harden overnight, so buy them same-day.
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Try melon pan and bakery items Desserts and pastries
A bun under a crisp crosshatched sugar crust; there is no melon in it and the name comes from the look. Japanese bakeries are a genre of their own and are everywhere.
A fresh melon pan crackles on top and is soft inside; within an hour it softens. Its shelf neighbours are curry-filled kare pan and bean-paste anpan.
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Drink Japanese tea Non-alcoholic drinks
Green sencha, roasted hojicha and powdered matcha are three different drinks. Restaurants bring tea or water free and refill it.
Hojicha is roasted and nearly caffeine-free, and it is the evening tea. Street vending machines sell the same teas cold and unsweetened.
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Drink a highball Local alcohol
Japanese whisky with soda and ice in a tall glass, the standard izakaya drink, taken with food rather than after it.
The first toast is usually shared, kanpai, and nobody drinks before it. A machine-poured highball is colder and fizzier than a hand-mixed one.
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Try sake Local alcohol
Rice wine served chilled, warm or at room temperature depending on the grade. Good sake is more often drunk cold than heated.
You do not pour your own: a neighbour pours for you and you for them. Junmai has no added alcohol; ginjo and daiginjo use more polished rice and are more aromatic.
