In Japan’s second city, a night out means ‘scoffing until you drop’ – so our writer asks a couple of local experts for help exploring the stalls, cafes and bars
The woman on the early morning train from Osaka station made swift work of a large noodle-stuffed omelette, and just as I was thinking that was a substantial breakfast for a far from substantial person, it was out with the chopsticks again as she set about a generous bento box, its nine compartments filled with rice, fish, veg and pickled bits and bobs.
But that’s Osakans for you: prodigious appetites for food and, in marked contrast to Tokyoites, also for drinking and general fun. You have to love a city that has a word for “scoff till you drop”. Kuidaore literally means “eat to ruin” (whether that’s financial or physical is not specified).
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