Day 98 - Food, food everywhere! (Osaka)

So we went to the mall today but we didn’t go to shop…

Well, not for clothes anyway.

Once again, it was all about the food…

We got a really late start today at we really had no plans for the day. It wasn’t until 1:30 that we finally left the apartment.

It was nice to have a late start because I feel like I’m fading as the last week of my trip comes upon me. The travelling has been long and it’s been tough in some parts.

I find through the last few weeks it’s been harder and harder to do full days and by the time the afternoon rolls around I’m pretty beat.

Anyway, back to today.

The only thing we knew for sure today was that we were going to get some lunch at the Umeda station area.

We got off at the station and walked into one of the department stores attached to it.

This building had 13 floors but, more importantly, the first two were filled with food stalls.

Actually, even more importantly was that most of the stalls were giving away samples.

Lots and lots of samples.

We did stop from our sample imbidement (is that a word?) when Yuka came by to join us for a late lunch.

We went to a food court nearby and had a couple of amazing dishes.

We had the Osaka version of the egg/noodle crepe dish we had last night in Hiroshimi called Okonomiyaki and also a omelette stuffed with rice and topped with tomato sauce.

And then more samples…

And more…

And then we headed over to another department store but this time to the top floor where all the fancy restaurants are.

Mission: Tiramisu.

If you’ve read my blog you know my love affair with this magnificent Italian dessert. I’ve had many, many times over the last year.

Some good, some meh.

Well, one of the fancy restaurants was an Italian restaurant named Al Pompiere who claimed to have the world’s best tiramisu.

Now, that’s a pretty bold statement. Especially for a place outside of Italy.

We ordered one to share and, while it was good, I’ve just been spoiled by too much greatness out there considering the time I spent in different cities in Italy last year.

So, sorry – not quite the world’s greatest.

Still, though, at the end of the day any tiramisu is good tiramisu…

By now it was just after 5pm and Yuka had to leave for work.

Ben and I walked around a little more. We went up to the top floor of the building to view the city skyline and then headed back to the bottom floor into the great maze of department stores around the station.

We ended up in Hankyu department store and another floor with food everywhere.

And more samples.

This store was unique in that the food floor was changed every week with different cities and countries taking up shop for a week offering their goods.

Today, Hokkaido was representing their area quite well.

It seemed every corner we’d turn there’d be a new food on a toothpick to try.

So many samples!

By 6pm I was beat. Even though we didn’t really go anywhere we still managed to walk alot.

Plus I was so full, I just wanted to sit down and rest.

We went back to Ben’s place and vegged out for a few hours.