In Osaka, the city of foodies, it’s common for sushi restaurants to be cheap and delicious! ! As someone who loves sushi and drinks, I have selected 6 sushi restaurants that are not conveyor belt sushi restaurants but are made by artisans and are typical of Osaka: cheap,”delicious,” and “interesting.”.
Popular sushi battlegrounds in Osaka city: Sonezaki, Tenma, and Shinsekai
There are many cheap and delicious popular sushi restaurants in Osaka, but the three areas of “Sonezaki, Tenma, and Shinsekai”
are particularly competitive areas where many popular sushi restaurants gather. This time, I would like to introduce two sushi restaurants in each of these three areas that I recommend.
Sonezaki Area ① “Kame Sushi Sohonten” founded in 1950
The first restaurant in the Sonezaki area is “Kame Sushi Sohonten.” It’s a long
-established sushi restaurant founded in 1950. It’s popular, but it has the atmosphere of a long- established restaurant, and it has a nice atmosphere.
The restaurant has two counter seats, and the capacity of the shop is large. Also, most of the customers tend to pick up some sushi and leave quickly, so in order to increase the turnover rate, the restaurant has a large capacity. There are 4 to 5 chefs at all times and 2 to 3 staff in charge of the floor. It’s amazing how they work at full capacity during busy times during the day and at night.
It’s a popular sushi restaurant and the prices are low, but I think they have decent toppings considering the price.
My personal recommendation is the lean tuna, especially the tekkamaki, which is cheap at 350 yen and consistently delicious.
An interesting point about Kame Sushi is that they use color-coded plastic tags instead of paper to record what they eat. When you see the plastic tags piled high, you often feel like you’ve eaten too much. However, it’s a popular sushi restaurant, so even if you eat normally and have a light drink, it will cost around 3,000 to 4,000 yen, so you can eat whatever without any worries.
Kame sushi
Budget：night ¥4,000～¥4,999 noon ¥2,000～¥2,999
Holiday：Monday and 2nd Tuesday (If Monday is a holiday, Tuesday will be closed) Year-end and New Year holidays (12/31~1/3)
Address：2-14-2 Sonezaki, Kita Ward , Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Sonezaki Area ② “Nawa Sushi Main Store” founded in 1952
The second restaurant in the Sonezaki area is Nawa Sushi Honten, which was founded in 1951.
Actually, Nawa Sushi is located next to the first one, Kame Sushi Sohonten. So, I always have trouble deciding which to go Kame Sushi or Nawa Sushi .
Nawa Sushi Honten is interesting because there is a boardroom in the middle of the restaurant, and there are counter seats in a circle surrounding it.
The great thing about Nawa Sushi Honten is that if you enter the store before 7pm, you can get a free draft beer (small).
Therefore, we recommend that you arrive at the restaurant by 7pm. *For those who don’t drink alcohol, “red soup” will be provided free of charge.
Also, like Kame Sushi Sohonten, they use colored plastic tags to record what each customers eat. This system is only seen in the Sonezaki area in Osaka, but it’s quite an interesting system.
Nawa Sushi’s interesting item is the original sushi called “Umaki”, which is an unusual sushi made with finely chopped cucumber and eel wrapped in egg and placed on sushi rice.
Of course, the eel and egg go well together, and the finely chopped cucumber is a great accent.
Nawa Sushi
Budget：night ¥3,000～¥3,999 noon ¥3,000～¥3,999
Holiday：Monday
Address：2-14-1 Sonezaki, Kita Ward , Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Tenma Area ① The popular “Harukoma Main Store” where there is always a line
The first one in the Tenma area is ” Harukoma Honten”, which is located on the side street of Nakatenjinbashi 5-chome in Japan’s longest shopping street “Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street”. It is one of the many popular sushi restaurants in “Tenma”. This area is particularly crowded with sushi restaurants, and there are popular sushi restaurants across the street and diagonally across the street. Just by looking around, there are four popular sushi restaurants within a 30-second walk. Among the fiercely competitive sushi restaurants for the masses, the most popular one is Harukoma Honten. No matter when you go, there’s always a line in front of the restaurant, so if you’re going to eat, be sure to wait in line.
Harukoma’s ordering method is unique; you write down what you want to eat
on a memo pad provided at your seat. It’s also fun to apply the soy sauce on your sushi yourself using the brush provided at your seat .
By the way, this style of using a brush to apply soy sauce on sushi is not Harukoma’s original style, but is a very common style often seen at popular sushi restaurants in Osaka .
If you go to Harukoma, be sure to order the store’s specialty, the “Asari Red Dashi”, which is filled with heaps of clams! ! The soup stock also has a strong clam flavor. Also, these clams make a pretty good accompaniment to sake.
It’s only 500 yen, so it’s cheap! !
The appeal of Harukoma is its low prices, with two pieces of sagiri ranging from 100 yen to 400 yen, comparable to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.
What’s interesting is that the most expensive item at Harukoma, priced at 400 yen, is neither fatty tuna nor abalone, but “upper eel.” *fatty tuna and abalone are 350 yen. The thick eel becomes melty when lightly grilled.
Harukoma Main Store
Budget：night ¥1,000～¥1,999 noon ¥2,000～¥2,999
Holiday：Tuesday
Address：5-5-2 Tenjinbashi, Kita Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Tenma area ② “Sushimasa Naka branch” popular for its lunchtime nigiri service
The second store in the Tenma area is right in front of the first Harukoma store! ! Sushi Masa Nakaten is one of the top two popular sushi restaurants in the Tenma area, but it’s not as big as Harukoma, but there is often a long line . As stated on the signboard next to the entrance, the most popular item at the restaurant is the “lunch service nigiri.” It comes with 7 pieces of nigiri, 2 pieces of tekkamaki, and red soup stock, and the price is a whopping 500 yen . What’s great about the nigiri service is that they serve it not only during weekday lunchtimes, but also on Saturday lunchtimes. I think about 80% of the customers at lunch time eat this “lunch service nigiri”. I think this is the best restaurant to eat quick sushi.
Like Harukoma, you uses a brush to apply the soy sauce on your sushi, which is typical of popular sushi restaurants in Osaka .
The 500 yen price of the lunch nigiri is exceptionally cheap, but at Sushimasa, the regular nigiri prices range from 100 yen to 400 yen, which is as cheap as conveyor belt sushi.
My personal favorite is the shop’s signature product, “Daimyo Maki,” also known as “Seafood Maki.” The ingredients are tuna, eel, egg, cucumber, pickled radish, and perilla leaves (shiso). The tuna is chewy, and the eel is full of ingredients. It also tastes good. The pickled radish adds a crunchy texture, and the perilla leaves give it a nice aroma at the end.
We also recommend the restaurant’s specialty, the sea bream soup. This soup with one giant sea bream in it costs only 300 yen, so it’s cheap! !
Sea bream kama has plenty of fat and has a melty flesh. The soup stock is light and salty and brings out the flavor of the sea bream.
Sushi Masa
Budget：night ¥2,000～¥2,999 noon ¥1,000～¥1,999
Holiday：Monday
Address：5-6-19 Tenjinbashi, Kita Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Shinsekai Area ① “Yuzushi” like a popular izakaya
The first restaurant in the Shinsekai area is Nakura Sushi located next to the south entrance of the Shinsekai tourist spot “Janjan Yokocho”.
The restaurant has a very Showa-era atmosphere and is very Shinsekai-like.
The interior of the restaurant has only U-shaped counter seats, so it feels more like a bar for the masses than a sushi restaurant. Also, when you look at the menu, it’s interesting to see that it has a lineup that looks like izakaya restaurants, such as “Atsuage, Shishamo, Yakitori,” etc.
The most recommended item on the izakaya menu
is the restaurant’s specialty, “Yudofu (boiled tofu)”, which is interestingly served in a steamed clay pot. The strong bonito soup is delicious and the toppings include hamo, which makes it fluffy and delicious.
The most expensive menu item in the restaurant is the “raw sea urchin side dish.” Well, even though it’s expensive, it’s only 700 yen.
It comes on a small board, but it’s even more delicious than I expected.
The scent of alum is minimal, and considering the price, I think it’s a very good value.
It looks like a popular izakaya, but of course it’s a sushi restaurant, and they also serve sushi.
The price of sushi is very cheap. However…the taste…honestly…the price…(^^;
However, the thing that shines among all the sushi is the “egg”. The egg is grilled after the order is placed. It may take some time, but freshly baked tamago-yaki is fluffy, soft, and has a slightly sweet flavor, making it delicious.
Yuzushi
Budget：night¥1,000～¥1,999
Holiday：Every Wednesday and another day
Address：3-3-6 Ebisu Higashi, Naniwa Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Shinsekai Area ② “Sahei Sushi” is famous for…
The second store in the Shinsekai area is “Sahei Sushi”.
“Sahei Sushi” is located right after entering of the south entrance of Shinsekai’s Janjan Yokocho.
When you enter the restaurant, the first thing that catches your eye is the staff who are characters from the manga written on the menu, and they are unusually good at it! !
Generally, at sushi restaurants, “Nigiri” is served with 2 pieces per plate, but
in the sushi restaurants at Shinsekai area, it is standard to have 3 pieces per plate.
Of course, the soy sauce on the sushi comes in a jar and you apply it yourself with a brush.
When you come to Sahei Sushi, you should definitely try the specialty dishes “Anona Maki” and “Anone Maki”.
Anona maki is a high-grade product that is Anone maki with herring roe added. Incidentally, the ingredients are shrimp, conger eel, shiitake mushroom, dried gourd, thickly baked egg, thinly baked egg, Koya tofu, cucumber, perilla, denbu, and herring roe.
This is quite delicious and can also be used as an appetizer for alcoholic drinks.
The restaurant’s hidden popular menu is “Sea Chicken,” which you don’t often see at regular sushi restaurants. What’s surprising is that when an order is placed, they take out the tuna from the toppings case, cut it up, and throw it into a pot of boiling water.
It’s seasoned with plenty of mayonnaise and sesame oil
and wrapped with lettuce. When you eat it, it smells like sesame oil, and the mayonnaise is very mild. It’s not homemade tuna, but sea chicken. It’s a very interesting menu.
Sahei Sushi
Budget：¥2,000～¥2,999 ¥2,000～¥2,999
Holiday：Wednesday
Address：3-4-18 Ebisu Higashi, Naniwa Ward, Osaka City , Osaka Prefecture
*This article was updated on November 13, 2014. The contents, prices, menus, etc. may differ from the current ones, so please be sure to call or confirm in advance when visiting.
