Sushi in Osaka

March 2, 2023 - 11:10pm - by Alyson Shane

We ventured out for a late dinner after a long day
and found ourselves in a teeny sushi restaurant

They used these cute little flash cards
(since us dumdums could barely string a few words of Japanese together)
but we muddled through and managed to order the best sushi, sashimi, and appetizers I’ve ever eaten.

I mean it. 

I’ve gushed on the Gram about the food we’ve had a lot on this trip
but this was something else entirely. 

A totally different experience from
the thrown-together dishes of Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Every slice, grate of lime rind, and crack of salt was just so. 

Perfect

and perfectly balanced.

Exactly how you’d expect sushi to be here.

I know the Japanese are a polite culture, but I hope that the sushi chef got some enjoyment in how our faces changed and our eyes lit up when we popped yet another perfectly-constructed piece of sushi into our mouths.

He smiled at us a lot over his mask and we grinned back like the silly tourists we are.

(It’s weird how a culture that can make you feel like a bumbling, uncultured idiot can also make you feel so welcome at the same time. That’s just good manners I guess.)

We ate the delicious salad made with tiny fish I’ve never seen before

dipped one piece of sashimi in soya sauce

and the other in salt as the chef showed us to do

and slurped miso soup

(loudly, to show we liked it)

and wished the meal could have gone on forever.

I only took one picture of the food

grudgingly

since I wanted to be fully present for my first sushi dinner in Japan

(something I’ve looked forward to since I was 12)

but I caved when the unagi nigiri came but was too hot to eat right away

so I kept my hands busy trying to discreetly snap a photo.

Now I’m curled up in the pyjamas and house slippers our hotel laid out for us

Settling into the kind of exhaustion that comes after a 4:30 AM start and a busy
somewhat-stressful
very long, day of travel from one country to another

and when I go to bed tonight
I’m gonna dream about all the sushi I’m gonna eat while we're here.