Isomaru Suisan Namba-midosuji — Restaurant in Osaka

Nice people. Good food. Great price. Six words to tell you all you need to know. But then you’d have had nothing to read 😉 so if you’re sticking around, read on for more info.

Pop by here after a long day at USJ as there weren’t many restaurants that were still open at 9pm and this restaurant was (thankfully) opened till 5am. It was a lucky find I’d say, as we didn’t know this was a popular izakaya chain until much later. We ordered quite a bit of seafood to share, from their famed Kani Miso, to their Roasted Squid and Mushroom as well as Fresh Whole Scallop. Every dish went well with a pint of iced cold beer 🍺

The staff do pop by now and then to make sure the food is cooked, but don’t rely on them too much. Our staff help to transfer the kani miso from our grill onto the plate but it dropped and ended up face down on the plate followed by 3 seconds of awkward silence which was followed by a “SUMIMASE SUMIMASE!” (Sorry in Japanese)

Well that didn’t stop us from eating because damn was this crab miso delicious, quite possibly the dish to rule them all. ☺️ It arrived uncooked initially, in a greyish mush containing a mixture of crab butter (internal organs) and roe. It’s then placed on the small grill at our table while we watch in boil in anticipation. Biting into it, you’d find your mind blown with its sweet and briny seafood taste that’ll leave you wanting more with every bite. The rich, buttery and umami packed flavours does get you jelat after a while so I drizzled it over my crab fried rice which left me speechless, making a few ooms and ahhs occasionally.

As I ate my way from one totally banging, beautifully conceived, perfectly priced dish to another, I thought to myself “the overpriced air tickets to Japan was worth it” 🥹

Oh, you do leave the place smelling exactly like the food you just grilled, but that’s a small...

Isomaru Suisan is a good introduction to izakayas for foreigners such as myself. There is a large selection available on an easy-to-use English menus on a tablet so you won't encounter too many problems ordering (except maybe deciding what to eat). There are even pictures which we found helpful in cases where the English was poorly translated.

Service, unfortunately, was a bit lacking, perhaps due to a language barrier but other than seating us, we found servers reluctant to provide any assistance even when it pertains to how to cook certain items (e.g. the kani miso). Luckily, there weren't too many instances where that occurred as most things were self-explanatory.

Seafood is the main focus there and you'll find many options to try from. They all seem quite fresh - the clams in some of the clams in sake actually had small pearls inside, which I found quite neat! - but considering you're in Japan, quite average. However, the star of the show was the kani miso and the sea grapes. Crab tomalley/innards may not sound appealing but you'll forget all about it when you taste the creamy texture of kani miso. It doesn't have the bitter(?) aftertaste of plain tomalley, just the sweet crab taste. I recommend having it with the sea grapes, which I haven't seen anywhere else. I think they're referred to as the vegan caviar but the popping sensation of the sea grapes juxtaposed with the creaminess of the kani miso is really something to be experienced! I cannot (and will not) stop raving about it.

If you're a bit nervous about trying izakayas for the first time, I definitely recommend going to Isomaru Suisan (and ordering their kani miso and...

Do you like to eat BBQ in a sauna? That's what it felt like. Every table had a little gas BBQ range so it's hot as hell. The air conditioning was weak to non existent. Staff seemed to me either overworked or just didn't give a you know what, which is unusual given japan's famous reputation for hospitality. You order from a table and the food was fast to arrive. We ordered a sashimi bowl and the fish was sliced super thin, almost see through. We also ordered a 3 piece sashimi of tuna, fish was fresh but not a prime cut. Lots of sinew that made the meat difficult to chew and enjoy. The scallop was fresh and big. Tea was 399 and they also added a pickle dish I didn't order and charged an...