Kitashinchi Kushikatsu Bon — Restaurant in Osaka

Visiting the 1 Michelin-starred underground restaurant Kushikatsu Bon was the most pleasant gourmet surprise during my stay in Osaka! 🤩

Kushikatsu, or deep-fried battered skewers, is something I’ve rarely had the chance to enjoy in the world of Japanese food. Unlike the usual kushikatsu which are quintessential Japanese working-class food, Bon elevated the cuisine into a top-notch fine-dining experience✨Wagyu beef, caviar, sea urchin, black waffles, foie gras, fish, shrimp and ice-cream (how did they do it?!) were found in their skewers ❤️‍🔥Exquisite batter and flying technique behind the counter played an important role here. Bon serves you skewers on an omakase basis which lasts for around 20-30 in total - which doesn’t sound like a lot until you start eating them! 🤤

The service was remarkable too: After I finished my meal and was about to leave the restaurant, their waitress chased after me. It was then that I discovered they had prepared a nice little flower pot with a lovely handwritten card for me, knowing that I came with my husband 😳😳 She kept apologising for not gifting me earlier. Their heartwarming hospitality, on top of the outstanding skewers served, are why they deserved the Michelin star, or even more!...

WARNING Absolute rip off. The 16 skewers are fine and tasty but nothing special. They lump a huge markup on wine and sake, I know the cost and quality of both bottles of wine we ordered and both sakes and what they charge is outrageous even for a fine dining restaurant.

Now here is the real issue, the “extra” skewers that they just keep giving you can cost you twice as much as the set price, but they don’t say they cost more, it’s implied they are all included in the tasting menu cost. The restaurant doesn’t have/ give you a menu or tell you what the cost of the skewers are each, also they don’t give you a choice on what you extra ones you get. They just keep making what they want and giving them until you say stop. Our group went there hungry, expecting to be filled at a tasting menu, 16 single bit size skewers wouldn’t fill anyone so of course you need more.

They also don’t give you and itemized bill at the end. I enjoy going to fine dining and Michelin Star restaurants when I travel and this really isn’t worth a Michelin star, staff are very friendly and service is good.

Won’t be going back or...

Kushikatsu at its finest.

Although I don't have a comparison, I've had many a katsu during my time and the batter here is light, with the focus on the produce. We managed to finish all 25 courses, and also the supplementary items - salad, miso soup with soba, wagyu sando and the dessert course.

The highlights for us were - the first course, crab, all the Wagyu pieces, fish eggs with uni and caviar, bear meat and finally the tomato and cheese with proscuitto. The fried chocolate was also superb.

Not easy to find, in the basement amongst a bundle of restaurants, and when you go downstairs second restaurant on your right.

Not a lot of transparency with pricing but we had the full 25 course menu + a bottle of Hakkaisan sake + a cocktail for about ¥43,000 (for 2 people). Hopefully this gives...