YELLOW APE CRAFT "The Bottle Shop & The Kitchen" — Restaurant in Osaka

I'm from the Vancouver, BC area where craft breweries are almost as common as coffee shops. It's much harder to find good craft beers in Japan, so I was pleased to find Yellow Ape Craft here in Osaka, with a good selection of Japanese and international craft beers on tap.

The pour-it-yourself concept here is fascinating, as allowing customers to do that in BC is completely illegal. You can pour as much as you want, though, which is handy when beers sell for as much as CDN$21 per US pint!

Which leads me the 4-star review. I had to take a star off for the price. I understand why a beer from the US would be ludicrously expensive, but even Japanese beers are twice the price of comparable beers in Canada. Given how lax the regulations seem to be in Japan (cheap singles in convenience stores) I can't help but think this is opportunism.

Still, reservations about price aside, I've enjoyed my time here and would recommend it. As long as you're prepared (and I was, from...

I don't know how this is the first review of this beer shop + casual but elegant restaurant, even if it's relatively new. We tried it out on the same day as its parent branch slightly east of here. Lots to recommend, but the most unique thing about it is that you get a card and can pour your own beer from the 20 available taps (slightly more than half are Japanese). Your drinks are automatically charged to the card, and you can sample as much as you want of as many beers as you'd like. On top of that, the wait staff is friendly and helpful, and the long menu is interesting. I had a fish and chips where I could choose the fish from cod, oyster, mackerel, salmon or conger eel, and the chips from potato, lotus, onion or burdock. Also on offer: decent pizza, prosciutto croquettes, delicious fries...all things considered, a huge win, and...

Yellow ape always has great staff and their new bottle shop here is a good find if you want to sample many beers. You get a card that keeps a tab as you fill your own beers at the self serve taps (usually 15-20 taps). I usually sample a sip of each and then fill up on the ones I like. Once you had your fill just take you card to the register to pay. Your food bill will be on a separate paper tab.

They also have a great section of domestic and imports bottles/cans. Just be aware there is an extra “corkage” fee if you wish do drink them in the store instead of taking out. You will see the two different prices on the price tag.

Food is also good and I recommend the spicy lamb with piman and...