Osaka's Crab Craze

After a rewarding day visiting university campuses, it was time to celebrate with a meal we had been looking forward to for weeks. We had smartly booked a table in advance for a full-course crab dinner, a culinary experience Osaka is famous for.

As soon as we entered the restaurant, our eyes widened looking at the preparations of our meal: the entire crab, just waiting to be made into several beautiful dishes.

Our meal began with beautiful and sweet crab sashimi, complete with egg yolk and fresh wasabi that enhanced the perfect natural sweetness of the crab. Then a very nice range of preparations were served. We tried awesome crab tempura - light and crispy with an excellent batter, followed by boiled hairy crab, which had dense meat and great flavour.

The interactive part of the meal was the large crab legs and claws grilled right at the table, which filled the air with incredible aromas. We were served kani miso, a rich and savoury paste made from grilled crab innards in its shell.

The next course was a crab hot pot, where the crab simmered with fresh vegetables and tofu. And to not waste a drop of the rich flavour of the broth, we finished with a lovely, warm bowl of zosui, a savoury rice porridge made with all the flavours from the previous courses.

What an amazing way to experience this wonderful multi-course, very sharing meal. The variety and the surprise of each new course to enjoy together made the experience even better and memorable. This was more than just dinner. We enjoyed a glimpse into the Japanese culinary tradition that we shared together.