Tachinomi Akagakiya 立ち飲み 赤垣屋

Tachinomi Akagakiya (立ち飲み赤垣屋 ) was a favourite standing bar I visit whenever I was in Namba, Osaka. Whether was it lack of space or trend, drinking and eating while standing was common place in Japan.

Akagakiya Namba was undergoing renovation the last time I came in Feb 2019. Now it had colorful neon lights. It was located in the middle of the covered shopping streets. It served usual alcohols and simple food to go with them such as oden, deep fried items, etc.

We loved this place because it opened from 10am. Other than tourists, the customers were mostly senior locals. One uncommon drink we had was the hot ginger shochu (焼酎しょうが割り). It would warm the body during cold weather. However old folks would also advise against taking too much ginger.

Another favourite item would be shirako. However it was not available this time. So we tried the dried fugu (ふぐの一夜干し). It was slightly grilled. It had the distinct smell of dried stuff, but was deliciously chewy. And went down well with our sakes.

Website: http://www.akagakiya.com/tenpo/nanba.html
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270202/27003179/

Hanamaruken Ramen 花丸軒 難波

It was Japanese habit to have ramen after a night of drinking. We ended up at Hanamaruken Hozenji. Hanamaruken was famous for its tonkotsu shoyu ramen. We ordered its most popular "Happiness" ramen (しあわせラーメン) and the slow cooked pork rib ramen.

The chunky pork rib was tender and delicious. And I was able to clean up the whole bowl including the soup.

We also had to try its fried rice (チャーハン). It was really as good as what we had read in reviews.

Always good to look around the shop to see what a customer could get for free. In this case, each customer could request for a hard boiled egg. And there was free kimchi as well.

Website: http://arakawapork.com/#
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270202/27002618/

Bar serenity (バー セレニティ)

We walked around Namba area looking for a whisky bar and ended up at this Bar Serenity (バー セレニティ). There were a few new interesting Japanese whiskies that we tried.

The first was Suntory Ao (碧). This was a blend of whiskies from distilleries in the 5 biggest whiskies regions - Scotland, Japan, Ireland, Canada and USA. The blend was smooth as expected, however it did not give a deep impression. Probably it would take a while.

The next interesting Japanese whiskies was Akkeshi (厚岸蒸溜所). This was the second whiskey distillery in Hokkaido. We were lucky to first had this whiskey at Akkeshi. Unfortunately we were told that these were sold out then, and could only have Foundation 1 and 2. This time, we were lucky to taste Foundation 3 and 4.

Foundation 3 was matured in Mizunara cask from Hokkaido. And Foundation 4 was a blend of grain and malt whiskey. Akkeshi was definitely an interesting label to watch out. Fortunately these were not ridiculously priced like the other Japanese whiskies. Yet.

We ordered a serving of butter raisin to go with our drinks.


Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270202/27081850/
Link: http://bar.shinsaibashi-club.com/serenity/index.html