Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

2/19/2005, Korean Town in Osaka, Häagen Dazs Café with Akemi

On Saturday, Akemi and I went to the Korean Town in Osaka.  It's like a China Town, but for Korea.  Shops all over the place sell Korean foods and other goods.  They have these fried things that somewhat resemble okonomiyaki.  (I realize if you've never had okonomiyaki, then this isn't a real helpful description, but it's the best I can do.) We stopped in a restaurant and had lunch.  I had kim chee (sp?) with pork.  They also serve Korean dried flat seaweed (nori).  It is unlike the Japanese variety in that it is brushed with sesame oil and salted.  (Again, if you've never had nori, then this probably isn't real helpful.  Sorry.) Somehow, I've come to see dried seaweed as a totallly normal, everyday food.  It doesn't seem the least bit strange or cultural unless I start comparing to my old life in Seattle.  Sorry, no pictures in Korean town.  I suspect street vendors don't get really thrilled about having their picture taken.

Häagen Dazs Ice Cream Café

We also went to my favorite ice cream shop in the world.  It is the Häagen Dazs café in the Namba area of Osaka.  They serve the best ice cream sundaes on the planet.  A little pricy (e.g. ¥900, ≈$9) but tasty enough to justify the indulgence once in a while.

You can bet I took some pictures.

Akemi got two small scoops of vanilla ice cream served with a little pitcher of espresso.  You pour the espresso over the ice cream.  It's very simple (and, appropriately cheaper), but very delicious.

Akemi pours the espresso onto the ice cream.

I went for the big mess of ice cream, fruit, and custard.  This one had vanilla, Belgian chocolate (with tiny chips of chocolate throughout), and strawberry ice cream.  It also had strawberries, whipped cream, and squares of custard.  There might have even been a few blueberries in there.  No surprises.  It was delicious!

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