Small note: I started this post before we left Osaka on the 29th.  Since then, we’ve been to Takayama and Shirakawa-go where we didn’t have broadband access.  We’re now in Kanazawa, in a little guesthouse called Minshuku Ginmatsu. We wish we had another night here but we journey to Kyoto this afternoon.

What does one do when one has just spent a somewhat stressful and bewildering wandering about of one of Osaka’s wards, looking in vain for an address that does not appear to follow any rational arrangements of ordering principles? What to do when you are the lucky beneficiaries of Japanese helpfulness and generosity, in the form of a wonderful couple out on a walk back from the suupaa, complete with cute long-haired daschund puppy and armed with gentle graciousness and working mobile phones with maps?  What to do when the above-mentioned angels deliver you quite efficiently to your destination, just in time for your 7:30pm yoyaku (reservation) and you awkwardly burst upon a teeny, tiny sliver of a room where there are 2 seats left at the 8-person counter and all eyes swivel towards you?  And, after getting through the formal bowings and greetings to the chefs behind the counter, after you’ve managed to order some sake somewhat successfully,  what to you when you realize that you probably can’t decipher in any meaningful way the beautiful calligraphy on the hand-written menu and that the chef does not appear able to communicate back, despite his smiles and goodwill?

You again, thank your lucky stars when help arrives, and a very American sounding voice suddenly chirps over your shoulder, “Hello, I’m Hideki and I’ll be your server for this evening.”

And so it was that we were again, lucky enough to meet someone who came to our rescue.  Hideki is a Japanese-American chef from Ohio who has staged all over the world and has finally found himself in the land of his ancestors, apprenticing to become a sushi master.  We bought him a glass of single-malt Yamazaki 12-year, including his companion as well, only to find that he was with his wife who was 6 months pregnant.  He gave us his meishi and urged us to contact him and suggested perhaps meeting up after his stint at work the next day around 11pm.

He met us in the Dotonbori and led us to a little Izakaya whose name we could not quite catch; photos of the outside are below, and they are approximately a block away from the Krispy Kreme Dotonbori on the Shinsaibashisuji.

Once again, we were presented with a specials menu in Japanese and Hideki ordered for us, knowing that we were adventurous, and not adverse to trying “horumon” (hormone) cuisine, or, as we call it in the states – offal.

The raw chicken liver and heart surprised us the most.  The heart was tender yet still firm and the liver truly subtle, silky and delicate, with none of that irony, livery graininess that might be the primary reason many don’t like it.  Hideki promised us, before we popped morsels into our mouth, that this was the way he enjoyed chicken liver best, and he was right!  The rest of the dishes were also spectacular, the raw chicken reminiscent of fantastic fish sashimi… a very enjoyable experience!  Other photos are on Flickr…

Update, 6 May 2011: I’ve finally managed to track down the name of this elusive Izakaya: it belongs to the Food Empire Yuu Food Service Co.