Sushi Endo | Osaka

Endo Sushi, Osaka

Osaka has a central wholesale fish market much like Tsukiji in Tokyo, with its own 4:15am Tuna auction. Had we known that Tsukiji would be so restricted (we should have known and watched for this after the earthquake), we would have made more of an effort to make it to Osaka’s version, which seems more welcoming to tourists.

But the real reason we journeyed to the Central Fish Market was in order to visit a tiny sushi-ya that’s been around for over a hundred years (est. in 1907) we had read about from Chubby Hubby, and really, how could one go wrong having sushi for breakfast right on the grounds of a fish market?

It’s open from 5am until 2pm (or so we read from the Interwebs), and, slugabeds that we were, we made sure to hustle a bit in the morning to make our way over from the Dotonbori on our last day in Osaka.

Endo Sushi is in the same area as the large clock

We reached the market around 1030am, and wandered for a bit until we found it. It’s located in the parking lot side – if you see a large clock flanked by red beams, Endo Sushi will be to your left across the lot if you stand facing the clock.

Inside the Sushi-Ya

As we entered and were seated, we glanced at the old gentleman in the corner, who I recognized as the master, chopping large sheets of konbu into more reasonable strips with a large paper cutter.

Shoyu to Gari, Soy and Ginger

The table is set with a large communal bowl of soy sauce, accompanied by a brush, and another corresponding bowl of pickled ginger. The staff also quickly sets mugs of hot green tea and the requisite wrapped chopsticks and napkins before you when you take your seats.

Omakase

“Omakase, onegai shimasu” gets you a plate of the chef’s choice: 5 pieces of sushi to start and always a piece of chu-toro with each set. From left-to-right; some anago, or eel; uni; ika, chu-toro; and some kind of clam. Brush the tops of the sushi lightly with the brush dipped in shoyu – note that you don’t dunk, nor is there extra wasabi provided beyond what the chef had already smeared on top of the rice for you.

Miso Soup

The miso soup came with the teeny, tiny clams — shijimi, or  Corbicula Japonica — that we liked so much.

Omakase plate #2

You can order as many plates of five pieces as you like. Here’s another plate of sushi; DD and managed to consume 3 each altogether. On this plate: another piece of eel, some kind of clam, hotate scallop, toro, and another kind of clam.

3rd sushi plate

Final plate: sweet tamago, crab, clam, toro and another bit of shellfish.

At the end of our meal, the master tottered towards us on his wooden clogs to see us out, inquiring politely in broken English as to where we were from, and we, in our broken Japanese, replying to the best of our ability. It seems that he likes to play golf in California, and is an avid fan of Pebble Beach.

Endo Sushi

Address: 1-1-86 Noda Fukushima-ku Osaka City Osaka
Tel: 06-6469-7108
E-mail: info@endo-sushi.com
Hours: 5 AM – 2 PM

http://www.endo-sushi.com/english.html

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