The 38 Essential Osaka Restaurants

"An evening at Shunsaiten Tsuchiya can feel like a spiritual pilgrimage. Located in a peaceful outskirt of Osaka, the tempura-meets-kaiseki restaurant is in a traditional house with stark Zen interiors. Chef Yukihiko Tsuchisaka cooks with cottonseed oil, both for its frying properties and to honor Osaka’s past as a textile center. As he coats and fries seasonal ingredients like Hokkaido scallops and wakasagi smelt, he makes miniscule adjustments based on the heat of the oil, constantly tinkering with the thickness of the batter or sourness of the dip. Tsuchisaka’s dedication to his craft has made Shunsaiten Tsuchiya the only tempura restaurant to receive two Michelin stars every year since 2012." - La Carmina, Michael Sosnick