Shokudo Akari

An absolutely outstanding Izakaya experience. I'd recommend this place to anyone visiting osaka. The food and the use of charcoal in the cooking techniques is fantastic. Their rice is some of the best I've had.

Fantastic place, only a few seats at the counter and two small tables, intimate but lively atmosphere. The two chefs work like a great team in harmony and it is a joy to watch them prepare the dishes. We chose a full omakase set and every dish was amazing, full of flavour, a play of different textures and ingredients of top quality. The horse mackerel was fantastic, so was the spring roll with taro paste, boar and bear meat, the wagyu beef and so on, as well as the sake recommendations to go with the various dishes. The atmosphere is very friendly and fun, we chatted with the chefs and with our neighbours at the counter and had a really great time! Very relaxed and happy experience!

We loved this Omakase experience. It was the perfect amount of food. Delicious, clean, simple and unique flavors. You could tell it was a loved place by locals too. They catered their omakase meal so well for two members of the party who are gluten free without taking away from taste. Would highly recommend.

Among a lot of bib gourmand recommendations from Michelin guide, this one called our attention. Tried to book online but couldn’t and with help of a japanese friend, we got a reservation. Gut feeling was right! This was one of the best after 9 days within Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area, having tasted many Michelin guide recommendations. Japanese izakaya with a twist. Creative and super tasty. Highly recommended and can’t wait to be back!

The food was served and prepared with incredible expertise. It is clear that the two guys in the kitchen have been working hard for years. Watching them prepare and cut with cure and precision was an experience. They were open to our reactions and ready to serve us in all our requests. Very recommended the sashimi, especially the squid one, it is pure butter. Very recommended also the fried fish, perfectly fried and raw on the inside, pure butter. Potato salad with scallops was delicate. Grilled fish also was done flawlessly. Overall one of the best dinner of our life. After dinner a nice sensation of lightness with satiety. Perfect respect of raw material, tools for preparation and the stomach too. Extremely good quality price

This place was one of the best food experiences we had in Osaka. Everything we ordered was top-notch. I can specifically recommend the assorted sashimi and charcoal-grilled Wagyu; they were mind-blowingly good. They grated the wasabi right in front of us. Even in some more expensive sushi places, we were served pre-grated wasabi. I discovered this place and made a reservation through the Japanese website Ikyu. Although it's in Japanese, I had no issues using Google Translate.

We found this gem on the Michelin bib gourmand selection for best price/quality ratio. We spent around 14k (with 4 sake and a beer) yen for what was hands down the best dinner we had in Japan so far between Tokyo Kyoto and Osaka (we have been mainly to bib gourmand Michelin restaurant all around). Strongly recommended. The chef knows English in this Izakaya style restaurant. We ate at the counter watching the two chefs cooking basically for us alone since it was a little late.

Fabulous hidden gem not too far from Osaka Station. Hard to find if you can't read Japanese. See photo of signboard on the street. A modern, somewhat creative take on Kaiseki. We particularly enjoyed the sashimi and the rice with small barracuda, that got deliciously crispy on the bottom. There's no need for a menu, and the servers peak English fairly well.