A quintessential Osaka street food, takoyaki makes for the perfect drinking snack. The golf-ball-sized bundle of dough, encasing a chunk of chewy octopus, is crisp on the outside, molton inside, and sweet and savoury at the same time. It’s not surprising that Tako Tako King’s idea of building a pub around this crowd-pleasing soul food has been a great success.
The popular establishment is a lot of fun, with a casual, jovial atmosphere that’s emblematic of Osaka nightlife. There are five Tako Tako King outlets in Osaka, all within walking distance between Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi. So if one location is busy, you can always walk to the next one for a table.
You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu, which runs a short but adequate list of drinking food from okonomiyaki (Osaka-style savoury pancake) to yakisoba (stir-fried noodles). An order of takoyaki is a must, and you’ll be wise to get the platter of four kinds (¥1,000). The differences lie in the sauce and the toppings: classic mayo, welsh onion with ponzu, salt, and mentaiko mayo. To wash it all down, there’s a long list of beers, whiskies, highballs, chuhai (including some made with freshly squeezed seasonal fruit), cocktails, sake and shochu.