How to Eat Kushikatsu (aka Kushiage) the Right Way

When you go to Osaka and you are in Shinsekai, you will definitely find many Kushikatsu or Kushiage eateries around.

The one we went was Kushikatsu Itiban 壱番 新世界本店(Japan, 〒556-0002 Osaka, Naniwa Ward, Ebisuhigashi, 2 Chome−6−1 パインフィールドビル). As you can see from the photo, Lawson is just next to it. It closes at 11pm.

I’m not sure how much these skewers cost as I didn’t order them and we ordered two rounds. The price range between Â¥80-Â¥300 per skewer depending on what you order. There are choices of meat, vegetables, seafood, and even dessert skewers to choose from.

What is kushikatsu?

Kushikatsu (串カツ), also known as kushiage (串揚げ), is a Japanese dish of deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables. In Japanese, kushi (串) refers to the skewers used while katsu means a deep-fried cutlet of meat. (Source: Wikipedia)

Now, let’s learn how to eat kushikatsu:
1. Dip the skewer once into the sauce container. NO DOUBLE DIPPING! Once the skewer is out of the sauce, even when it’s still not out of the container, no more second dip allowed.
(I wanted to dip the upper portion of the skewer, so I tried changing the position of the skewer by lifting it out from the sauce (skewer still in container) and my Japanese friends were horrified, they told me cannot do that, once out of the the sauce, it’s out *LOL* I’ve been reading about it but none mention such rule as they only mentioned about the one that you’ve put into your mouth.)
2. If you have eaten a portion and want to dip it again, you need to get the cabbage to scoop the sauce out instead of dipping your half-eaten skewer into it.
(Trust me, most likely you don’t need it after the first dip, it’s quite salty, one dip is really enough.)
3. Place the stick into the container for used sticks which you can find on your table.

There you go… It’s not that hard.

There are some of the Osaka specialties that we ordered while we dine at the eatery.

Left: Beef sinew stewed in miso (Â¥420).
Right: Takoyaki (Â¥380).

Here’s the other food from the menu:

Left: Dumpling aka Jiaozi (Â¥350).
Right: Japanese rolled egg with seasoned cod roe(Â¥420).

Hope you learn a thing or two from this post and don’t do a boo boo like I did hehehe… By the way, do check out my Kansai Prefecture Tripping series on my YouTube channel(https://bit.ly/lovebellbelle) and hope that you can also subscribe to it.