Kani Doraku Dotonbori Higashimise かに道楽道頓堀東店 (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

We have a very light schedule this afternoon. With Jelloman and little nugget off to Spa World since early morning, the four of us can afford to get off to a slow start. The plan was to start off at Ebisubashi Bridge and slowly work our way towards our lunch venue.

It took us a good 15 to 20 minutes before finally arriving at Kani Doraku Dotonbori Higashimise (かに道楽道頓堀東店), which is situated at the quiet end of Dotonbori.

To be brutally honest, I have never been to this side of Dotonbori before. 

This outlet of Kani Doraku is housed in an old 4-storey building and we were seated on the top floor overlooking the river.

Once we placed our order, our server wasted no time getting our crab kamameshi (蟹肉釜飯) ready for action.

But first up, the appetizer platter which consisted of yuba rolls with chopped vegetables and steamed crab leg. 

Didn't think the lanky crab leg would come with so much meat.

It was followed by a bean curd "dumpling" with fillings of crab inside. 

Chawanmushi was our final starter before we moved onto our kamameshi.

At this point, the kamameshi was ready to be served and it was time to put in some of the fresh crab meat for our photo session.

The rice smells really good~

I was so full after the rice but I won't pass up on this crab leg tempura for the world! This was surprisingly less meaty than what I expected from a Hokkaido crab.

Dessert was ice-cream in a rich matcha sauce. 

We had an early start at 11:30am so none of us was really hungry for a big meal. But that's OK since we are going to take our time to meet up with little nugget who's finishing off his swimming session at Spa World. If time permits, we are going to grab something light on our way to Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Kadome (門真). That should be all for today before we embark on another exciting day trip to Kyoto tomorrow. This time, we're heading to Arashiyama (嵐山). Should be fun.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 1-1-3 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 542-0071, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shinsaibashi / Namba

Tel: +81 (0)6 6211-0417

Website: www.douraku.co.jp

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:00pm daily