Wandering Fel

8D Osaka Kobe Foodie Trip: From airport to Shinsaibashi

Train ticket office at Kansai International Airport Osaka

If you are booking your flight from Singapore to Osaka at pretty last minute (like one month before), your best choice of flights which are non-budget are probably either provided by Cathay Airways (transit at Hong Kong) or Garuda Indonesia (transit at Jakarta). Since BF and I are kinda cheapo, we decided to book our flight with Garuda Indonesia since it’s cheaper by 100 SGD and that kind of money can be used to eat yummy food or buy a lot of gacha in Japan. After 8 hours journey, we have finally landed at Kansai International Airport (KIX).

I did not see any major changes to the airport with exception of welcome party by Super Mario and his friends. But BF said Mario has been there since last year so I suppose it’s probably nothing new if you often visits Osaka. The next thing that we need to settle after immigration is definitely our train ticket to the city. BF has booked the train ticket from KIX to Namba Airport online but you still need to make your way to the train station counter to exchange your booking confirmation to train ticket. Upon booking the train ticket, you do not have to book any particular timing since you can choose which time is the earliest train that you can take upon collecting your train ticket at the counter. Thankfully, there is still ample time to reach the train platform upon collecting our tickets, so we did not have to do mad dash there.

The train ride to Namba Station was quite fast around 30 minutes-ish. At Namba Station, we had to transfer to the subway line in order to reach Shinsaibashi subway station, where our hotel is located. In the midst of transferring, I spotted a bakery which sells cute breads shaped in animal head oh my. BF said to get the bread while we were still there. Otherwise, there may be no second chance hahaha. So yeah, I got the dog bread and it’s filled with custard. Obviously, I just gotta had to take picture of it first.

When you pick a hotel, it’s very important to check if there’s any convenience store near the hotel. There’s 7-11 right opposite our hotel, Best Western Fino Shinsaibashi Osaka so I suppose we know where to get our staple of onigiri. Yumz.

Whenever you visit Osaka in Japan, you must not miss out Shinsaibashi. There are so many things to do in Shinsaibashi including visiting the nearby famous food street called Dotonbori. Shinsaibashi is the largest shopping area in Osaka. The "Shinsaibashi Shopping Street" which runs east to Mido-suji avenue has been established shopping area since Edo period.

Shinsaibashi Shopping Area in Osaka Japan

If you are a shopaholic, you will go crazy in Shinsaibashi because no matter where you look, there are shops everywhere. My favourite shop in Shinsaibashi is the accessories shop which sells cute earrings. The Japanese has a lot of clip-on earrings which does not require the user to go for an ear lobes piercing. So if you don't have ear lobes holes but want to wear earrings, you should stock up here.

Shinsaibashi Shopping Street in Osaka Japan

My friend was kinda dragging me away from the store after I spent so much time choosing earrings. The reason is because she has been dying to try cheese tarts from Pablo which is loved by the Japanese. There are two branches of Pablo in Shinsaibashi. While the one located right at the center of Shinsaibashi Shopping Street is nearer, you should go for the one located nearer to Dotonbori because the cake shop is bigger and there are more seats available for customers to dine in.

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Pablo, Shinsaibashi

The cheese tarts that Pablo sells is the gooey and fluffy type. Why the cheese tarts are gooey? Simple, Pablo sells its cheese tarts raw. Yes, you heard it right, RAW. The tarts dough is cooked though, basically it's the cheese filling which is raw. If you are not into a raw cheese tart, you can still opt for the cooked version (I am starting to wonder if we are eating steak because it's so similar...if you get what I mean).

The seating place is located at level 2 of the restaurant. We visited Pablo around 5PM on a weekday and there were many seats available. The cake shop gets pretty crowded around 6-ish though.

Pablo sells a lot of goodies which you can bring back as souvenirs from Japan just like this cookie. The cheese sable biscuits on the far right side taste good.

This is how the famous cheese tart from Pablo looks like. It is usually served together with honey and vanilla ice cream. I don't know about you but I find the raw cheese tart is too...gooey for my liking. I suppose I am the type of person who like her cheese tarts firm. LOL.

Other than cheese tarts, Pablo sells cheesecake too. The crust on the top of the cheesecake is actually salted caramel. I prefer the cheesecake to the famous cheese tarts, am I weird? Hahaha.

Pablo Salted Caramel Cheese Cake in Osaka

If you do not include Osaka in your itinerary, you can also visit Pablo at Shibuya in Tokyo as the cake shop has opened another branch there due to its popularity in Osaka.

Wandering Fel

8D Osaka Kobe Foodie Trip: From airport to Shinsaibashi

10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Pablo, Shinsaibashi