I got back late, late at night from my first trip to Osaka. I mean, regular salarymen work this late every night, but when I arrive at the station at 11:10, that’s a solid day of work (lunch pictures notwithstanding). There’s an izakaya between home and the station that I’ve been itching to try, and their last order is 11:30, so I had high hopes. When I opened the door, the master did that ‘try to speak English even though you can’t’ thing and said “Sorreeee….” What he really meant was that he wasn’t busy so he felt like closing early. I complained that it wasn’t 11:30, the existing customers had a chuckle, and I closed the door on his response. I won’t darken it again. All of this left me irritated, and I ended up stopping in to the other place that’s open late, Denmaru. They’re a big chain, so they’re reliably open until 2.
The thing is, I can’t show you the ramen I ate. Because I didn’t have ramen. I thought I’d be ‘sensible’ in my late-night snacking and just have a bowl of fatty pork, seared and sauced and mounted on some rice.
Oh, and a plate of gyoza. What the hey.
I actually wish I had tried the ramen here at some point. Denmaru is part of the same big group as Ajigen (warning, no photos in that link), so I bet the rest of the food is also competent if maybe unremarkable.
I mean, I was several sheets to the wind after drinking most of a bottle of Gozenshu #9 (white bottle) on the train (not a full-size bottle, I also hasten to add). So many things would seem remarkable at this point, and the nasty treats above certainly hit the spot.