Osaka’s Famous Kushikatsu from “Osaka Shinsekai Ganso Kushikatsu Daruma”

Lately, when you think of Shinsekai in Osaka, it’s become synonymous with kushikatsu. The restaurant that started this new trend is “Kushikatsu Daruma.” There are currently 18 locations of “Kushikatsu Daruma.” Even just within Shinsekai, where the chain originated, there are 4 locations, “Shinsekai Honten,” “Janjan,” “Tsutenkaku,” and “Dobutsuenmae.” This time, I decided to visit the largest location of them, “Kushikatsu Daruma Dobutsuenmae.”

The restaurant is located near Tennoji Zoo.

Of course, “double-dipping into the sauce is prohibited.”
The sauce is communal, so you need to dip just before your first bite only.

Inside of the restaurant was packed with lots of customers, giving it a lively atmosphere.

After ordering, all I had to do was wait for my kushikatsu to arrive.

The wine glass was nicely chilled. Delicious.

You can munch on cabbage while you wait for the kushikatsu you ordered to come out.
The sauce was sweet and salty, refreshingly delicious!
The cabbage and red wine also went really well together!

From left to right…
Wagyu beef tenderloin, original kushikatsu (beef skewer), hamo (pike conger), wild-caught shrimp, chicken kara-age, potato, and asparagus.
Up top were onion and lotus root.

I basically ordered a bit of everything, and it may have gotten out of hand…

First up is their recommended dish! This original kushikatsu was 105 yen.
The Daruma way of enjoying this kushikatsu is to dip it in sauce then eat it.
It’s even fried in beef tallow. Their special batter was lightly crispy, slightly sweet, and had a fluffy texture.
There was also a great balance between the batter and filling.

Getting wild-caught shrimp for just 210 yen is such a great deal.
This is my second-highest recommendation behind the beef skewer. I could’ve just eaten nothing but those two.

This had a great texture. The batter was very thin, so you can really enjoy the lotus root flavor.

This kushikatsu is best eaten seasoned with salt.
The combination of the crispy batter and the fluffy hamo was perfect!

As for the other pieces, the chicken kara-age was so delicious and juicy freshly-cooked and paired so well with just salt that I completely forgot to take a picture!

The key to the delicious dishes here at “Kushikatsu Daruma” must be the amazing trinity of their sauce, batter, and frying oil.
I wanted to eat even more, but I held back to go easy on my stomach.

By the time I left the restaurant, there was a long line of people waiting for a seat.