Running the Gyoza Gauntlet in Osaka at 3 of My Favorite Dumpling Restaurants
Dumplings are a top three food for me…ever. I think it all stems from one Chinese New Year back in Beijing where I was invited over to a local buddy’s home to celebrate with just him and his mother. His mother apparently “took it light on us” and only prepared 150 dumplings – this isn’t hyperbole. Over the course of ten hours, we drank (Maotai for days), karaoked, and most importantly, devoured these little pillows of heaven. By the end, there wasn’t a single dumpling in sight.
However, devouring 150, thick Chinese dumplings in one sitting will take a toll on your waistline and I swore to myself from that day forward, that if I ate 150 dumplings again, they would need to be lighter. So you can imagine how close I was to breaking down in hysterics like a 1940s couple at a train station after the husband returns from war after my first official gyoza in Japan (I had eaten gyozas thousands of times outside of Japan but it hits differently when in the gyoza motherland).
I knew my dream to eat 150 dumplings once again was no longer a dream – it was a reality at the tips of my fingers (chopsticks?). Leading this gyoza gastronomic revolution were three gyoza-specific restaurants in Osaka.
Pale Ale Travel Gyoza Note: A healthy percentage of my gyoza consumption came in tandem with bowls of ramen at popular ramen restaurants in Osaka (if you are looking for killer ramen/gyoza combos, make sure to check out my guide on 21 ramen restaurants in Osaka). However, I made a concentrated effort to check out a handful of gyoza-specific restaurants where the crispy, light, juicy little pillows of joy were the star of the show.
Jessie Gyoza & Wine
It took me a hot minute to find Jessie Gyoza & Wine which was buried down a back alley in the labyrinth that is Temma (my favorite area in Osaka for food, drink, and the spectacle). If you become discouraged, know that salvation awaits. I wish I could describe exactly how to get here better but I fear that would only lead to more confusion. When in doubt, ask a regular in the neighborhood.
I never knew this was a combo I needed in my life but I’m glad I found out. Gyozas and wine go together like peanut butter and jelly, like Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers (Car Talk on NPR – RIP Tom), like lamb and tuna fish (Rob Schneider in Big Daddy reference). Jessie Gyoza & Wine does both with emphasis on all the right syllables.
Serving up both pan-fried and boiled gyoza, Jessie Gyoza & Wine delivers these little pan-fried parcels in my preferred form – brick form. I mean, look at the above. Perfectly crispy, crescent-shaped pork and chive dumplings lay side-by-side in a human centipede type of brick, with no discernible front or back.
Delicate on the underbelly but firm enough to retain the natural juice of the meat filling, crispy enough to generate a satisfying, crumbly crunch. The crispy layer that took the brunt of the cooking on the bottom almost resembles a light and thin wafer – this is the adult, bon vivant version of a Communion wafer.
Pale Ale Travel Tip: If you are in the Temma/Nakazakicho area of Osaka, make sure to check out my posts breaking down my favorite takoyaki shop ‘Takoyaki Umaiya’ and a small, cozy Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant ‘Dream on Taiga’.
During my several tips here, staff always recommended white wine with gyoza to provide a refreshing slight acidity, sweet, dry, contrast to its juicy, crispy counterpart. While there is a sweetness to pork filling in these gyoza, I’m a big dipper and fan of the accompanying salty soy sauce, so the sweet finish of the wine helped level things out.
I couldn’t help myself and ordered a Yamazaki highball to finish off the night. While the soda water/seltzer definitely dilutes the concentrated punch of the whiskey, a spice comes through (I imagine from the oak cask) with citrusy notes. It is definitely on the fruitier side of whiskies that I’ve consumed in my life.
Sometimes, with the amount I drink, it’s better that I don’t attempt to consume anything too high of a value, as it then is like feeding a crocodile the finest white-tailed deer when a mud-dwelling capybara would have sufficed and accomplished the same goal.
Ponchan Gyoza
While I was primarily based next to Osaka Castle (right near Temmabashi Station) during my three months, I did spend several weeks down in Namba. While I wasn’t able to get into as comfortable a life routine as I would have liked (I love running at Osaka Castle at night and along the river), I did stumble on some of my favorite restaurants in Osaka – Ponchan Gyoza being one of them.
I actually first patronized Ponchan Gyoza as the second spot in a curry-gyoza bang-bang. But going in already with a belly full of rich, silky Japanese curry thanks to the old school Japanese diner ‘Curry House T&A’ didn’t hinder me at all. If anything, it invigorated me.
Located right at the corner of a small intersection (look for the pictures of ornate dumpling bouquets on the outside wall and the characters ‘餃子’ on the beige sign with a slight yellow hue), Ponchan Gyoza is a dumpling house serving up four types of affordable, mammoth platters of hearty pillows of joy. The four types of dumplings Ponchan serves are:
- White Gyoza: the standard gyoza (pork);
- Blue Gyoza: packed to the brim with green onions;
- Red Gyoza: a hot miso inside with slight acidity;
- Duck Gyoza: duck meat and green onions.
I was feeling feisty and I opted for a mix of all four, paired with several ice-cold Suntories. The highlights for me are/were of course the duck gyoza, which sported a rich, savory, and sweet inside. This is definitely for those who enjoy decadence packaged in everyday palatability. My number 2 (thinking of Robert Wagner in Austin Powers) is Ponchan’s ‘Blue Gyoza’, which crackles and yields a nice pungent, aromatic, oniony bite.
This may be one of the best bang-for-your-buck spots in Namba, with a platter of 20 running you 850 yen (USD 5.75) or a gyoza-draft beer combo clocking in at even less (700 yen). For the Matt Stonies and Takeru Kobayashis of the world, the 30-piece platter may be the play here – which comes in between 1,100 and 1,200 yen (depending on the filling).
Kotetsuya
As I’ve noted in several other posts about Japan (especially my udon ode to Kirinya Honmachihonten), the best places often come along when you least expect it. Kotetsuya came along just after I had devoured a bowl of creamy tonkotsu ramen down at Ramen Ippachi in Namba and was in dire need of a launching point for the night. I made my way slightly north to grab a red bean paste Taiyaki from the popular Naruto Taiyaki Hompo.
In need of extra sustenance for a Sapporo-fueled night, I ducked into an unassuming, 8-seat izakaya-style gyoza shop.
This is an intimate spot and you will get up close and personal with the owners (a husband and wife duo – I think) and other diners. It’s hard not to strike up conversation and kanpai with your dumpling brethren in arms, which resulted in it turning into a far bigger night than I anticipated (in a great way).
As you can tell by the above picture, these gyoza take a different shape than those you are typically used to seeing. But these aren’t the only ones on the menu. You can find everything from translucent shumai-styled prawn dumplings to rich, fatty chicken skin dumplings (pictured below), all the way to more traditional pan-fried gyoza huddled around a raw egg yolk like a dumpling séance.
If you’ve read my post on three Kyoto ramen restaurants that I love, then you already know that chicken skin dumplings, a cleaned, crisped, and finely rolled doobie stuffed with finely minced chicken (typically mixed with ginger, garlic, and scallions). What I think made these especially delectable was that (this is pure speculation here) they were first steamed or boiled and then tossed in a pan to crisp up. This seals in any moisture that may naturally leak out in plating, resulting in little explosive water balloons of tender, juicy indulgence.
We Here For That Gyoza
As American competitive eater Eric ‘Badlands’ Booker rapped (yes, he is also a rapper outside of timed hotdog and chicken wing eating contests), “Ayy yo, we here for that G-Y-O-Z-A.” While the bulk of gyoza I consumed in Japan was as a supporting cast member to my ramen, these three spots in Osaka emphatically stand on their own.
There is something honorable about how gyoza are made – a high level of dexterity and attention to detail, with generational recipes and tradition baked, boiled, steamed, or pan-fried into each, all for something that is eaten within a blink of an eye. So, I’d like to officially rescind my above statement about gearing up for a second 150-dumpling strong eating marathon – these little pillows of heritage deserve a higher degree of reverence from this Big Body. It’s time for me to show a reciprocated level of love and consideration.
If you have any favorite gyoza spots in Osaka, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or via email (info@palealetravel.com). Also, if you have any questions about traveling to or staying in Osaka, I’d be more than happy to answer them!
Eat well everyone,
Big Body
Big Body is a voracious lov…eater, a cowardly fighter, and a self-proclaimed curry goat BBQ-eating champion (don’t forget the donkey milk) who likes Stoicism, baseball, and writing in the third person. Having worked for himself for the last 7 years, he isn’t particularly successful but he does still drink ice-cold Sapporo draft beers with the best of them and knows his way around a Dai Pai Dong or two. He is based in Hong Kong but you can still find him in Saigon, Osaka, and Vienna for extended periods.