If you’ve seen the Netflix show Street Food, then the man in the middle should look very familiar. In the Osaka episode, they focused on Izakaya Toyo and it’s unique owner and chef Toyo. Just from that one episode, I knew that we had to go no matter what. Our schedule for Osaka was pretty jam packed, but I somehow fit into our first day. We took a bus and a train from Kawaguchiko that was about a 3-4 hour journey. After we checked into our hotel it was around 3:00 pm. We hoped that since it was an off time, there wouldn’t be too many people. We were wrong, there was a line of about 15-20 people and we waited for 40 mins, but it was worth it.

The seafood was so fresh and delicious and Toyo is exactly how he was in his episode. He was loud and boisterous and so sweet. He brought out the torch multiple times and everyone clamored over to get video and photos. I didn’t bother because I could always see it up close and personal on Netflix. They were unfortunately out of uni the day we went, but everything else was really delicious and the perfect afternoon snack. After our meal, we walked away and I was a little sad that we didn’t get a pic of Toyo. We ended up going back because Markus forgot to get video footage. When we got back, he was standing in front and we were able to snap a quick selfie. He was so tiny and cute and said thank you to us for visiting. I’m so glad we were able to fit a visit into our schedule and it was definitely a highlight of our time in Osaka.