Day 12: Shopping day in Rinku Town

Today is shopping day! First thing daddy and I did was head out to the bakery again as we all enjoyed the breads there. Unfortunately, it was closed. Then we decided to wait a little for 9am for the supermarket to open. While waiting, we went into the nearby 7-Eleven to look see and I also managed to buy postage stamps there. 

When the supermarket finally opened, we were disappointed with the selection. So we headed back to Familymart near our house where we picked up some stuff. Then we took a detour a long a little shopping strip where we found a little stall selling fried stuff and then walked into a Lawson where we found a baguette.

Headed home to heat up the food and wake you two piggies up for breakfast:

Egg sando with Famichicki

When everyone was finally ready, we headed to the Tengachaya Station and hopped onto the Nankai Line Airport express and headed to Rinku Town, where the Rinku Premium Outlet is located. 

A few minutes walk from the station and we're at the outlet mall. It is a very big outlet, with shops on both sides of the road.

We looked at a couple of shop, and then decided to have lunch before we start tackling the shops. Hopped into Bagel & Bagel and ordered (obviously) bagel for lunch. While waiting for our food, we took a close look at the map which we had grabbed earlier to determine which shops we would like to visit. There were too many shops and we would not have time to look at all of them. 

Coffee (not strong enough for us)

We also had muffins

The 3 of us shared a platter which came with free extra bagels too!

Daddy's bagel

The we walked into the shops that we had identified and more. We also stepped into the KitKat shop to pick some unique flavours. 

Red ruby KitKat

Just as we walked into the next shop to pick up Ko-ko's wallet, you asked me where your phone was. My heart dropped into the ground! We had a quick run to the KitKat shop. The cashiers took one look at us and smile and passed the phone to you. You are SO LUCKY that this happened in Japan. Obviously got an earful from both daddy and I on your carelessness. 

We also saw that they put our bubbles and let you go down to have a close-up experience. 

We ended up buying a new luggage, and so did Ashley Kor-kor. Dumped all our shopping inside and started our journey back to the train station.

Ferris Wheel near the Rinku Pleasure Town Seacle

Went home to rest and drop off our shopping. Then we needed to decide what to eat for dinner. Ended up trying out Sukiya (a chain restaurant). To our surprise, the food was good and portion was large too. 

Salmon Teishoku

Gyudon

Went home to relax and then daddy went our with Mei-mei again as they discovered the delicious pudding by Glico. Here's a demo on the amazing way foodstuff are packaged in Japan:

Day 11: Evening Out and Supper

The day was still young and we did not know what to do. In the end, daddy searched for shops selling sake cups. Okies.. so we hopped onto the metro and headed out to the first shop. It was a bit of a walk from the station. The shop was upstairs. At first glance of the potteries there, I had to quickly remind Mei-mei to be careful. I'd faint if you broke anything. The sake cups were nice looking, but the prices were even nicer! Yikes.. we quickly made our exit from the shop.

Then Ko-ko tried to find another shop. We walked and walked to this other shop which was larger but equally as expensive. So we left the shop too.

We were about to give up. Daddy did another search and there was a shop in the mall near Osaka Station. OK, let's try that place. The station was super crowded! We finally found the place and got a rather pretty set of 6 glasses at a reasonable price. 

We had nothing much to do, so we did a quick search for GU as Mei-mei wanted to get a sweater from there. Sigh.. you should have taken up my offer when we went shopping in Kyoto. Now we have to go on a treasure hunt again. The nearest one is in Lucua. We walked on the giant overhead pedestrian bridge. Look at the city:

As we walked towards GU, we actually walked pass Uniqlo. I thought to myself that we could consider shopping here too.. but within a few seconds of having that thought, I saw a long, snaking queue.. which turned out to be the queue to pay at Uniqlo.. ok, let's scrap that plan!

GU on the other hand had fewer people, so we quickly grabbed and paid for your sweater, looked around a little and got out of there. 

Next stop was Sinsekai. Went back to the station and hopped onto the metro heading to Dobutsuen-Mae Station. A short walk later, we're here:

The shops here were so brightly illuminated. It started to drizzle as we arrived, but we thought that we'd walk around and look for somewhere to have dinner. 

Posing just before the rain

But the rain started to get bigger and bigger drops. So we dashed into the nearest restaurant. It's called Kushikatsutodashi Kushiemon. The waitress outside firstr explained (by showing us a card in English) that adults will minimally need to order a drink each... ok, not an issue. 

We were quickly ushered in and given a nice table (floor seating). Ordering was simple as it's via QR code. 

We were given these to start snacking on while ordering our food:

Our wefie

Our orders came rather quickly. We remember this from Ahodori Shogointen in Kyoto.

There was a very big selection of kushikatsu. We ordered so many to try out:

And.. also we had more beef stew:

When we were done with dinner, the rain had stopped. So we walked towards the Tsukenkaku. It's so beautifully lighted up. The lights change colors too.

Showing me her silling face!

Billiken seems to be a mascot of sorts in Osaka, so we also took a photo with "him":

Just as we were wandering around the Tsukenkau area, we spotted someone in a bright orange jacket! Yup, it's Uncle Dennis and Ashley Kor-kor. So we walked back to where the restaurants were and left them to have dinner there while we made our way back home to rest.

We walked thought the Shinsekai Market, but everything was closed since it's quite late. Only saw a man with a stall with a couple of customers eating whatever he's selling:

Another quick photo

Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis also arrived home not too long after we did. So after showering, we had drinks and some snacks:

Saw a lady buying this in Kuromon.. was yummy albeit sticky

Also found this famous creme brulee which was mentioned all the time on Facebook, so had to give it a try too. So yummy!

And of course, my hungry boy had to eat his instant noodles:

Day 11: Kuromon Ichiba Market

This morning, daddy and I woke up earlier and went out in search for some bread for breakfast. We wandered around and ended up walking to this quaint, little bakery quite a distance from our home. It doesn't seem to have an English name ポンプパリジェンヌ. Saving the location here for our reference. 

There was a nice, old lady who was manning the shop. We bought baguette and lots of croissants from her. 

We also got to have a closer look at the garden up front. Too cold to go out, though.. 

Then we headed to the station. Before that, we had noticed that there is a metro day-pass which was cheaper on weekends. We thought that it was worth it, so we bought it for the day. Then we hopped onto the metro and off we went towards Kuromon Market. The vibes of this market is not the same as Nishiki Market. It was very crowded, but the walkways are a lot wider. 

There was just so much food, drinks, desserts to eat here. 

Mei-mei got to eat her dango today too:

All smiles

Takoyaki stall, we didn't try this

Daddy tried out this grilled scallops. It was good!

Only remembered to take a picture of the last piece

Then we also ordered the squid (oo lala.. my favourite) and then we also tried the grilled crab innards 

Grilling.. grilling...

Oh wow... Koko and I fell in love with this..

.. and this.. 

We walked further down to this unassuming shop which had different grades of sashimi for us to pick. 

So many choices!

Hard to make a choice

Once we have paid, we move to the table at the other side of the shopfront and the old man would pour the soy sauce for us and we immediately get to enjoy the sashimi.

Ko-ko had first dips

The Mei-mei

Daddy enjoyed it too

We continue walking around and at the other end of the street, daddy found is "new" favourite food: beef stew. So the two boys shared a bowl of it. 

You both look so contented

We were also looking out for dried scallops as requested by Ah Ma. 

This girl, cannot resist the gachapon

We found another old lady grilling some seafood and ordered unagi:

Doesn't look too happy coz got scolded by me when you stood too close to me and I nearly dropped the unagi

We then headed to the other end of the market to Kuromon Sanpei as we wanted to sit down and eat a little more. So we went our separate ways from Ashley Kor kor and Uncle Dennis. You two kiddies went in to get a table for the 4 of us, while daddy and I queued to pick and pay for our food and drinks. 

Our drinks

Our food

The sashimi and grilled prawn was yummy. The other sushi fish which I had picked was a bad choice.

We the headed to the supermarket (Kuromon Nakagawa) just across from the restaurant to buy the scallops. We also went to another shop to buy another packet of scallops. Then daddy spotted a shop roasting coffee beans. We asked for the strongest coffee (Japanese coffee is too weak for our liking). Also bought a cup to go.

Kuromon Ichiba Market is massive with lots of things to look at and eat. 

Our bellies had no more space for tempura!

Lots of seafood, both fresh and dried

Then we hopped back onto the metro to head home and drop off our stuff and rest our weary feet.