If you’re like me and love fresh seafood, whether sashimi, abalone, squid or crab legs, you’ll find it all at Kuromon Market.

Kuromon is often compared to Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, and they are quite similar, except the lineups are longer in Tokyo(!) This is why during the last leg of our trip to Osaka, we had to visit Kuromon for a satisfying seafood meal.

Some of my favourites were the seared scallops, fresh clam soup, and Ootoro sushi, which I still dream about weeks after I’ve returned from Japan.

What’s more, I would still consider the pricing to be reasonable, given the market’s popularity. I savoured the cup of clam soup, which was filled to the brim with clams and cost just 300 yen. The clams were simply prepared by boiling them in a large pot outside of the shop.

Jumbo prawns next to the clam soup were for 600 yen per skewer, and when I say jumbo prawns, these are longer than the length of my hand. You also don’t need to look far to find a variety of fresh crab legs and fish that are grilled to order. Simply prepared seafood is the best because the freshness shines through.

Kuromon is the best place to meander from one end to the other in search of street eats. Enjoy a grilled skewer here and a seared sashimi skewer there; sit down for grilled fish here and crab legs at another shop. You could easily spend a few hours here trying all the delicacies.

If you prefer a sit-down meal, there are also many options, from market shops where you can buy the fish and find a table in the dining area as they prepare your meal or restaurants where you can wait in line for more comfortable seating.

My preference is definitely to wander the streets aimlessly to see what I would find—it’s the excitement of treasure hunting that fills me with joy. “Look over there! Fresh scallop skewers! How about some fresh uni? Ooooh…is that an entire fish on a skewer?”

We discovered many food stalls with delicious offerings and even a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts to snack on along the way.

Toward the end of my trek through the market, I came upon a shop where they had a fresh batch of sushi packaged outside the shop. I peered through and saw numerous packages of Ootoro sushi. The price was a huge draw because they sold four pieces of Ootoro sushi covered entirely by a large slice of fatty, perfectly marbled toro for just 2800 yen.

When I visited, the exchange rate between the Canadian Dollar and Japanese Yen was a dollar to 100 yen, meaning this market-fresh Ootoro was just $28! The last time I had similarly epic sushi of the same calibre was in Seoul, where I savoured every moment of the Ootoro melting in my mouth for $10 USD a piece. So you can imagine how hard it was for me not to want to eat 16 pieces of this fantastic sushi. However, as soon as I finished my single box of Ootoro and wanted to go back for more, the entire display was sold out! I guess everyone else also recognized a great deal.

Although we were already quite satisfied from eating everywhere we went, we did end up sitting down inside a small restaurant we discovered on a side street just off the main road. We had grilled fish on a skewer for just 1200 yen per fish, which was a scrumptious treat!

My insider tip here would be to explore the side streets, where you can find an abundance of small shops where there may only be 3 to 4 seats within, but the food is delicious, and the prices are more economical than what you would find in the main tourist area.

The other key point is to come with an empty stomach!

Photography by Florence Leung