I am very much in favour of the set, fixed price, lunch menu. With cash always tight in these inflationary times (and after the Christmas blow out), it is nice to be able to easily budget with a meal out. Teishoka is Japan’s take on the set lunch, with it generally consisting of a main course, rice, miso soup, and pickles. As such, in theory, quite a substantial and filling meal.

This brings me to Osaka in Canton, a place that has seemingly been there for donkey’s year. J and I had popped out for lunch to visit another place (closed despite the sign saying it was open – a pet hate, one of many, of mine) so we quickly pivoted to Osaka on Millionaire (Iranian Rhials) Mile in Canton aka Cowbridge Road East.

The place has a reasonable selection

for their £12.50 teishoku menu. Stuff to suit most (Japanese friendly) tastes I thought.

We started off with an extra. J wanted sushi, whilst I was tempted by the Takoyaki (an Osakan, as in the city, speciality). J, unfortunately, was having none of the latter positively recoiling in horror at the thought of octopus balls (with so many legs there must be a rich bounty of balls 🤣). So spicy tuna rolls it was.

Not bad, with decent quality tuna to its core and a nice hit of chilli operating as a  counterpoint to the tangy sweet savouriness of the sushi rice and the saline nori.

Good, nasal clearing, wasabi and refreshing pickled ginger added nicely to the mix. Not high-grade sushi, but pleasant enough (especially for the £4.95 price – I think).

Onto the teishoka main event, I went for the tori karaage don, which came with vegetable tempura.

Very good sized portion,

with first up the vegetable tempura.

Nice light (both in colour and texture if a touch too heavily applied) batter encased nicely cooked sweet potato.

Pleasing, but I did yearn a bit for a touch of variety in the veg. battered (sweet is neat, but variety is the spice of life).

My tori karaage provided thigh meat (much better flavour wise than breast) with a decent hit of ginger garlic and soy sauce (I would guess – didn’t detect sake in the mix) from a marinade to the chicken.

A good, crisp (light), coating was liberally drizzled with a pleasing sweet and salty, tangy, teriyaki sauce. A good quantity of well cooked (and seasoned) rice and a soy marinated egg (good level of sticky rather than too runny goo to the yolk) make for a pleasing dish. Not high culinary art, but tasty and filling. Could have done with some pickled veg on top, I thought, in addition to the light sprinkling of spring onion.

The miso soup had the trademark umami flavour (would have liked it to have been a bit more punchy)

and the side salad was a reasonable size with crisp veg. All in all pretty good for the  £12.50 price tag.

J went for the yakisoba teishoka, which came with decent vegetable gyosa. These had the requisite crispness (on one side only) and a nicely spiced veggie filling.

The yakisoba itself had well cooked noodles, a decent tangy Worcestershire- esque sauce, and a good proportion of veggies and chicken. Nice enough, but I do think J had a bit of buyer’s regret looking at my tori karaage don dish (not that she would ever admit it).

Drinks wise, as a week day lunchtime we were off the booze. J went for an R. Whites style lemonade (which I find hideously sweet, but she absolutely loves), whilst I had a very refreshing green tea (my body is my temple – regrettably the Temple of Doom at the moment).

Can’t remember how much it was (£2.80?) but was a good sized pot (easily enough for two to share).

Verdict

OK this place is not going to set the culinary world on fire (it is not, by a long shot, one the best Japanese meal I have ever had – I have had some very good ones, but none were cheap), but I don’t generally want high end food and more pertinently high end prices when going for a quick bite to eat of a lunchtime. What I want is good valve,  filling, and above all tasty food, and on that front I think Osaka’s teishoka menu delivers. The food is well flavoured, nicely proportioned, and fairly priced. As such, it ticks a fair few of my lunchtime boxes. 

I think I probably rate Don Don Yakai in Ely a bit higher, J disagreed but she is friends with me so her judgement is seriously suspect at best, but Osaka is a reasonable option if you don’t fancy going that far West of a lunchtime.

The details

Address:  201 Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff, CF11  9AJ

Website: https://www.osakarestaurantcardiff.co.uk/

Footnote

On a wider (and rather darker) note, things are really grim out there for hospitality and January is a particularly shite month even in the best of times. It is sad to see  multiple closures being  announced already and, as I said in my 2023 round up, it really is a case of use them or lose them at the moment.

Why not go out to a restaurant/pub for a meal/drink (or better still both) to dispel the January blues rather than hunkering down with the Dryanuary bollocks  – probably make you happier and certainly them.