14 October 2026
One day in one area: Dotonbori. We have a cooking class later in the day. As every morning, the hunt for breakfast begins. Does our own station have something? There are several places shown on Google Maps, but they’re shops in a food court downstairs in the shopping centre. No place to sit, and therefore not interesting.
A short walk along the centre brings success. A small café. Classic breakfast with a slice of toast, butter and jam, a hard-boiled egg and a cup of milk tea. Not the best we’ve found, but breakfast.
Back to the station and to Namba, where you leave the station and are already in Dotonbori. There are a lot of people here. The whole area is shops and more shops. It seems like every major brand has a shop here. And it’s all under a roof, which makes it very convenient for bad-weather shopping, and also protects from the sun. That’s not a problem today, it rained in the night and there are clouds, and the temperature is nice.
Just walking and looking. I needed one thing, which I found a little bit outside the main shopping street. There are still speciality shops here, not connected to a brand. Not something you find a lot in Norway.
Before the cooking class at 13:30, we need a small snack, or we’ll sit or stand there hungry for three hours. A small café called Poundhouse is on the way back. A nice chestnut cake with cream, and a mango smoothie.
We have enough time to get to the metro and go two stops, then a 15-minute walk. The cooking class is in a residential building, on the second floor. Entering, three Japanese women are working there. What’s normally the kitchen and living room is set up with tables as cooking stations for up to 8 people.
First we have to take our shoes off and put on crocs. Then washing our hands, and the towel is shared for the whole class. A Swiss family of three is joining us for this course.
Our table is set up with cooking tips, pots, tools, condiments and ingredients. Since I don’t eat fish, especially not the one lying on our table, my ramen will be chicken-stock based. There are also two vegetarians, and they accommodate everybody.
Everything is done by hand, from scratch. They cook my chicken stock from chicken carcass. We cut vegetables for both the ramen and the gyoza. We have to prepare the ramen noodles ourselves. A very easy recipe, but our cooking master is very strict about the timing and the amount of water in the dough. Tim and I share the tasks so everybody has something to do.
The dough is divided in two, rested, and later we put ours in a plastic bag, then inside a towel, and then we have to stand on it with our heels, 4 times (always making it into a ball again). We need 6 rounds until our teacher is happy. The dough is then put through a pasta maker: settings 1, 3, 6, and the spaghetti cutter. Back into the bag, making sure it doesn’t dry out.
For the gyoza we use minced chicken thigh, adding different things to it. It’ll be hard to get mirin and cooking sake in Norway, since it’s alcohol. All the finely chopped vegetables (I’m a little more gifted at chopping than Tim 😂), and it’s all mixed up well. We get 12 gyoza sheets to fill. A teaspoon of the mince inside, water around the edges, and then the folding. First a disaster, then I have 5 more tries to get better. The last one had too much minced chicken and exploded. I was ordered to redo it. 🐔😁
They’re first fried in sesame oil, and then water is added, and they’re steamed for 4 minutes. The dip for them is a mix of dark soy sauce and vinegar, we also go for some chili oil. Very tasty.
The ramen broth is assembled by adding soy sauce and mirin, for mine. None of the dried and fermented fish in mine. Then the broth is put into the bowl. The ramen are cooked 1-2 minutes, and then put into the bowl. Add some greens, some minced chicken we fried earlier, some seaweed, and cooked chicken thigh, and you’ve got a tasty ramen. It was really good.
Cleaning is done by the people giving the course. We get the recipes, and buy two sets of cooking chopsticks (399 yen for two pairs).
Three well-spent hours, and we had fun. Laughing at each other’s failures, and teamwork.
Out again to Dotonbori. The metro back, not walking the whole way. Doing some window shopping, not buying anything, and we end up at the canal, in a very touristy spot, to sit for two hours, enjoy drinks and watch people. Same routine, the guy on the boat passing by with a mobile camera, filming tourists, several times. It’s getting dark, and the lights come on.
When we were here before, we saw a place with not-too-bad reviews, in the basement, where every seat is next to an aquarium. Today it’s pizza pepperoni. What was said to be spicy, isn’t. But who cares.
Back to the hotel, and another day of the trip is over.
