Eat your heart out at the heart of the city: Dotonbori Street. The promenade runs parallel to the river and boasts eateries galore, from classic Japanese cuisine, to local delicacies, to unique creations. Most of the buildings have weird and wonderful paper mache creations of the food they serve protruding from the building walls, making walking down the street an experience in itself. It seems like this extravagance would turn the area into a tourist attraction, but instead the street throngs with locals, often forming queues outside their favourite restaurants. Try Kushikatsu at Kushikatsu Daruma. This building has a huge chef’s face above the door so you can’t miss it. He looks angry, but his food is delicious! Okonomiyaki, a sort of cross between a pancake and an omelette, is another famous local dish in Osaka. Try this at Chibo Okonomiyaki. My personal favourite was the steak sushi – thin slices of very rare, high quality kobe beef, atop a wedge of sushi rice. This was from just a street stall on Dotonburi Street! You never quite know what delights you will find here.

Once you’ve had your fill of Dotonburi’s delicious food offerings, dip into one of the tiny bars to warm yourself with some hot saki. Separated from the street by a clear plastic cover, with barely enough room to fit 4 seats along the makeshift bar, this is a truly unique local experience. Bartenders will most likely speak no English, so it’s a case of pointing at a bottle and hoping you’ve picked a good one.

Japan is known worldwide for its fish dishes, but the majority of local restaurants within the country actually specialise in steaks. One particular favourite is Gyukatsu Motomura which offers various cuts of beef breaded, fried and served with various local dips and sauces. This restaurant is a chain found across the country, and a very popular one. Without fail there is a always a queue of hungry locals outside the building waiting for a table. The reason to visit Gyukatsu Motomura in Osaka in particular is this is the only one we found that offered a lunch menu, with the option to try a combination of more of the steaks for a lower price – and hopefully with a shorter queue!

When in Japan, eat sushi! And when picking a sushi restaurant, go for one with a conveyor belt. These are fairly standard rules for foodies visiting Japan. The trick is to find a restaurant with not one, but two sushi trains! This restaurant has the standard plates winding their way around the tables, but each table also has an interactive screen for ordering a la carte. When the dish you’ve ordered is ready, it’s put onto the second conveyor belt and wizzes straight from the kitchen to your table. No waitresses needed, only ingenious technology.

Japanese onsens (thermal baths) can be found all over the country, particularly in mountain towns in the north where thermal springs naturally occur. Osaka takes the Japanese love of spas a step further, and offers an experience of all the different spa types from around the world in one place: Spa World. Experience a Japanese onsen, Turkish hammam, Persian stone bath, Icelandic blue grotto, Finnish sauna, and even their depiction of Atlantis, along with many different styles of massage and therapy. An excellent place for rejuvenation after some busy days of sightseeing and overeating!

An oasis in the middle of the bustling city, Keitekuen garden is an idyllic Japanese garden complete with a large koi pond and traditional tea house. The rest house overlooking the pond is a tranquil spot for lunch, and the multiple benches around the garden are perfect for enjoying some unexpected peace and quiet in a city of 19 million people.

Himeji Castle appears on many world wonders lists and is a stunning example of the classic Japanese castle. An easy day trip from Osaka, the castle ticket can be combined with the adjacent Japanese garden which offers beautiful landscaping. The garden is best visited during spring when all the flowers are in bloom. The ticket also comes with a voucher which can be used at many shops and restaurants within Himeji Town. The best place to use this is at Ekisoba, a small diner on the way back to the station with delicious selection of ramen and rice dishes. Order at the door on what looks like a vending machine, and almost immediately a little old lady will bring out your meal on a tray – opt for the kobe beef ramen or the katsudon and you will not be disappointed!

Another easy day trip outside the city is Nara, a small town with a number of temples and shrines worth visiting, such as Todai-ji, which houses the largest Buddha statue in the world. What the town is most known for though, is the deer that roam the streets freely. The animals have learned to bow to people in exchange for food. You’ll find many street vendors selling stacks of crackers for you to experience this ritual for yourself. Be aware that once they see you have food, the deer will follow you around and can become aggressive, so keep the snacks in your pocket for the most part. Further from the main town, towards some of the more remote temples, the deer become much more wary of humans and feeding them is a more pleasant experience.

“Unmissable Osaka: Japan’s Food Capital” was originally published on Wanderdash (follow me @rosroundtheworld)