Before Ohtake Gyoza took the number 1 gyoza place in my ranking, it was Gyoza No Osho who reigned for many years. Now, it got demoted to #2 in my ranking but still, I super like it.
Gyoza No Osho has so many branches in Japan. It's a chain, so in major cities, you'll eventually find one. The nearest one near our home is a 20-min walk but thanks to delivery services, I don't have to walk that much to get my gyoza fix.
I first discovered this shop when I lived in Osaka. It's just outside the train station and I usually passed by it every time I go home from work. I got so curious as to why people would always queue and the shop's always crowded. It took me a while to muster up the courage to enter the shop alone and eat there. Since then, whenever I get tired and couldn't cook dinner, I'd eat there.
Now, it's not really everyday that I could eat in this shop. Even with delivery services, it's still quite costly. So one day when I was on my way to see the cherry blossoms on a park in Tokyo, I saw this nostalgic restaurant. I wasn't that hungry but I figured I needed something to eat.
There's probably a magnet that made me cross the street and found myself in front of the shop.
This shop is usually a small shop. That means you'll find it hard to get seats if you're a big group. When I entered, since I was alone, I was ushered to my seat immediately. The couple who came before me had to wait a bit.
There were a few tables but I didn't bother counting. I sat on the counter seats, as usual, and in that small space I enjoyed my meal.
My Tenshin Chahan (crab omelette over fried rice or 天津炒飯) came first. You can choose over 3 sauces: sweet and sour style (甘酢), salt based (塩ダレ), or the 京風ダレ (read as kyofu). I used to order the sweet and sour sauce but ever since my partner introduced me to kyofu, I never looked back. It's been my favorite since then.
It came with soup so I had that first. Even with this soup, I felt full already. Oh no! The main event isn't here yet!
Don't confuse tenshin chahan with tenshin han. They're almost the same but the latter is not fried rice. It's still good though but I always prefer the chahan version.
My gyoza came!
I got one order of it, that's why there were 6 pieces. Whenever I'm so hungry, I could eat 12 of it. I know, it's too much but when I have that, I only have few rice.
It's crispy on the other side and soft on the other. Plus, it's very juicy on the inside. I always like my gyoza like this. Ever since I had gyoza in Gyoza No Osho, I will always try to find the same taste in every restaurant I go to and so far, after searching far and wide, I couldn't find another restaurant that cooks their gyoza like this. Ohtake Gyoza, my current #1, is another case.
I didn't use so much of their sauce so it wouldn't overpower the gyoza. My usual is a mix of gyoza soy sauce (餃子のタレ) and a little chili oil (ラー油). Just perfect!
I got full halfway but it's kinda bad manners to leave food so I tried to finish it all. It was a good meal and an affordable one at that.
Gyoza No Osho may be a fast food chain, but they have the best and affordable gyozas, in addition to other Chinese food that's been modified to Japanese taste. If ever you're traveling in Japan and want to cut down expenses on food, give this a try!
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
With love,
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.