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Yaki Ramen is a specialty dish where you can only eat at the yatai stands in Hakata city of Fukuoka prefecture. The majority of the yatai stands you will find nearby the river of Nakasu. This dish is basically ramen stir-fried and then transferred to an iron plat. They then top it with chashu pork and scallions and finishing off with a drizzle of the famous Hakata tonkotsu soup. I'd strongly suggest you to try this dish because I know some like soup noodles while others like it stir-fried. I basically like the stir-fried version more because the tonkotsu aroma is a lot less intense than the regular Hakata tonkotsu ramen. If you like ramen or noodles then this specialty dish is a must try!

Yaki Ramen I had at one of the Yatai stands in Hakata

As many of you might know, curry is one of the soul food in Japan. Japanese curry is quite different from those of India and Thailand since it is much more sweeter. The reason for it being sweeter is because most Japanese people cannot eat spicy food so they have made their curry to suit their taste. In Osaka, there is a famous curry shop called Jiyuu Ken and their curry rice is a must try.

The curry rice at Jiyu Ken is nothing like the other curries you have had in Japan. The rice is all smothered in a soup like spicy curry gravy with a raw egg on top. You are suppose to mix the raw egg into the curry and rice before eating it. This a very popular place to chow in Osaka and is almost always full with a long lineup outside the shop. This shop was also feature in one of the episodes of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations TV show. If you want to try something other than the obvious Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki, this is the place to visit. But beware for a spicy but good tasting curry adventure.

Jiyu Ken curry rice @Jiyu Ken Namba shop

• http://www.jiyuken.co.jp/dictionary/osaka.html

Namie Yakisoba is a famous dish in Namie-cho, Fukushima prefecture. So what is the different between namie yakisoba and the mainstream yakisoba we heard of? Well, the first difference is the noodles itself. For namie yakisoba, they use a thicker kind of noodles. While stir-frying it they ad pork, beansprouts and Worcestershire sauce. Due to the different texture of the noodles and the crunch of the beansprouts adds a different kind of taste to the dish. I would recommend this dish to those who wants to try something new or wants to have something different for a change.

Namie Yakisoba

Tonpei Yaki is an Osaka classic dish. It is almost always ordered as an appetizer at any Okonomiyaki store you go to in Osaka. If you listen closely while at a Okonomiyaki restaurant in Osaka at other people ordering, they will definitely order this dish first before deciding on the Okonomiyaki. The Tonpei Yaki is a like a rolled up egg pancake with pork and Okonomiyaki sauce. Though it might not be the perfect appetizer for some people since the flavour will be the same as the main dish you will be getting (Okonomiyaki), but if you want to eat what the locals eat and experience the lives of local people then you should try it.

Tonpei yaki

Negi yaki is one of Osaka's great delicacies. This dish is similar to the traditional Okonomiyaki but with a large amount of "negi" or green onions (as we call it in English) along with the batter and other ingredients. Unlike Okonomiyaki, this pancake is covered in green and probably the only colour you would see is green and brown (sauce and bonito flakes) . However since Japan does not have a vegetarian culture, a lot of dish which seems vegetarian do have meat in it so if you are eating in Japan and a vegetarian please be careful.

Negi-yaki