The ultimate Japanese-Japanese restaurant

There’s Japanese food, and then there’s Japanese-Japanese food.

 What do I mean by that?

Well, you can quite happily enjoy a good ole donburi or tonkatsu at any ole greasy spoon and still call it ‘Japanese food’.

Or you can go the whole hog and have the full-on extreme of a 2-hour banquet in a washitsu (traditional Japanese tatami mat room) overlooking a peaceful raked rock garden. Usually, the stuff Kyoto-esque dreams are made of, and cost either an arm and a leg or a hundred-year-old kimono. 

Would you believe I happened across the best Japanese-Japanese restaurant ever in (of all places) Osaka’s Ishibashi?!

Usually, Ishibashi is kinda on the sleazy side. It reminds me of Juso’s richer step sister. But hidden away in the back streets lies a beautiful Meiji-era wooden farm house, transformed into a restaurant known as ‘Ponto’ (ぽん太). Everything is intact, not a hair out of place.

Step inside, and you’ll be greeted by the friendly owners who take you on as only one party per evening. Fit for royalty, even Lizzie Windsor would feel right at home. You’ll be given a guided tour of the house…a washitsu, a converted rice store room, and a Victorian drawing room.

In your room of choice, you begin to gorge yourself on seasonal delicacies within the realm of all things traditionally Japanese-Japanese. Which means no donburi or tonkatsu, but rather all the delicate aromas of shiso, umeboshi, wasabi and yuzu. When you hear the phrase ‘Bring it on’, this place literally lives up to that very essence. Out comes every conceivable J-dish from raw fish to tempura’d wild flowers.

This place is the real deal, and can’t come recommended enough, especially at only 5,250 yen per head. Be sure to make a reservation well in advance, though, as apparently (and quite believably) it literally takes them all day to prepare the feast. The telephone digits are: 06-6855-1412.