Visitors to the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, take pictures with a figure of the official mascot Myaku-Myaku on the opening day, April 13, 2025, in Osaka’s Konohana Ward. (Mainichi/Yuichi Nakagawa)
OSAKA — The Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, which opened April 13, offers a variety of foods, including dishes featuring Kobe beef. A Mainichi Shimbun reporter asked visitors who tried them about the taste.
The “ultimate” version of “ekisoba” noodles offered by Maneki Foods Co. based in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, costs 3,850 yen (roughly $27), including tax. The dish features Kobe beef as an ingredient.
Masaki Hiromoto, 32, a company worker from Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, visited the Expo with three relatives and relished the top-quality noodles. He told the Mainichi, “The beef is simmered to a sweet flavor and is thick. The fish stock is well-balanced,” adding, “I ordered it for the celebratory atmosphere of the opening of the event, but it might be pricey if ordered elsewhere.”
Maneki Foods also offers a rice dish called “sukiyaki-meshi,” also using Kobe beef, for the same price of 3,850 yen.
A 48-year-old female company worker from Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, who tried the rice dish, said, “The meat is tender and feels worth the price. This is a special meal for me because of the Expo event. Normally, it is too expensive to eat.”
Meanwhile, at the Sushiro conveyor-belt sushi chain, reservations for the day were halted around 10:30 a.m. due to concerns about running out of prepared ingredients. With a waiting list reaching approximately 380 groups, a representative reflected, “It was more than we anticipated.”
At Terrace Nichirei, a restaurant operated by frozen food giant Nichirei Corp., a long line of visitors also formed in front of the store.
(Japanese original by Kenta Sunaoshi, Osaka City News Department)
AloJapan.com