Branded Cafes and a Birthday Celebration

An interesting phenomenon I found in Umeda’s (Osaka) labyrinth of retail shops and food, is the brand promoting cafes. The commercial lease rates must be the most expensive in Osaka’s busiest shopping district, so some spots do double duty as brand advertising and coffee shop.

Shimano Square

For bike nerds, Shimano is a premier manufacturer of bike components including the famed Dura-Ace line that stretches back decades. They pioneered many innovations in road racing technology, with a recent focus on electronic wireless gear shifters. So I was happy to stumble upon the mini museum (which is also a cafe) in the Grand Front Building in Umeda.

I didn’t have time for cappuccino, but I did check out their display of the evolution of the Dura-Ace line till the present day. Road biking has become quite popular over the last decade here too, boosted by some Japanese racers making their way to the world tour peleton. They also had some fishing reels on display, which is probably popular among anglers. I do miss my road bike sometimes, I must be ridiculously slow right now:)

Mercedes

And continuing on that theme of brand advertising, Mercedes has a store in the same building with a cafe and a couple of cars on display. I believe Mercedes is the most popular of the German car brands, but who knew they also make dog beds and camping chairs!

In reality, I don’t see people actually wearing this stuff or using it, but the cafe was pretty busy.

Barbacoa

For the wife’s b-day, we wanted to have something we hadn’t had since arriving in Japan. Of course, various American foods came to mind, but we also missed a good Brazilian BBQ. There is a place that serves up Churascurria like they do back in the States with the green/red all-you-can-eat table sign. This places was also in Umeda, and we stuffed ourselves silly.

Japan is famous for their marbleized beef that melts in your mouth, and it almost feels like you’re eating butter. That tender goodness is amazing to experience, but sometimes we also want that meaty, chewy flavor of beef too. That’s where Barbacoa reminded us that we should appreciate the many styles of beef.

Lawry’s is next door to Barbacoa, for when we feel the need for prime rib. We haven’t run across any Texas style BBQ places in Japan, which might be a hard sell here since ribs (gasp?! bones and using your hands, how uncivilized!) is not a thing.

Dorayaki

One of M’s favorite sweets is Dorayaki. The easiest explanation is two mini pancakes with sweet red bean paste inside. A new shop opened up nearby, which also features versions of strawberries and cream to Mont Blanc chestnut filling. M still prefers the classic Dorayaki.