551 Horai - Osaka, Japan

We saw this brand mentioned on one of the videos by a favorite Youtuber - Tabieats on their Osaka trip. I thought it was interesting but we were not going to put it as a must try items for our Japan trip. But guess what we ran across a store on our first day in Osaka just as we passed through Shin Osaka Station.

It was already almost 9 pm and we still haven't checked in our Airbnb apartment yet. The thought of having jet lag and trying to find dinner in a foreign neighborhood didn't quite appeal to me. So I told hubby why not just do a take out as we passed through numerous food stalls at the Shin Osaka station. One of the options available were this 551 Horai which was popular for their bbq pork bun. But they also sell shrimp shumai almost similar to the dimsum restaurant version. So we bought some of those too.

We walked away with a box of 12 shrimp shumai and two pork buns. Total spent JPY 940 (about US$8.50). Those were our first Osaka dinner along with another bowl of noodle picked up at a Seven Eleven store.

The buns were surprisingly better than expected. The dough was soft and packed with juicy pork filling. I couldn't tell whether the pork was barbecued. Or maybe it was barbecued the Japanese way. The shumais were equally good. Just the right bite size and right seasoning. I didn't need anymore seasoning to be happy with them. Or maybe we were just hungry ?

The Shin Osaka station location was located on 3rd floor not far from the shinkansen gate.

http://www.551horai.co.jp/