Just a short trip into the suburbs gets you to the legendary Awajishima Burger, which is currently the center of nearly every burger conversation in western Japan. As the name suggests, the shop’s food is intimately tied to Awaji island and centers on its most famous products. The Awaji beef patty is as flavorful as it is juicy and the organic vegetables distract just a bit from the red-meat bomb. Supersweet Awaji onions come both on top of the burger and as fried in rings on the side. Shoddy digs belie the shop’s hyper-focused level of detail, right down to its “secret sauce.” [$]

For most, udon is the cheapest possible meal on their way home. Byakuan, however, is a shrine to the humble wheat noodle. Using meticulously sourced sardines, Hokkaido kombu, and Kochi bonito, the soup reaches a higher plane of complexity and umami. The noodles, made from 100 percent domestic wheat, have a delicate mouthfeel that shine in either a thin, cold soup or the hot curry version. [$]

Bursting onto the scene in 2016 and garnering its first Michelin star this year, Yonemasu has become one of the city’s hardest reservations to get. From behind the counter comes course after course of stunning kaiseki. Tomoya Yonemasu prides execution over inventiveness, but both his food and his banter exude a subtle joviality. Some say he takes too many cues from Honkogetsu, the gold standard for Osaka kaiseki, but it’s only a matter of time before this newcomer eclipses the old guard. [$$$$]

Throngs of businessmen are as much a symbol of Japan as Mount Fuji, and there’s no better place to join the after-work crowd than Ginzaya. Pack into the cramped storefront like standing sardines to nibble on extra-tasty versions of izakaya classics from sashimi to beef tataki. Good luck finding it, though. Even regulars can get turned around in the bowels of the labyrinthine Osaka Ekimae building complex. [$]

It may not be the norm everywhere, but many traditional Japanese bars serve horse meat as an inexpensive snack. At Ketobashiya, horse is treated with the same careful attention normally reserved for beef. Yakiniku is the main event, and nearly every cut imaginable is available to grill. Spring for an appetizer of sashimi or raw liver and it’ll blow your local izakaya out of the water. [$$]

There are many shrines to chicken around the city, but none holier than Ichimatsu. Counter seating around an altar-like grill puts the yakitori eye candy on full display. Delightful simplicity centers the Hinai-jidori birds from Akita prefecture and Hideto Takeda’s mastery. Skin, gizzards, neck, and sashimi are all highlights of the constantly changing omakase course, and the pickled kinkan (early stage, unlaid eggs) are revelatory. [$$$]

Given its history, it’s natural that Osaka would be home to Japan’s most talked-about Korean restaurant. At its core, Houba is a family operation, with the head chef working in tandem with his mother. It stood just a head taller than the city’s other such Korean restaurants until word got out about its impeccable execution and slight Italian flair. Two Michelin stars and a move into trendy new digs have cemented its reputation. [$$$$]

Tokyo’s perfectionist Neapolitan pizza is blowing up in English-language media, but as always, Osaka’s counterpart scene continues to fly under the radar. Two years after a second-place finish in 2013’s World Pizza Championships in Naples, Tomohisa Niizoe returned to his home city to open Regalo. Since then, the carefully crafted pies flying out of his custom oven have led western Japan’s own pizza renaissance and rival any in Tokyo — or Italy. [$]

Many foreigners turn up their noses at oden, the stuff-floating-in-dashi dish symbolic of winter — but they probably just haven’t had a good rendition yet. At Hanakujira, the life-giving broth is bursting with complexity. However, unlike a new wave of high-end oden shops, Hanakujira keeps things affordable and ultra-casual, just as the workaday stew should be. Be warned: Lines can get absurd, especially on cold days. [$-$$]

While kids in Japan look forward to summer for school break, adults look forward to unagi (freshwater eel). Dubious health benefits aside, eel is a treat for the warmer months, and few places do it better than Shibato. Perhaps the place that invented the local eel preparation, Shibato doesn’t steam its eels before grilling. The resulting crispiness and the head-to-tail cutting style have separated Osaka unagi from eel in the capital for Shibato’s 300-plus years. [$$]

Hajime Yoneda’s French-ish restaurant just regained its third Michelin star, and for good reason. Behind faux-poetic dish names (“life,” “hope,” “mineral”) lies a collection of immaculately prepared, artful presentations. The restaurant is talked about most for “planet earth,” a plate featuring a textbook’s worth of vegetables and artful plating. Too bad they don’t allow pictures. (Or maybe that’s a good thing.) [$$$$]

Osakans are obviously loyal to the local unagi (freshwater eel) preparation that favors grilling the meat without steaming it, but Nishihara’s Kanto-style eels have swayed a lot of allegiances. In the east, eel is cut down the back and then steamed between two rounds of grilling. Served either over a rice bowl or simply by itself, the delicate, supple unagi matches Nishihara’s sparsely adorned Japanese-style digs. Nishihara started a craze when it opened in 2014, and crowds still swell every summer. [$$]

After a few years training at Barcelona’s L’Esguard, Tetsuya Fujiwara returned home to Osaka in 2003. Although he was the fourth generation to take over his family’s Western-style restaurant, he naturally turned it into a modern Spanish gem. Using continental techniques to elevate quintessentially Japanese ingredients, Fujiwara has succeeded in creating playful menus for 15 years. Standouts include spear squid with asparagus linguine and sweetfish in a shiso purée. Fujiya 1935 may have recently lost its third Michelin star, but it hasn’t lost its inventiveness. [$$$$]

Takoyaki are normally considered a drinking food in the sense that they’re eaten at the end of a long night, but Tako Tako King smartly designed an entire pub concept around the chewy octopus dough balls. Every one of its handful of locations around Minami is packed nightly with crowds of hungry drinkers and thirsty eaters. [$]

LiLo’s tiny storefront isn’t the most comfortable place to linger, but its coffee mastery still draws hordes of bean aficionados. Osaka’s small-batch roasters have typically gone for dark, but LiLo has faith that brighter roasts will catch on in the city. Tasting notes and origins are illustrated visually, and each cup comes with a descriptive card. The color-coded charts and impeccably helpful staff do away with any intimidation that comes from visiting such a specialist. [$]

Kamikaze is a shrine to Japan’s fledgling craft beer scene. With among the biggest tap selections in Osaka, the serene atmosphere matches the posh neighborhood. There’s a welcome focus on domestic brews, while select imports are also offered. The talkative staff members calmly guide beginners and talk shop with experts, ensuring a packed house nearly every night. [$]

Kyu Yamu-tei was responsible for the popularization of “spice curry” around the city, a style that, as its name suggests, is loaded with spices. The daily rotating menu includes idiosyncratic, extra-seasoned takes on curries inspired by varieties from every corner of the globe. Your choice of two curries (at lunch; just one for dinner) comes colorfully arranged around a mound of turmeric rice. Strong not in heat but in flavor, each curry strikes a surprising balance. Kyu Yamu-tei has spawned a couple of sister shops around the city, and the location in the basement of Lucua 1100 at Osaka Station (called Kyu Yamu Tetsudo) is worthwhile as well. [$]

Kogaryu is a quintessential shop for a quintessential Osaka food: takoyaki. This Amemura standard hasn’t changed much in 43 years. The balls are on the chewy side, with generous octopus chunks, and are served at particularly scalding temperatures. There’s seating upstairs, but Kogaryu’s takoyaki is best enjoyed at adjacent Triangle Park, where the city’s youth show off both fashion trends and skateboard tricks. [$]

Yoshoku, the only-in-Japan take on “Western” food, used to be the pinnacle of luxury. While those days are long gone, Muguni upholds the tradition of precise takes on one particular item: omurice. A particularly rich version of the rice-filled omelet takes center stage here, topped with either cod roe or gorgonzola. It’s a meal fit for a French king — as imagined by postwar Japan. [$]

Takaida-kei ramen gets lost among the sea of ambitious new-style ramen shops, but this local variation has been thriving east of the city since the war. Sumiyoshi is the area’s oldest surviving shop and offers as straightforward a Takaida-kei rendition as you’ll find. Thick, chewy noodles and clear chicken stock mix with an intense, dark shoyu tare for a powerful umami blast. Come for lunch to enjoy this truly local style, made popular before ramen had nationwide ubiquity. [$]

American is a particularly gaudy example of a jun kissa, an endangered style of old-school coffee shop. The blast-from-the-past decor and thick, rich pancakes continue to draw both dedicated regulars and tourists alike. Other classics, like the fruit sandwich and coffee jelly, have all but disappeared in modern Japan, but still feature proudly on the menu of this postwar relic. [$]

Tiny, smoky tachinomiya (standing bars) are a Japanese staple for cheap drinks and a bite of simple food. Founded in 1923 — and now a small empire around Osaka — Akagakiya is the city’s great equalizer. Nowhere is this truer than at this Namba location, where overworked salarymen rub shoulders with builders, hardened day drinkers, and winners and losers alike from the massive off-track betting complex nearby. The doteyaki (beef sinew) and kizushi (vinegared mackerel) are local bar standbys at their utilitarian peak. [$]

Beyond its physical location under a rail line, Matsuyoshi’s smoky interior somehow feels extra under the tracks. Horumon (grilled offal) is the star here, especially the rib, tripe, tongue, and face meat. Even cuts like uterus and aorta are treated with respect. Its home in the old-line Korean neighborhood of Tsuruhashi means its kimchi choices are on point, too. [$]

Okada elevates the humble, smoky standing horumon (grilled offal) bar. The all-domestic offal is served in its standard grilled form as well as sashimi and yukke (raw, thinly sliced, seasoned, and topped with a raw egg). Daily specials run the gamut from offal pho and beef heart poke to liver katsu and skirt steak sandwiches. Pair them with something from the surprisingly solid wine list. [$-$$]

Osaka’s native Takaida-kei ramen has been mostly forgotten in the shuffle of new-wave shops, but Jouroku is the happy exception. It has garnered a ton of extremely warranted praise from ramen cognoscenti for delivering rich soy flavor without overwhelming saltiness. Come early for breakfast ramen on the first Sunday every month. [$]

Shinsekai is lined with average kushikatsu (deep-fried, skewered meat and vegetable) shops surviving on the neighborhood’s reputation of being the birthplace of the dish, but Echigen’s eccentric master elevates it well above the surrounding mediocrity. Standbys like beef, shishito peppers, and whiting are at their deep-fried best here, while signature skewers like an entire chicken cutlet (deep-fried, of course) with wasabi do justice to the raucous atmosphere. [$]

Nonkiya’s dingy, tight interior matches the humility of its main dish, doteyaki (stewed beef tendon). The goopy brown sauce should inspire confidence; if it looks that unappetizing, it has to taste good. Nonkiya’s doteyaki reigns in the sweetness for a meatier flavor, and is best washed down with watery beer and a side of oden. This is a taste of Shinsekai before its tourism boom — all the more charming for its grit. [$]

Offal nabe is a near-necessity in the depths of a cold, damp winter. At tatsuya, the cramped, smoky restaurant’s signature hotpot removes any unwanted chewiness from its component organ meats while a healthy topping of kimchi brings just the right amount of spice. Notoriously frugal south Osakans will say they come to get the best bang for their yen, but really it’s all about the flavor. [$]