Yaekatsu Shinsekai Kushikatsu: Wait Time, Menu & Ordering
Tokyo Mate
Here is how the wait and ordering work at Yaekatsu in Shinsekai, Osaka, along with the menu and prices. I've also included a few things worth knowing before you order kushikatsu and doteyaki.
Yaekatsu Shinsekai location and opening hours
Yaekatsu is a kushikatsu specialist in Shinsekai, Osaka, founded in 1947. It sits in Janjan Yokocho, and its signature dishes are kushikatsu and doteyaki, beef tendon stewed in white miso.
| Name | Yaekatsu (八重勝) |
| Rating | Google 4.0 (3,890) / Tabelog 3.50 (2,049) |
| Hours | 10:30-20:30 |
| Closed | Thursdays |
| Reservations | Not accepted |
| Seats | 49, all at the counter |
| Budget | 2,000-3,000 yen |
| Payment | Cash only No cards, e-money or QR payments |
| Address | 3-4-13 Ebisu-higashi, Naniwa-ku, Osaka 📍 View map |
| Getting there | About 2 minutes on foot from exit 1 of Osaka Metro Dobutsuen-mae Station About 5 minutes on foot from the east exit of JR Shin-Imamiya Station |
Yaekatsu wait time
I went at 7pm on a weekday. There were 4 groups ahead of me, and it took about 20 minutes to get in. The line didn't look long, so I expected to be seated quickly, but the wait was longer than I thought.
Yaekatsu doesn't take reservations. You just turn up and wait your turn. When I was there the line ran into the space inside the shop, but the waiting area was well air-conditioned, so the wait wasn't hard.
While I waited, the line behind me quickly grew longer too. Even on a weekday evening I waited about 20 minutes. If you're going at dinnertime, build a wait into your plans.
Yaekatsu menu, prices and how to order
Yaekatsu has menus in Korean and English, but if you order directly from staff using the Japanese menu on the wall, your food comes faster. I've listed everything on the wall menu with its Japanese name, how to say it and the price.
串かつ (kushikatsu) and どて焼 (doteyaki) aren't ordered one at a time: each comes as 3 pieces for 450 yen.
| Menu | Price |
|---|---|
| 串かつ (kushikatsu): beef kushikatsu | 3 for 450 yen |
| どて焼 (doteyaki): beef tendon stewed in miso | 3 for 450 yen |
| えび (ebi): shrimp | 1 for 550 yen |
| 牛ヘレ (gyu-here): beef fillet | 1 for 400 yen |
| 貝柱 (kaibashira): scallop | 1 for 400 yen |
| キス (kisu): Japanese whiting | 1 for 350 yen |
| ししゃも (shishamo): shishamo smelt | 1 for 350 yen |
| マグロしそ巻き (maguro shiso-maki): tuna wrapped in shiso | 1 for 350 yen |
| たこ (tako): octopus | 1 for 300 yen |
| えびもち (ebi-mochi): shrimp okaki (rice cracker) | 2 for 300 yen |
| 活いか (iki-ika): squid | 1 for 300 yen |
| 焼あなご (yaki-anago): grilled conger eel | 1 for 250 yen |
| とり唐揚げ (tori karaage): fried chicken | 1 for 250 yen |
| とんかつ (tonkatsu): pork cutlet | 1 for 250 yen |
| 豚ヘレ (buta-here): pork fillet | 1 for 250 yen |
| 豚だんご (buta-dango): pork meatball | 1 for 250 yen |
| ささみしょうが (sasami shoga): chicken tenderloin with ginger | 1 for 250 yen |
| 厚切りベーコン (atsugiri bekon): thick-cut bacon | 1 for 250 yen |
| ウインナー (uinna): sausage | 1 for 250 yen |
| アスパラ (asupara): asparagus | 1 for 250 yen |
| 生しいたけ (nama shiitake): fresh shiitake | 1 for 250 yen |
| れんこん (renkon): lotus root | 1 for 250 yen |
| ヤングコーン (yangu kon): baby corn | 1 for 250 yen |
| エリンギ (eringi): king oyster mushroom | 1 for 250 yen |
| プチトマト (puchi tomato): cherry tomato | 1 for 250 yen |
| チーズ (chizu): cheese | 1 for 250 yen |
| カマンベールチーズ (kamanberu chizu): camembert | 1 for 250 yen |
| 生麩 (nama-fu): fresh wheat gluten | 1 for 200 yen |
| こんにゃく (konnyaku): konjac | 1 for 200 yen |
| じゃがいも (jagaimo): potato | 1 for 200 yen |
| かぼちゃ (kabocha): kabocha squash | 1 for 200 yen |
| ししとう (shishito): shishito pepper | 1 for 200 yen |
| 玉ねぎ (tamanegi): onion | 1 for 150 yen |
| ブロッコリー (burokkori): broccoli | 1 for 150 yen |
| 白ねぎ (shiro-negi): leek | 1 for 150 yen |
| なすび (nasubi): eggplant | 1 for 150 yen |
| ちくわ (chikuwa): fish cake | 1 for 150 yen |
| 玉子 (tamago): egg | 1 for 150 yen |
Drinks menu
| Menu | Price |
|---|---|
| 生ビール（大） (nama biru dai): large draft beer | 800 yen |
| 生ビール（中） (nama biru chu): medium draft beer | 550 yen |
| ビール（大ビン） (biru obin): large bottled beer | 650 yen |
| ビール（小ビン） (biru kobin): small bottled beer | 500 yen |
| 黒ビール（小ビン） (kuro biru kobin): small bottled dark beer | 500 yen |
| 冷酒 (reishu): chilled sake | 500 yen |
| 日本酒 (nihonshu): sake | 500 yen |
| ハイボール (haiboru): highball | 450 yen |
| レモンサワー (remon sawa): lemon sour | 450 yen |
| ノンアルコールビール (non-arukoru biru): non-alcoholic beer | 400 yen |
| コーラ (kora): cola | 200 yen |
| サイダー (saida): cider soda | 200 yen |
| チューハイ (chuhai): chuhai | 200 yen |
| ジュース (jusu): juice | 200 yen |
| ウーロン茶 (uron-cha): oolong tea | 200 yen |
To order, just say the name of the dish and how many you want. These words for counting skewers come in handy:
- 一本 (ippon): 1
- 二本 (nihon): 2
- 三本 (sanbon): 3
To order 3 of the basic kushikatsu, you'd say:
串かつ三本ください
(kushikatsu sanbon kudasai)
3 kushikatsu, please.
If you aren't used to Japanese, check the Japanese names of what you want on the wall menu beforehand and ordering gets easier.
How to eat at Yaekatsu, and the rules
At Yaekatsu, you dip your skewer once, yourself, into the shared sauce container on the table.
That's why double-dipping is banned: once you've taken a bite of a skewer, or put a piece of kushikatsu down on your plate, it can't go back into the shared sauce.
Coat it with as much sauce as you'll want the first time, then set it on your plate and eat.
The free cabbage that comes with your food is dipped in the sauce too.
Because of recent price rises, the cabbage is no longer refilled and is served only once, at the start. The shop has a notice about it posted in Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English.
Yaekatsu kushikatsu and doteyaki review
Yaekatsu has an open kitchen where the ingredients are prepped and fried right in front of the counter, so you can watch the cooking. Everything from vegetables like asparagus, shiitake, shishito peppers and eggplant to meat and cheese was laid out neatly, and the kitchen looked fairly clean and well kept.
I started with 3 beef kushikatsu. They're fried as soon as you order and put on the tray on the counter, so you can eat them while they're hot.
Overall, prices felt a little higher than at Kushikatsu Daruma, where I'd been before. Order several of the pricier items like shrimp or meat and the bill goes up faster than you expect.
What I ordered: kushikatsu, doteyaki, ebi, shishamo, iki-ika, tori karaage, buta-here, sasami shoga, asupara, shishito, cheese, camembert, kabocha, nasubi and chikuwa.
After trying a range, the vegetable kushikatsu were the ones I was happiest with at Yaekatsu: they're relatively cheap and the texture of the vegetables comes through well. I especially liked the ones where you can taste and feel the original ingredient, like asparagus and eggplant.
I also had the ebi, shishamo, iki-ika, tori karaage, buta-here and sasami shoga, and liked the contrast between the soft filling and the crisp coating. The cheese kushikatsu, on the other hand, didn't suit my taste, and I wouldn't order it again.
I ordered the doteyaki too, which a lot of people come to Yaekatsu for. Unlike Daruma's doteyaki it comes on skewers, and it was chewy but tender. To my taste, though, it was salty and a bit rich, so I didn't enjoy it as much as the kushikatsu.
Don't order lots of different things at the start. I'd recommend getting the beef kushikatsu and a few vegetables first, then adding more of whatever you like. If I went back, I'd order mostly vegetable kushikatsu like asparagus and eggplant rather than meat.
Queueing in a Shinsekai alley and watching skewers fried right across the counter is part of what makes Yaekatsu feel the way it does. Not everything suited my taste, but this old shop let me see Osaka's food culture up close.
If you want kushikatsu with a different atmosphere from Yaekatsu, compare it with Daruma too.
👉 Kushikatsu Daruma Namba: Menu, Prices & Sets
After eating at Yaekatsu, Shinsekai's landmark Tsutenkaku is a good place to look around as well.