Sometime last month, I finally got to try the newest gyoza place in the metro: Osaka Ohsho. After falling in love with gyoza, because of the recent ramen craze that caused a surge of delicious gyozas to enter our country, I knew I had to try this international franchise which claims to have the world’s no. 1 Gyoza. Did it deliver on it’s promise?

The place was surprisingly not jampacked on a weekday night, contrary to what I’ve been hearing. Maybe because it was already around 8pm then or maybe I was just lucky. Nevertheless, they accept reservations so to be safe, do reserve a table.

The interiors were nice, it had a lot of booths, the tables weren’t crammed together, and it had a Japanese feel to it. There were a lot of staff too so service was pretty good.

What’s nice about this place is that they serve a variety of food. Even if I went there to try the gyoza, their menu had me wanting to order a lot of different dishes! I couldn’t order everything I wanted, because I wouldn’t be able to finish it all, so I told myself that I’ll come back to try their other dishes.

You can order either ala carte or set meals. If you like rice and you’re by yourself, I suggest you get the set since it comes with a main dish (although a smaller size than if you order ala carte), Gyoza, rice, fruits, and soup. You get to try different things for a reasonable price.

The black vinegar chicken is one of their best sellers. It was cooked well, the outside still crunchy and the inside was juicy. It was really tasty. I couldn’t taste the vinegar so much though and to me, it tasted a bit like sweet and sour pork but more tangy (which confused me since I was in a Japanese restaurant!). But the chicken was really cooked well. You should try this! Since it was part of a set, there were only around 3-4 pieces but it’s good enough for one hungry person. The rice was good Japanese rice and if I’m not mistaken, it’s unlimited.

My standards for good gyoza are pretty high and I was expecting a lot from a place that claimed to have the world’s no. 1 gyoza. Upon biting into it, the texture was pretty good. The wrapper was thin but had a bite to it. The filling was flavorful, eating it even without dipping sauce was enjoyable. My problem about this Gyoza was that it was a bit too oily meaning you couldn’t eat a lot of it.

I was looking forward to trying the nori gyoza the most since everyone in the blogging world loves this. I hear they run out of this sometimes so I was glad that they had this when I ate here. I was so tempted to order the 12 pieces, just because it would look so legit in photos but thankfully, I restrained myself and ordered 6 instead.

I was underwhelmed by the nori gyoza. It was tasty, though a bit too tasty for my taste. The nice thing was that it had quite a bit of seaweed in it but it overpowered the simple taste of the pork and leeks. It was a struggle to eat half of this because of the strong taste. I find it “nakakaumay”.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. It has the base of the original, which I did like. I just prefer my gyoza to be simple but flavorful and fresh tasting. This was too much for me.

This is the 3rd flavor that they have. I’ve tried cheese gyoza in another restaurant before and found it quite odd. I wanted to try Osaka Ohsho’s version just to see if it’s any good.

The cheese in the gyoza tasted like ordinary pasteurized cheese with the consistency of meted mozzarella. It was quite salty and I didn’t think it went well with the pork. I think cream cheese or cottage cheese might be a better choice of cheese to put in the gyoza. It would add creaminess without the overpowering saltiness that pasteurized cheese has.

All in all, their menu is very intriguing and I do want to go back to try the other dishes they have. Their food is cooked well although the flavor of their nori and cheese gyoza is a bit off for me. Their original gyoza is admittedly pretty good, I’d eat it again. But as for “World’s No. 1 Gyoza,” I don’t think so. I prefer the gyozas in some ramen places in the metro.

Go for the set meals. You get to taste their main dishes as well as their original gyoza (you can’t get flavored gyoza in the set meal).

Queenie

Osaka Ohsho is located at the 3rd floor SM Mega Fashion Hall, SM Megamall