Suzuya

Start with a skewer of doteyaki before choosing your kushikatsu. It is one of Suzuya’s best-known dishes, alongside the fried skewers, and diners describe it as beef tendon coated in mildly sweet miso. Some say the miso’s sweetness goes particularly well with beer. Pair it with draft beer or a large bottle of beer, then add skewers as you settle into dinner.

The kushikatsu selection ranges from vegetables such as onion, lotus root and pickled ginger to octopus, whiting, small prawns and scallops. You can order each skewer individually. Diners who sampled several varieties noted that the coatings varied from crisp to light and fluffy, and found them easier to keep eating than their appearance might suggest. “Katsu” is listed on the menu at 110 yen per skewer; one diner liked the beef skewer enough to order it several times.

On the menu shown, the signature large prawn costs 900 yen per skewer, while the small prawns are 200 yen. Make the larger prawn the centrepiece, or build a meal around several more affordable skewers. One diner was struck by the size of the large prawn, while another found the small prawns more substantial than their name suggested. Suzuya is in Nakamoto, Higashinari-ku, Osaka. It opens Wednesday to Sunday from 17:00 to 22:00 and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Payment is cash only, so come prepared.