- Name: Volcano Kitchen ボルケーノキッチン
- Cuisine: Roast Beef Bowl/Plate
- Cost: ¥-¥¥ (¥800+)
- Bargain: Good
- Payment: Cash
- Size: Small; ~8 counter seats, one 2-seat table, and one 4-seat table .
- Wait: 15? minutes
- Area: Fukushima-ku, Osaka City, Japan
- Station: Shin-Fukushima Station
The restaurant is easy to find. It’s just across the street from Exit 3.
Their specialty is a roast beef tower. They had three versions ― Volcano Plate (regular size), Fuji-yama Volcano Plate (meat x2 and rice x1.5), and Ultimate Volcano Plate (regular size but with wagyu roast beef). We got the Fuji-yama Volcano Plate, for ¥1590, since it had the most volume. Inside, the waiter/owner told us we had three choices for the sauce:
- こってり kotteri (thick) – shoyu and butter (store recommendation)
- あっさり assari (light) – onion and ginger
- ムアンバ Muamba (Gabonese inspired) – tomato-based
We both went with kotteri since that was the restaurant’s recommendation.
The tower was topped with dried chili strips/threads that gave a nice chili aroma and flavor without the spiciness. The roast beef was good. The sauce was buttery and salty with slightly sweet aftertaste. The consistency was more like gravy.
As I was making my way down into the tower, removing each slice of roast beef, layer by layer, I was surprised to find a medium-boiled egg hidden within tower. When you break the egg, the yolk would flow out and down the tower like lava from a volcano.
Hidden underneath the egg was a bed of rice. The rice was pretty good. Not soggy nor dry. The rice was great to soak up the remaining sauce. I rationed out my meat, rice, and sauce so that I’d have equal amounts of meat, rice, and sauce with each bite.
The sauce/gravy was a little on the salty side IMHO while eating it with just the roast beef. However, eating the sauce with the rice was better because the rice helped balance/spread out the saltiness. Since I was taking my time taking pictures and slowly portioning my rice-meat-sauce ratio, the owner came to check up on us. He told me that if I didn’t have enough sauce to let him know because (only) the Fuji-yama Plate gets extra sauce refills. They also have other items on their menu like Italian Volcano (tomato, basil, cheese sauce), Diamond Bed (roast beef loco moco), etc.
Overall:
TL;DR: Roast beef tower with a buttery sauce.
Recommend: Highly Recommend
Website: http://volcanokitchen.com/?page_id=13
Address: 大阪府 大阪市 福島区 福島4-5-56