Restaurant · Namba

Jiyuken Namba Honten 自由軒 難波本店

Osaka's oldest Western-style restaurant (1910), famous for 'meibutsu curry': curry mixed into the rice and crowned with a raw egg, beloved by novelist Sakunosuke Oda.

About

Jiyuken opened in Namba in 1910, one of the first places in Osaka to serve yoshoku (Western-style Japanese food). Its signature meibutsu curry was invented so it would stay warm in an era without rice warmers: the curry is mixed into the rice, a raw egg is cracked on top and you stir it in with a dash of Worcestershire sauce. The writer Sakunosuke Oda was a regular, and a framed photo and quote still hang on the wall. The interior is unabashedly old-fashioned, the waitresses quick, and the price low.

Highlights

• Meibutsu curry: pre-mixed curry rice topped with raw egg
• Osaka's oldest Western-style restaurant, opened 1910
• Writer Sakunosuke Oda's favourite, with his photo on the wall
• Retro Taisho-Showa dining room
• Cheap, fast and very local

Tips

• Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce, as regulars do
• Closed Mondays
• Combine with Namba Grand Kagetsu or Sennichimae Doguyasuji nearby

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

Nearby

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• Naniwa Camera Namba Marui StoreCamera Store · 90 m away
• Don Quijote Namba SennichimaeUnique Store · 110 m away
• Rikuro Ojisan no Mise Namba HontenCafé & Sweets · 110 m away
• Tourist Information Namba (Nankai Namba Station)Tourist Info · 110 m away
• Takoyaki Wanaka Sennichimae HontenRestaurant · 120 m away
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• Genroku Sushi SennichimaeSushi & Seafood · 140 m away