This shop uses Spotify for its in-store music. That's fine, since playing music as part of employee welfare or in-store service is common. The problem is that it's done on the free plan. In exchange for music you didn't choose to listen to, you're made to listen to ads. This probably has no direct impact on its core duty of serving food. But this kind of discomfort in the details worsens the overall impression. It can raise suspicions like: "If the management skimps even on in-store music, aren't they cutting corners on the food itself too? Aren't they covering up poor-quality ingredients with heavy seasoning?" Incidentally, as of 2026, Spotify Premium Standard costs 1080 yen per month. They should either treat this as a business expense and use a method suited to in-store service, or, since the ads are the problem, they might as well not play music at all. I'd really like them to review the details, not just the music.

Probably a go-to for Kindai students: 「味店焼マン」, the hugely popular eatery in the Kindai-mae shopping street, finally opened its long-awaited shop on campus on April 1 this year (2023). It's near the athletic field on E Campus, the farthest from the West Gate, so it looks like it can split the customers nicely with the Yakiman near the West Gate. That day I happened to have plans at Kindai University, so I decided to have lunch at Yakiman. You order at the counter; it's basically takeout, but there's an eat-in space and terrace seating too. The menu is lined with rock-bottom prices: extra-large Tianjin rice 520 yen, the large size of that 620 yen, deluxe Tianjin rice 650 yen. While I was deciding, there was a sign saying "Shimofuri Myojo Seiya's Top 3 Favorite Menu Items": No. 1 was the chicken salt lemon bowl (470 yen), No. 2 was Tianjin rice with karaage (430 yen), No. 3 was the amakara bowl (470 yen), so I went with No. 1, the chicken salt lemon bowl! Watching the kitchen, you can see they start grilling the chicken after taking the order. A little later the chicken salt lemon bowl arrived. Cabbage, chicken, and green onion on top of a rolled omelet, with lemon on the side. You take this and head to the topping corner. This corner has mayonnaise, vinegar, sesame-salt chili, sesame, chili sauce, and more, and there are even thoughtful recommendations like "For this bowl, this topping is good." On top of the base mayonnaise, I sprinkled on the "sesame-salt chili" that caught my eye, and it was done. When I dug in right away on the terrace, the flavor was intriguing. The chicken itself is quite well seasoned, but squeezing the lemon makes the taste softer. On top of that, the rolled omelet plays a nice cushioning role. Looking closely, you could almost call the composition a neo oyakodon. Portion-wise it's not that big, so you can polish it off easily. By the way, large rice is 520 yen, large toppings 630 yen, and "large-large" with both large is 680 yen. Growing kids will probably go for the large-large!

No Kindai student wouldn't know 「味店焼きマン」 on Kindai-dori. Its second shop has opened on the university campus. Kindai University, famous for Kindai tuna, is a super-mammoth school with 30,000 students. On campus there are cafeterias, cafés, a ramen shop planned and run by students called 「近大をすすらんか！」, Sukiya, and other shops. This 「焼きマン」 is a shop I'd been curious about since seeing it on TV. It seems lots of media outlets have covered it. The main shop is on Kindai-dori, which runs from Kintetsu Nagase Station to Kindai, and because it's so popular, they apparently opened on the Kindai campus too. (They said so on TV) At lunchtime it's packed with students, but I went right at opening time, so it was empty. What I saw on TV was the "chicken salt bowl" (500 yen) They also have Tianjin rice, the deluxe bowl, amakara bowl, kalbi bowl, and lots of other very reasonably priced, generously portioned menu items!! There's also a slightly smaller Girls' size. You order at the counter, and the tables are full of condiments: sesame, chili sauce, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, super-hot chili, sesame-salt chili, kara-don sauce, homemade vinegar, yuzu kosho, and more. There are also POP signs with recommended combinations for each menu item! ■ Girls' Dera-don (580 yen) Dera-don means the toppings are deluxe! Under the fried chicken karaage, kimchi, and simmered chicken is Tianjin rice. Even though it's the Girls' size, it's very filling. I enjoyed it♪ The eat-in space is inside the shop or at the tables out front. There are also chairs and tables around campus, so eat wherever you like!!

Between the main shop and E Campus, the main shop was tastier. I've eaten there many times, and at the main shop the sauce has depth, so it stays delicious even after some time has passed. At the E Campus shop the flavor felt weak and I thought, huh? I asked other people too, and they also said E Campus is lighter in flavor overall. I'm a Yakiman fan, so if it's the same recipe, I want them to properly serve food at the same level as the main shop.

I underestimated it, thinking it was nothing special…. The area around Kindai University is full of cheap places, so I dunno if my sense of value is glitched, but honestly it's cheap and tasty, and for an outsider it's super satisfying