Within a 2 month stay in Japan this is by far the most delicious place. Also has incredible service on top. Hope I get to eat there again!

Absolute the most wonderful and delicious comfort food! A must go!

Great family restaurant and good prices

I thought the portions were generally huge, but the staff told us, "Since you had to wait for the food to come out, we made it extra large," giving us a generous portion upgrade without any fuss. I had the KO; the lightly seasoned omurice topped with curry had just the right balance and was delicious. The cutlet was made of thin slices layered together, making it tender and easy to bite through. It felt like taking the best of both katsu curry and omurice, something students would definitely love. The cold noodles were served with a slightly robust broth, quite different from the typical sweet-and-sour soy sauce dressing on regular hiyashi chuka; we shared it and found it very tasty too. Thank you for the meal. At first, it was packed so the four of us sat at a slightly cramped table, but as customers left, the staff moved tables and chairs to arrange a table that could seat around six people, saying, "Move over here and enjoy your meal comfortably." They also checked in on us asking if we found the parking lot alright, saying it must have been hot walking over, and with all that hospitality, I genuinely thought this might be the most polite and humble neighborhood Chinese diner in all of Japan. Complimentary soup and coffee were provided just like they did for the folks at another table who arrived after parking. Their generosity is off the charts lol.

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2025.12.19 At an age where he longed to wander through unfamiliar towns, Kiya-san stepped off at Kishibe Station for the first time. Having some time to spare, he launched a stealth reconnaissance around Osaka Gakuin University near the station. That's when he spotted a neighborhood Chinese diner nestled in a residential area. The operation immediately transitioned to reconnaissance-in-force. The diner's name is Horai. Eyeing the display case out front, he parted the noren curtain intending to grab some Champon (regular, 800 yen incl. tax). Taking a seat and glancing at the tabletop menu, a curious item caught his eye. Its name... "KO (Knockout) Overthrow" Ah... That's it! To me, KO is something that must be defeated! At Jingu! At Sumida River... even here in the land of Osaka... wait, is that slightly off? Calm down, self—and so I decided to go with this KO. Helped by the fact that it wasn't crowded, the dish arrived in about 5 minutes: an omurice crowned with tonkatsu. You could choose between curry or tonkatsu sauce, and this time I went with curry. The cutlet is made by layering two 3mm-thick cuts of meat before frying. Thanks to this, the meat feels much more tender than it looks. The coating is crispy. The batter itself seems to have a light spicy seasoning, making the crust delicious all on its own. The filling of the omurice is Showa-style chicken rice. While flavored with ketchup, the application of ketchup is restrained. It might be that the ketchup itself has a mild acidity, but that restraint leaves a memorably fragrant, roasted finish. Delicious once again. True to its name, there are chicken pieces inside, and every piece is generously sized. Packed to the brim with all these joyful elements, this KO comes out to an astonishing 950 yen including tax. It might be a tad pricey for students, but in this era of soaring prices, keeping this kind of volume under a thousand yen is remarkably generous, if you ask me. Horai, operated by the whole family, will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year. The layout features 4 four-seater tables and 4 two-seater tables. It's a setup ready to take on incoming waves of hungry students. The friendly banter between regular students and the shop owners was heartwarming, too. Kiya-san, who will likely be frequenting Kishibe for a while, will definitely find an opportunity to revisit Horai despite its distance from the station... (*´ω｀*)

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