Grill Maruyoshi

Grill Maruyoshi is a long-established restaurant founded in Tennoji, Osaka in 1946, 79 years after the end of World War II. It is such a popular Western-style restaurant that “there is no one in the Tennoji area who does not know about it”. In the past, the restaurant was famous for its location, which was very difficult to find, but due to the Abeno redevelopment project, it was relocated to the Via Abeno Walk on the first floor of Abeno Q’s Mall in 2011, where it remains to this day. During this time, the restaurant has been selected as a Michelin Bib Gourmand and one of the 100 best Western-style restaurants in “Tabelog,” and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it has already become an indispensable presence in Tennoji.

I was interested in the cabbage rolls that are said to be the specialty of this long-established Western-style restaurant, so visited the restaurant on a weekday during the opening hours. The specialty menu has been in business for nearly 80 years, and what it was like…

Grill Maruyoshi is a restaurant with an old-fashioned human touch, but at the same time it is a high-class Western-style restaurant… 

Before I introduce Grill Maruyoshi‘s specialty, cabbage rolls, I would like to write a little about the restaurant. I arrived at the restaurant at around 10:45 a.m., 15 minutes before the opening time, and at this point, two madams were already in line. Since there were two customers ahead of me, I was sure that I would be able to enter the restaurant at the same time it opened! I was relieved to see that there were only two customers ahead of us, so I knew I could get in at the same time the restaurant opened! Looking around, it seems that most of the customers are locals who live nearby. As one would expect from a long-established Western-style restaurant that has taken root in Tennoji for nearly 80 years, the ability to attract customers is quite impressive, even on a weekday.

The interior of the restaurant is clean and bright, and there are several autographs of Yoshimoto comedians on the wall, a sign of the restaurant’s popularity in Osaka. The customers at this time seemed to be all regulars, and the wait staff was very friendly. I could feel the old-fashioned human touch. On the other hand, the restaurant’s menu is generally priced higher than most popular Western-style restaurants, with course menus priced from 5 to 6,000 yen per person, making it a restaurant that could be used for a high-class Western-style dinner party.

Limited to 70 servings a day! What was Grill Maruyoshi’s specialty menu item, Cabbage Roll, like when I actually tried it?

Let me introduce to you the special cabbage roll set meal that I ordered at Grill Maruyoshi, which is limited to 70 servings a day and includes rice (free with a large serving) and soup for 1,850 yen (tax included)…

After 5 minutes of waiting, the special cabbage roll set meal arrived in front of me. The cabbage roll is about the size of a softball… and is topped with a generous amount of homemade demi-glace sauce and curry sauce to make it about half the size of a softball. It looks very beautiful and looks good on SNS. But isn’t it unusual to have cabbage rolls with two different sauces? And, aside from the demi-glace sauce, I wonder what a cabbage roll eaten with curry sauce would be like…

Putting such near-questioning interest aside for the moment, I decided to split it open just at the border of the sauces and take a look inside before eating. The knife went smoothly into the cabbage, and I could feel from the hand holding the knife and fork that it had been cooked for a long time until it was tender. The minced meat inside was also well heated, with no complaints. Yes, it is said that sometimes the meat of the cabbage roll looks pink, but this is due to the reaction between the ingredients of the cabbage and the meat, and it does not mean that the meat is half raw, so don’t worry.

As I confirmed when I put the knife into the cabbage, the cabbage outside is very thick and melts in your mouth, and the flavor of the veillon inside spreads out and fills your mouth. The minced beef in it did not have much seasoning, so it tasted quite light.

The demi-glace sauce was fruity and sweet, but did not have much depth or richness. The curry sauce is tangy and spicy, but at the same time it has a refined taste that I personally like very much. However, if you ask me, “Is it the right sauce for cabbage rolls?”, It’s not bad, but it doesn’t have to be.

My personal impression of Grill Maruyoshi‘s famous cabbage rolls is that they are a bit lacking, considering the price of 1,850 yen. It is not that it is bad, but I feel that the appearance is a little ahead of the taste. If it costs nearly 2,000 yen for this kind of food, I would like to see something more, such as free refills of rice or more cabbage rolls. Well, it’s so much in the news right now that they are saying ”1,000 yen for an egg of cabbage!” I guess I’ll just have to prepare myself for this price…

Examples of other lunch menu items at Grill Maruyoshi (prices include tax)

• A Lunch (fried white meat, chicken cutlet, cinnamon cream croquette): 1480 yen
• B Lunch (mini hamburger steak, chicken cutlet, cinnamon cream croquette): 1680 yen
• C Lunch (mini hamburger steak, fried white meat, large fried shrimp): 1880 yen
• Hamburger steak set meal: 1,700 yen
• Curry rice with a bite of pork cutlet: 1600 yen
• Mixed fried rice set meal: 1,550 yen
• Fluffy egg omelet rice: 1,000 yen

“Children’s Lunch for Adults” is also available…Grill Maruyoshi is a 3-minute walk from JR Tennoji Station (Osaka Abenobashi Station on the Kintetsu Minami-Osaka Line), the nearest station to the restaurant.

Grill Maruyoshi also offers a menu called “ Children’s Lunch for Adults,” which is sure to be of interest to those who lived in the Showa Period….

Here, the lunch consists of a main dish of…

• Chicken Cutlet
• Fried Chicken
• Fried Fish
• Cinnamon Cream Croquette
• Large Fried Shrimp
• Mini hamburger steak

It seems that we can choose two from the following six types. This way I can change the combination according to the mood of the day and never get tired of it. This kind of menu makes it easy to choose as an everyday lunch. If you are in the mood for a bit of nostalgia, please give the lunch a try.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…

P.S. If you are looking for delicious Western style restaurants in Osaka, please stop by this article below…