Gyudon on the go in Kyobashi Station.

When you spot a restaurant on a train platform in Japan, the odds are extremely high that it’s going to be a noodle joint, and specifically a soba/udon one. Since they both use the same sort of broth, the logistics of keeping a pot of it heated and always having batches of noodles boiling makes it pretty easy to serve up meals in a speedy fashion.

But while he was passing through Osaka’s Kyobashi Station the other day, our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa spotted something he couldn’t recall ever seeing anywhere else: a station platform Yoshinoya.

This appears to be one of only two station platform Yoshinoya’s in all of Japan. Curious to see if it pares down its selection to just the bare-bones basics for easier operations, Seiji stepped inside and took a look at the ordering touch screen, but nope, this branch looks to offer the same full menu as other Yoshinoyas that aren’t five steps away from where commuters and travelers are getting on or off trains.

▼ Whether you want just a standard beef bowl or the deluxe, limited-time combo meal with grilled unagi (eel), stewed gyudon beef, miso soup, and a salad, the Kyobashi Station Yoshinoya’s cooks are ready to accommodate you.

OK, so they’ve got the regular menu, and also the regular Yoshinoya prices, with no extra price gouging despite the convenience of being right on the platform. But does this unconventional setup mean that the quality suffers?

Not a bit! Seiji’s beef bowl was 100-percent as delicious as the ones he’s had at regular Yoshinoya branches.

Because of all that, eating at the Kyobashi Station Yoshinoya is a surreal mix of everyday and unusual vibes. The familiar food looks, tastes, and costs the same as it would at any other Yoshinoya. But look up from your beef bowl, and you’ll see trains coming and going in front of you without having to get up from your seat at the counter.

And while all Yoshinoya branches accept payment by tapping a Suica or other prepaid train fare card, it feels like an especially appropriate way to settle your bill here.

This Yoshinoya is located on Kyobashi Station’s Osaka Loop Line outer track platform, and it’s open morning, noon, and night every day, not just during weekday rush hours. As for the only other train platform Yoshinoya in Japan, it’s on Platform 4 of Meitetsu Nagoya Station in Nagoya, a town with at least one more noteworthy platform dining option too.

Restaurant information
Yoshinoya (JR Kyobashi Station Platform branch) / 吉野家（JR京橋駅ホーム店）
Address: Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Joto-ku, Shin Kita 1-2-31
住所　大阪府大阪市城東区新喜多1丁目2-31
Open 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website

Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]