Conan: The Mechanic

Taking the Midosuji Line, Chiba and Haibara Ai arrived at Umeda from Shinsaibashi Station—their destination, where Shin-Umeda Shido Street is located.

Shin Umeda Shido Street is a food business district that opened after the war (December 15, 1950). For decades, the store group consisting of 18 small stores has formed a group consisting of hundreds of stores with their own characteristics. District sign.

"What's lining up over there?" As soon as he approached Shin-Umeda Shodo Street, Haibara Ai found a queue lining up from the entrance of Shin-Umeda Shodo Street. "Do you still need to queue to get in here?"

"No," Qianyu shook her head. "This is a shop that sells takoyaki, I remember the name is..."

The auxiliary unit enlarges the screen and enlarges the originally unrecognizable small characters.

"はなだこ" (hanadako)

"If you want to eat this, it looks like it will be troublesome?" Haibara Ai looked at the long queue and asked worriedly.

"Not only is it troublesome, but you can only eat while standing..." The corners of Qian Yu's mouth twitched. "And to be fair, I'm not a big fan of the takoyaki sauce—I don't like the sweetness that the sauce produces."

The taste of Osaka-style takoyaki is generally the same—sweet, and this is not Chiba’s favorite taste.

"So let's see if there are any small shops with fewer people in it?" Haibara Ai was obviously worried about the rather scary length of the line.

"You can eat it in some stores, so don't worry - there are even some stores where the food can be packaged, and we can even take it back and eat it again." Qianyu replied. "There's one thing about the shops here - most of them are time-tested and time-honored brands, and they're active here because of the quality of the food in their shops."

If you simply talk about the time-honored brand, there is actually a very famous shop here - たこmei, founded in the first year of Honghua (1844). This 150-year-old shop should be regarded as the oldest oden shop in Japan.

But this is also the reason why Chiba didn't choose this shop - as a Kanto native, eating oden in Osaka, Kansai, always felt that something was not right.

If you want to eat the so-called oden here, why come to Osaka? If you can't find a store in Tokyo and try it...

So the first shop Chiba chose was お好み焼きsakura (Sakura Assorted Roast). After entering the food street from はなだこ, turn left at the last corner, walk forward two shops, and then one of the shops of this shop will be on the left. There are three shops in the whole sakura assorted yaki, all of which are located here. (It is worth mentioning that the two large shops of Sakura Gashiki are located opposite the toilets and smoking rooms on the esophagus street, and the third shop is located next to the smoking room.)

The reason for choosing this shop is that, contrary to the oden shop above, Sakura Assorted Oden is a well-established and popular Kansai Oden. He is good at making orthodox assorted yaki that is simple yet expresses the characteristics of assorted yaki.

"Would you like to sit at the bar?" Chiba asked Haihara sadly. "Over there, you can see the process of making assorted yaki."

"Listen to you, you are familiar with this place, you have the final say." Hai Yuanai just showed a faint smile.

Qianyu nodded, and took Haibara Ai to sit in front of the empty bar—it was past nine o'clock, and the flow of people couldn't compare to eight o'clock in the heyday, so finding the two vacant bar seats was just a matter of Luckily, it's not yet to the point where you need to buy a lottery ticket.

"What do you want?" the waiter in front of them asked.

"Well—" Qianyu glanced at the menu. "Egg Chowder (ミックス Tamago)."

"I'll have this too." Haibara Ai chose the same dishes as Chiba.

"Are you coming too?" Chiba was a little surprised after hearing Haibara Ai's choice. "If that's the case, we'll probably be full from a meal here."

"What do you mean?" Haibara Ai was slightly taken aback, but she reacted immediately.

Beside them, a pair of young men and women who are apparently lovers are sharing the same piece of assorted yaki. Even two people can share the same meal by just using the cutlery shovel here to cut the okonomiyaki into pieces.

"Eating a little at each store, and tasting the characteristics of several stores is a classic approach here," Chiba said after glancing in the direction Haibara Ai was looking at, realizing that he should have understood what he meant. "How about it? Or just order one?"

"If you order one by yourself, you may be full in our house," the waiter brother suddenly interjected. "If you two eat one, you can also taste the food from other stores."

"Then you can order one," Haiyuan Ai nodded. "I eat the same portion as you."

Just like that, Chiba and Haibara Ai sat quietly in front of the bar, watching the waiter in front of them start the process of making assorted yaki.

There is nothing fancy, only the most simple and direct stir-frying, modulation and shovel action. During this process, the action of the waiter brother was quite powerful.

"I probably understand why you brought me here, UU reading www.uukanshu.com" Looking at the little waiter's movements, Haibara Ai said so. "Compared with the modern Shinsaibashi side, this side has a... quaint atmosphere. When you see this side, you will be reminded of the traditional atmosphere of the golden age."

"Yeah," Chiyu also focused on the little waiter's movements. "This is what this place has been like since it was built, and the overall look has been finalized 20 or 30 years ago - this is the best living fossil of the lost classical era."

Shin Umeda Shido Street itself is located next to Umeda Station, and Umeda Station itself is one of the most frequent gathering places for commuting salarymen, so there are a large number of salarymen who patronize here. Compared with the more modern and decent style on the Shinsaibashi side, there is a strong sense of common people here.

"But then again," Chiyu's expression suddenly became slightly subtle. "Will that era come back?"

"I don't know," Haibara Ai's expression was also very subtle. "But I guess, probably not, right? At least I can't see the future now."

The style of Shin Umeda Shodo Street was mainly shaped in the 1960s and 1970s, which was the heyday of the entire Japanese economy. At that time, Japan was at the top level of the world in many cutting-edge technologies, and a large number of technological dividends also flowed into it. In Japan, the good news from many aspects has made Japan prosperous.

That's why this era is called the Golden Age - the best of times in Japan.

But now, Japan's economy has not developed so gratifyingly for a long time. Instead, it is somewhat stagnant, and various problems have begun to be exposed.

"It's done!" With such a voice, the waiter finished making a piece of assorted yaki, and placed it on the iron plate in front of Chiba and Haibara Ai.