When I was in Tenjinbashi-suji Shoutengai, the longest shopping street in Japan, I walked past an Italian restaurant. 

I thought, “Mhm... This restaurant looks nice. Let's snap a shot on them…" 

Then I quickly grabbed a shot, “oh no .... Wait! The guy through the glass window is looking at us.” 

I suddenly paused. I requested by making a gesture of snapping photo and mumbling “xia shin ee? (Can we take a photo?)” The guy with a hat nodded his head and beaming with a sunny smile.

Then a red shirt guy walked towards to join with the sunny hat guy I saw through the glass. They were posturing generously with a big smile on their faces! 

The two guys, one with a hat and the red-shirt guy were happily posturing and smiling through the glass for me to take photos. Haha!

I took a good glance on the menu board outside pizza and pasta (ever since I know how to make spaghetti, none of the pasta I had eaten in restaurant could please my taste bud, so I had always skipped pasta in menu)... But something magically happened; I was hypnotized by this restaurant and was naturally pushing the door open…

Wah la... Alice was pulled down into a rabbit hole...

A sudden shift of ambience … A whole new fantasy world …

“Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think--' “This was running in my head.

Having pushed the door open, down the alley, the sunny pizza guy before was standing in front of the round ocean blue mosaic pizza stove. He was smiling at us. I love his smile. Colorful mosaics walls further fantasized this as an adventure. Then a cool cute guy after him greeted us with serious look that I hesitated if I could take photo inside.

Here comes the red shirt nottie guy giggled and said no problem. I think he is the captain. 

I sat down. The red velvet sofa bench was so reminiscent.

It was fantasy, warm and cozy to dive in. 

The waitress served me with the menu and I put my bags down into a basket under the table. I love about Japan as they have always been delicate to what is closer to people’s hearts. So I made our order. They always make effort to understand customers' needs and always are attentive and patient.

While waiting for our food, I took good look around us and snapped many shots as I could. It did look like a rabbit hole.

Look afar, it was a long stretch to the end of the alley. How deep down of this rabbit hole? Haha

A sign board with Vera Pizza Napoletana, member number:478. The space was not big but they have been meticulous and delicate to the customers’ need. Hangers on a bar blended in as a deco.

The True Neapolitan Pizza Association (Associazione Verace Pizza napoletana,AVPN) is a non-profit organization and was founded in June 1984 in Naples with its legal and operational headquarters. Its mission is to promote and protect in Italy and worldwide the true Neapolitan pizza (verace pizza napoletana), i.e. the typical product made in accordance with the characteristics described in the AVPN International Regulations for obtaining a collective brand mark True Neapolitan Pizza (Vera Pizza Napoletana), in force since 1984, edited and registered by AVPN.

The Association is also involved in the promotion and protection of the affiliated pizzerias and products related to the production filer of true Neapolitan pizza and in the professionalization of pizza makers. - www.pizzanapoletana.org/en/

Here it comes ... I was served with a plate of bacon salad. With great variety of veggie, capsicum, broccoli, lettuce, I tucked in and took a bite of broccoli. Surprizingly, broccoli was soft but it still retained its freshness and flavor. Usually, broccoli would be either too raw to taste or too overcooked with the loss of flavor. Bacon was so fresh with the mix of veggie freshness and flavors pervades in our mouth.

Next one was pasta. The look of the shiny olive all over the spaghetti has been appetizing. Withholding my watery mouth, I took a quick snap on it for close-up. Then started curling the spaghetti with my fork and took a mouthful...

Nommm… I could smell the fragrance of the olive oil and the taste of sea permeating in my mouth. Olive oil moistened my lips. Sweetness and sourness of tomatoes are right mixed.

Tada! Now for the last Pizza Napoletana, it was so appetizing that I was so glad that I could have had the bites all by myself. HAHA! When the bottom of the pizza dough pillowed on my tongue, slight burnt smell and the olive oil made me craved for more. Took an avaricious bite into crust, it was soft, tender, elastic and full of fragrance of olive, cheese and bread. The more you chewed on it; the crust kept releasing the fragrance of bread. (*need to apologize for missing out Napoletana Pizza. my camera and phone batt flat, used my friend's phone; she said she lost all photos)

“According to the rules proposed by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana,^[3] the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of wheat flour (type 0 or 00, or a mixture of both), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, salt and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer. After the rising process, the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other machine, and may be no more than 3 millimeters (0.12 in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F) stone oven with an oak-wood fire.^[4] When cooked, it should be soft, elastic, tender and fragrant.” – Wikipedia

I could taste the passion with serious human hands in this crave-gratifying cuisine.

I was eager and curious to meet the Chef(s) behind the scenes. Haha!  I met the nottie guy along the alley, and then I requested “chef xia shin ee?”(if I could take a photo of the chef). He mischievously walked into the kitchen and teased the chef. He teased him and tried to pull him out for a photo shot. That nottie guy was teasing the Chef saying “you need to get used to that (people want your photo >///<) ~”

The Chef was so cute and shy. He was trying to hide behind pasta bottles. haha

I was very much surprized that the cuisines were prepared by these young chefs! Many people would have perceived the chefs be like very experienced veteran. It is so inspiring to see dedicated young chefs in the pursuit of great taste and cuisine.

It was such a fantasy and so unreal that there were young nice looking chefs and Italian restaurant crew in this shopping street. I thought it would only be found in virtual world like anime or manga!

They reminded me of a Japan Drama named “Bambino!” casted by Arashi, Jun Matsumoto.

Synopsis of “Bambino!”(quoted from Wikipedia):

A drama adaptation of a popular comic written by Sekiya Tetsuji. After a year of working at a neighborhood Italian restaurant, Ban Shogo (Matsumoto Jun), an enthusiastic, cocky young college student from Fukuoka, comes to Tokyo to perfect his cooking skills as a chef in Italian cuisine. He discovers he has much to learn and has to continually prove himself to the very competitive, quick and efficient staff at the upscale Italian restaurant.

Master was in town! Their Master of Pizza Napoletana visited their shop in 2013 and made a memorable signature on plate! 

A lot of time, we travel for the landscapes, food and shoppings.

But the real discovery... we always find new in what we see and experiences that enlighten us in our lives is...the people we met! –  SmileToEarth.com

After an appetizing, hearty lunch, it was about time to say goodbye.

This place was so magnetic and inviting to make people to stay on. No matter how much I wanted to stay on, I still had a journey to continue. I remember the words written by author. She said her grandfather said something profound: People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you make them feel.(*Finally found it… the quote was from Maya Angelou) 

It is not the language, it is not about the culture;

it is neither the differences in the skin colors or religions but

The open heart to accept each other's differences.

It is not the real physical distance between and among people,

It is within us, the distances between hearts. - SmiletoEarth.com

Place Visited

3 Chome-5-16 Tenjinbashi, Kita, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 530-0041, Japan

北区天神橋3-5-16
Osaka, 大阪府 〒530-0031
Japan