12 best things to do in Nakanoshima: museums, restaurants, coffee and more

Founded in Tokyo’s Jimbocho district in 2015, Glitch Coffee was among the pioneers of Japan’s single-origin coffee scene. While much of the country continues to favour European-style dark roasts, Glitch has built a strong reputation for its unwavering focus on light roasts that showcase the distinctive terroir of each bean.

Both of its Tokyo locations – the original in Jimbocho and another in upmarket Ginza – regularly draw long queues of coffee enthusiasts eager to savour its expertly brewed hand-drip coffee. You can experience this uniquely Japanese approach to coffee at Glitch’s sole Kansai outpost.

Located on the ground floor of the Festival Tower West building in Nakanoshima, the coffee shop is bright and spacious, with natural light pouring through its floor-to-ceiling glass walls. Ample seating including plush sofas and lounge chairs makes it the perfect place to unwind over a quality brew after visiting the nearby art museums.

Glitch offers around 30 varieties of house-roasted beans, with roughly half available to enjoy in-store as hand-drip coffee, served hot or iced. Each bean is clearly labelled with details including variety, growing altitude, processing method and flavour profile. For true coffee aficionados, this is the place to geek out.

Based on its name – Sekai Ichi Hima Na Ramen-ya, which cheekily translates to ‘The Most Desarted (sic) Ramen Bar in the World’ – this ramen restaurant clearly has a self-deprecating sense of humour. Tucked away in a sleek office building in Nakanoshima, an area with little casual foot traffic, it still manages to attract a small but steadily moving line outside its door. This is a testament to its reputation as one of the more highly regarded ramen spots in Osaka.

The noodles, which come in deep, oversized bowls that we presume help prevent the soup from splashing onto our clothes, are surprisingly affordable. Most standard servings are priced below ¥1,000 including tax.

There are six ramen options on the menu, all with soy sauce broth as their base. You can also order complementary side dishes such as gyoza and pork rice bowls, along with additional toppings for your ramen, including char siu, egg, spring onions and even kimchi.

A highly rated curry restaurant in Osaka, Kyu Yam Tei Nakanoshima Yokan offers a good variety of curries, from Japanese-style spiced versions to Indian and even Thai ones. A standard meal lets you choose two or three curries from the day’s selection, which usually features four options. Each set comes with rice, a bean curry, a small salad and a dessert. 

For an even more substantial meal, the special plate is available after 1pm. This generous platter comes with spiced grilled chicken, two kinds of keema curry, a meat or fish soup curry, pickles, a bean curry, two side dishes and a dessert. You can also choose your preferred rice: Japanese brown rice, Thai jasmine rice or a mixed-grain blend.

The restaurant’s interior looks like an old-world English mansion, with chandeliers, lace table mats, dainty vases and china, and floral wallpaper lending it a retro countryside charm. Peculiar as it may sound, the décor seems to captivate the restaurant’s devoted regulars, who cite the setting as a unique part of its dining experience.

Note: this restaurant only takes cash

Aside from being considered a lucky fish, tai, or sea bream, is also a premium delicacy, prized for its firm white flesh and refined flavour. For a taste of this premium fish without shelling out for a wallet-busting kaiseki course, head to this tai speciality restaurant just across the river from Nakanoshima.

Tokumasu receives its sea bream fresh each day from Ehime prefecture, where some of Japan’s finest tai comes from, thanks to its clean waters and ideal temperatures. Best of all, you can enjoy a set meal highlighting this beautiful fish for as little as ¥1,100.

For a classic preparation, try the sea bream sesame tea rice set, where slices of sea bream sashimi are mixed with sesame sauce and served with a bowl of steaming white rice. Another option features two types of sea bream – one cured with kelp to draw out excess moisture and concentrate its flavour, and another marinated in soy sauce – served atop white rice. For either dish, you can request a comforting sea bream broth halfway through to pour over your rice, transforming it into a traditional ochazuke.

This is undoubtedly one of Osaka’s best-value meals, a rare chance to savour a beloved Japanese fish without breaking the bank.

Located just across the river from Nakanoshima, along a street lined with historical stone buildings that once housed banks and stock brokerages, Embankment Coffee is one of Osaka’s top specialists in light-roast coffee. The café and roastery occupy a heritage-listed wooden row house built in 1912, featuring large windows overlooking the Tosabori River and Nakanoshima Park.

Grab a seat at one of the small tables and let your everyday worries drift away as you sip on your choice of single-origin coffee (four varieties are available at all times). Pair your drink with some banana pound cake or Linzer torte, a buttery, jam-filled pastry of Austrian origin, made fresh every day by the resident pastry chef.

Built by the prominent Sumitomo family in 1904, the stately Osaka Prefectural Nakanoshima Library is one of the city’s finest examples of neoclassical architecture. Its design draws inspiration from ancient Greco-Roman temples, evident in the massive Corinthian-style columns at the front entrance and the soaring bronze dome that crowns this three-storey structure.

Anyone can step inside this designated Important Cultural Property of Japan to admire the imposing central staircase and the dome’s oculus, which floods the interior in natural light. However, do bear in mind that this is a functioning library.

Next to it stands the Osaka City Central Public Hall, built in 1918 and also an Important Cultural Property. Its striking Neo-Renaissance-style façade makes it one of the most photographed buildings in Osaka. While the hall is primarily used for events and performances, it houses a restaurant on the basement level and a small exhibition room that’s open to the public free of charge.

Nearby, the Osaka City Hall completes the cluster of public buildings in the area. Although it isn’t as historical as the other two, the massive modern structure serves as a backdrop for spectacular projection mapping displays during the winter illuminations. Additionally, you'll find a huge statue of a reclining Myaku-Myaku at the entrance until the end of the year.

Frankly, there isn’t much to see inside, as the building functions mainly as an administrative centre, but early risers can pop into the basement café for breakfast from 8am.

Trust star architect Tadao Ando to design one of the most stylish children’s libraries around. Located in Nakanoshima Park, the Children’s Book Forest offers three levels of dramatic, ceiling-high gridded shelves full of books, with smaller, more intimate areas defined by sloping ceilings. Unusually, books here are neither organised by genre or age range. With picture books sitting happily next to art books and short stories, the aim is to encourage free exploration.

The majority of the library’s collection is in Japanese, but it has a small number of English-language books, which the staff will be happy to guide you and the kids to. Entry is free, but you need to register online – except on Wednesdays between 3.30pm and 5pm, when the library accepts walk-ins on a first come, first served basis.

A sprawling green space stretching 1.5 kilometres in length, Nakanoshima Park was Osaka’s first public park when it was established in 1891. It remains one of the city’s most scenic spots thanks to its waterfront location, sandwiched between Dojima and Tosabori Rivers at the eastern end of Nakanoshima Island, and surrounded by gleaming skyscrapers.

Aside from being a popular recreational hangout for locals, Nakanoshima Park comes alive with dazzling winter illuminations during the year-end and New Year period. Another highlight is its rose garden, home to around 3,700 bushes across 310 species. The best time to see the blooms is from mid-May to mid-October.