:: FOOD & DRINK

Bar Sicks

Bar Sicks - a relaxed oasis of cool.

The bizarrely-named Bar Sicks may be located right next to that well-known Osaka landmark, the Sky Building, but the rule here is homey rather than huge.

Even the prices - everything is ¥500 - are on the compact side.

Not that there aren't exceptions: the friendly owner Ari, who honed her cooking skills at Italian restaurants is one; the portions your one-coin gets you, are another.

We suggest the taco rice with salsa sauce, plenty of fresh veggies and helpings of ground meat.

Like the customers, the menu is multinational.

Eggplant and meat pasta with tomato sauce.

Cocktail-lovers of all countries are well catered for too.

As well as an ample shochu selection there are than 100 cocktails, as well as all the other usual suspects.

Equally varied are the people you can meet here.

As well as Ari, the surf-mad owner of the bar, on our visit those present included a graphic designer, a singer, a stock broker, a graduate student and even a foreign monk.

It would seem to be as good a spot to expand your social circle as your waistline and will probably be pretty full now Hanami season is in full swing.

Also, unlike many places, women needn't feel uncomfortable visiting alone, and if they (or, for that matter, the guys) feel the urge to acquire some hand-made accessories, the bar sells those too, along with an assortment of other funky bits and bobs.

A relaxed oasis of cool. It may be next to the Sky Building, but it's not in its shadow.

Menu highlights:

Taco rice
Eggplant and meat pasta with tomato sauce (recommended!)

Others (All ¥500)
Fried rice with roast pork, fried udon and more

Getting there:

1-4-20 Hasegawa Bld 1F, Oyodominami, Kita-ku, Osaka)
10 mins walk from JR Osaka Station.
Tel: /Fax 06-6458-3989
URL: www.sicks.biz

Text and photos: Terumi Tsuji