Craft Beer Market Whity Umeda

Craft Beer Market's Whity Umeda bar is the chain's second site in Kansai, set in the NOMOKA dining zone of Whity Umeda, one of Japan's largest underground malls, near the Izumi no Hiroba fountain plaza area of the renovated mall. Like the rest of the Craft Beer Market group, it pairs a long list of Japanese craft beer with food, but here the kitchen has its own identity.

The list leans towards Kansai producers such as Minoh Beer and Kyoto Brewing, alongside Nara and Wakayama micros and the national portfolio. Glasses start at ¥690 and pints at ¥880, so it is easy to work through several beers in one visit.

The kitchen is the most Italian in the CBM network, with wood-fired and pan pizzas, pasta and aperitivo plates, and the branch's own page adds French, Mexican and Japanese touches to the menu. Try an IPA with a Margherita, or share a few small plates over a flight of local beers.

Getting there is easy without surfacing. The bar's page gives about three minutes from Exit 1 of Higashi-Umeda Station on the Tanimachi Line, four minutes from Exit 13 of Umeda Station on the Midosuji Line, and about five minutes from the Midosuji South Exit of JR Osaka Station. It is open daily from 11am to 11pm, closing only on the third Thursday of every other month in line with the mall. There is a ¥300 table charge from 3pm, so lunchtime avoids it, and it makes a useful stop before or after a train out of Umeda.