Kannichikan - Cheap Korean lunch buffet in Osaka!

I watched a lot of videos recently about cheap Korean buffets in Korea, where you can basically have a decent and healthy meal with a decent amount of choice in Korea. They're all usually pretty simple dishes, nothing fancy - but Korean staples.

I didn't think they would have something like this here in Osaka, but apparently they do.

And it's apparently rather famous?

After all, BTS seemed to have visited this place before. And many other celebrities as well.

Kannichikan serves a lunch buffet from opening until 14:30PM, at a cost of 1400 yen. Which you are probably thinking: "well, that's not cheap at all... in Korea, the cost is half that!"

Well, yes... but in Japan, foreign foods often have a premium price attached to it, so I would still say it's a decent price. Plus it's smack in the middle of Nipponbashi, a heavy traffic tourist area. So there's that too.

The interior of the restaurant is quite huge, and by the time I arrived - which was 15 minutes or so after opening - the place was already quite packed of Sunday folks trying to enjoy this cheap buffet too. As I was alone, I was sharing a table with a pair of ladies sitting at the other end of the table. So yes, you may need to share a table if you are a small party coming here.

I think you can make a reservation, but I heard that if you have a reservation, you cannot partake in the lunch buffet.

With the lunch buffet, you have an option to add a soup bowl (like a sundubu) for an additional cost. I opted out of this, which turned out to be a good idea as the buffet itself was already good enough for me.

I do have to say the options aren't huge. There a lot of small dishes and pickled veggies (banchan) in the buffet, the steamed egg, two or three meat dishes and toppokki. You can also build your own bibimbap, which is ok I guess.

The buffet could use some light soups, and some desserts would have been nice?

My tablemates wanted some corn tea instead of just plain water, which I thought was a legit comment. It would have been nice too.

But for the price I'm paying, I suppose it scratches a Korean food itch and while the food wasn't GREAT (I feel like I could make a better toppokki lol), it's fine. It fits the Japanese palate overall - not too spicy, has bibimbap (idk why Japanese people are so obsessed with bibimbap), and it's a good sort of intro to Korean food. Plus, it's filling. So there's that.

The star of the buffet was this fried chicken though.

It's not spicy at all, but it was very crispy and fresh. Definitely something I would come back for.

Have you been here before? What are your thoughts?