It's well past midnight on a frigid winter's evening and the back streets are emptying fast in Namba, Osaka's effervescent, neon-lit entertainment district. But behind the unprepossessing door of Teppanyaro, the party is only just getting going.

Flagons of chilled lager are quaffed and replenished, while food is ferried straight from the plancha grill to the tables: doteyaki, beef tendon simmered down in white miso; plates of spicy mentaiko yakisoba (fried noodles with spicy cod roe); and the house special, tonpei-yaki, a beguiling roll of fatty pork cocooned inside a pancake-thin omelet crosshatched with Kewpie mayonnaise. This is Kansai fare at its no-frills finest and it's going down a treat.

And there in the middle, waving his arms to a Japanese cover version of the well-worn disco tune "YMCA," is American writer, publisher and inveterate Japanophile Matt Goulding, the man behind the essential food-and-travel book "Rice, Noodle, Fish." Far more than just a guide book or foodie bible, his work is a brilliant love letter to the country's food culture, both high and low, introducing it in a way that none have done before. It's been a year since he was last in town and he's making up for lost time.