Set smack in the middle of downtown Osaka, a stone’s throw away from the Tsutenkaku tower, the Pax hostel shares a building with a café specialising in Vietnamese-style bánh mì sandwiches. The artsy hostel has separate dormitories for men and women, plus a variety of single rooms with space for one to four guests, while the café welcomes walk-ins and even has a little playground slide to keep the young ’uns happy.
As for the bánh mì (from ¥700), there’s no pretension to authenticity here: they use red baguettes that get their bright colour from beetroot extract, while condiments include specialities such as chilli mayo. It’s a hodgepodge of influences and cooking styles that somehow results in deliciously spicy sarnies. These can be washed down with a cup of coffee from the in-house roastery or some homemade ginger soda (¥550) seasoned with black pepper and cloves.