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Food ReviewsJapanTravel

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

by kumamonjeng March 7, 2019
written by kumamonjeng March 7, 2019
Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Okonomi お好み means “what you like”
Yaki焼き means “grilled”
To combine the two means “grilled what you like”. This means that whatever you wish to have in it you can and put them to grill or cook with the flour. The flour is the key here.

Kansai Top Food

Okonomiyaki is the top food in the Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara & Kobe area is called Kansai )and if you are traveling to Japan, you should try out Okonomiyaki.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Okonomiyaki is not an omelette

Okonomiyaki looks like an omelette but it does not taste like one.  The ingredients are pretty simple and versatile, just add in anything you like and mixed with flour.  The common ingredients are cabbage, seafood, bacon, pork, chicken, cheese, etc and mixed them with flour.

 

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Okonomiyaki is not a pancake

Many people call Okonomiyaki pancake but it is not sweet at all.  It is not a dessert.  Okonomiyaki is a meal to make you full.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Cook It yourself Dish

Okonomiyaki usually serves in a specialized restaurant and you will be seated with the dining table that is equipped with an iron griddle (“teppan”). Some restaurants will provide the ingredients and customer to cook the meal themselves.  Some will help you cook.  It depends.

It is quite fun to cook the okonomiyaki yourself.  Check out the steps as follow:

  1. You will be given with a bowl full of fresh uncooked ingredients.
  2. Mixed all the ingredients in the bowl together with the flour.
  3. Pour the mixture onto the “teppan” /the hot plate on the table and make sure the heat is strong enough.
  4. After one side is cooked, try turning to the other side by using the metal spatulas.  This can be quite hard as you may destroy the beautiful artwork when turning.
  5. When the okonomiyaki is almost cooked, brush the brown okonomiyaki sauce on top.
  6. Then squeeze some mayonnaise zig-zagging or any pattern you like.  Some people draw pictures with the mayonnaise sauce.  Do what you like.
  7. Top it with bonito flakes.  You will notice the bonito flakes moving because of the heat.
  8. Sprinkle with aonori /a dried seaweed
  9. Use the metal spatulas to cut the okonomiyaki into the portion you want
  10. Enjoy your okonomiyaki.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Osaka vs Hiroshima Okonomiyaki

When you are in Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara & Kobe) you have to try Okonomiyaki as it is the top food here. In Hiroshima, they have their own version of Okonomiyaki too. The difference is the Hiroshima-style always includes noodles (either yakisoba or udon) and a fried egg in the okonomiyaki.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Okonomiyaki History

Okonomiyaki gets popular during the war when rice became scarce and people had to be creative in using other more readily available ingredients such as flour.  They would mix everything together and pan-fried with flour.  Of course, people eat it with all sort of vegetables during the war when meat is not available.  Now all sort of fancy stuff is added in, such as bacon, sausages, meat, seafood etc.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Okonomiyaki is cheap

The total bill for this meal cost 1695yen (USD 15.20) which include two okonomiyaki and kyoza (Japanese dumpling) set and rice. This is two orders (2 sets menu) for three people.  It comes with rice and miso soup and salad.  We could not even finish the rice provided.  If you split the bill, one person only cost USD5.00 to have a meal, very cheap.

Spotted a palmistry machine on the table, you only need 100 yen (USD 0.90) to know your fate.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Parking is free

The good thing about the family restaurant in Japan is parking is always free and plenty of parking lots in front of the restaurant.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

Final thoughts:

If you are traveling to Osaka (Kansai Region) and Hiroshima, Okonomiyaki is one of the top food you need to try here. Drive into any one of the Okonomiyaki restaurants you encounter along your way, it is super cheap and delicious, parking is free too. Most importantly you will have so much fun playing with your food as it is DIY, cook it yourself at the teppan hot plate table. Kids will enjoy this experience I can assure you that.

Kansai Top Food: Okonomiyaki Review お好み焼き- Grilled as you like

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fortune teller machineHiroshima okonomiyakiJapan expertkansai okonomiyakiKansai Self driveKansai Top FoodOkonomiyaki historyokonomiyaki ingredientOkonomiyaki is not a pancakeOkonomiyaki is not an omeletOkonomiyaki ReviewOmelettepalmistry machineself drive Japanteppan hot plateお好み焼き
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8 comments

The J Teem March 8, 2019 - 2:14 am

This sounds and looks delicious! If I ever find myself in the area I will be sure to try one of the restaurants!

Reply
Jeremy Life March 8, 2019 - 7:01 am

I love Okonomiyaki. Sometimes, I’ve made it my style. I prefer to eat it from Hiroshima. It is based on noodle. You should try it later, it would be so yummy.

Reply
crisshex88 March 8, 2019 - 10:22 am

All restaurants to try at least once and then I adore going in search of always new places to eat!

Reply
Tasheeni March 9, 2019 - 4:11 am

This sounds delish! I’ll definitely have to try this place out!

Reply
Alexithymia_Shubhi March 9, 2019 - 1:26 pm

I have come across for the first time to this type of unique restaurant. Must be fun to prepare okonomiyaki.

Reply
lattelindsay March 9, 2019 - 10:07 pm

This place looks so fun and the food looks amazing. I’d love to try this place out for dinner if I ever end up travelling to the area.

Reply
Xavier Young March 11, 2019 - 12:44 pm

The dishes look amazing. I definitely have to visit one day!

Reply
Waren Jean Go March 11, 2019 - 2:27 pm

Japanese cuisine amaze me. It’s complexity is what makes it great. If you watched the series Final Table, the Japan episode is my favorite.

Reply

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I am the travel writer for Thinkerten. I lived in Japan, Australia, Malaysia and now based in Singapore. Speak 4 languages, Japanese, English, Malay, and Chinese. There are the many types of travels one can experience and mine are mostly focus on self-driving/road trip to explore the places I wanted to see and learn about. Only if you get out of your country, you will see the real you and understand more about yourself, to realize of your own identity, your own culture, and your root.

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