Okonomiyaki-Savory pancakes served with unique sweet & salty sauce

Okonomiyaki in Kansai style and Hiroshima style

Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake and is made with vegetables, meat, seafood, and other ingredients, cooked on a griddle with flour-based batter and served with special sauce. While Kansai-style okonomiyaki is prepared by pre-mixing the ingredients and batter together before cooking, Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is made by cooking the batter and ingredients in layers without mixing them on the griddle. Besides these two popular versions, similar dishes are found in other areas throughout the country.

Cook by yourself, or have someone cook

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is difficult to cook because it is generally made by layering a heap of chopped cabbage and noodles other ingredients on the pancake. Therefore, at most Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurants, cooks prepare the pancake for customers. On the other hand, Kansai-style okonomiyaki and Tokyo-style monjayaki are cooked by mixing all ingredients together. Therefore, many restaurants serving them often ask customers to cook their own foods on the griddle at the table. You are of course welcome to try making this popular Japanese food by yourself as part of your experience of Japanese culture. However, if you don't feel comfortable cooking by yourself, ask servers if they can prepare the dish for you instead.

Takoyaki: Osaka's everyday snack

Takoyaki is a ball-shaped pancake that is believed to have originated in Osaka.Each ball is about 3 to 5 cm in diameter and contains a piece of octopus meat in its center. Other common ingredients used for takoyaki are tenkasu (tempura crumbs), negi onion, and benishoga (red pickled ginger). Ideal takoyaki has a lightly-crusty outer surface with inside that is soft and runny like monjayaki.
Takoyaki is usually topped with sweet and salty sauce and is sprinkled with aonori (green seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). Some people like to add mayonnaise on it.

Monjayaki: A popular snack from old downtown Tokyo

As a variant of okonomiyaki, monjayaki is very popular in Tokyo. Monjayaki batter is thinner than that of okonomiyaki and is seasoned with sauce or shoyu before cooking. Monjayaki was once sold at dagashiya (old-fashioned candy store) and was a popular snack for children in the shitamachi area (old downtown) of Tokyo. Today, monjayaki is served at specialty restaurants, many of which also serve okonomiyaki as well.