Okonomiyaki are savory Japanese pancakes filled with meat, seafood and vegetables. They can be topped with mayonnaise, katsuobushi, nori, ginger pickles and a sauce similar to tonkatsu sauce.
Okonomiyaki are the pride of Osaka. Any self respecting tourist in Osaka heads straight for Dotonbori street for okonomiyaki. Osaka people will tell you that Okonomiyaki elsewhere in Japan aren't worth your time.
Osaka okonomiyaki are considered the standard. If you've tried okonomiyaki outside Japan, it was probably Osaka style. Other okonomiyaki variations include:
1. Hiroshima Okonomiyaki
Hiroshima is also well known for Okonomiyaki. Hiroshima Okonomiyaki are layered instead of mixed. They are considerably more difficult to prepare.
2. Monjayaki
Tokyo and Osaka are locked in an intense rivalry. Naturally, Tokyo has to have its own savory pancake.
Monjayaki are similar to okonomiyaki but have a runny batter. The result is a crunchy pancake with a texture like burnt cheese. Monjayaki restaurants aren't too common. They are mostly found in the Tsukishima area of Tokyo.
Where Okonomiyaki are individual pancakes for one person, Monjayaki is prepared as one giant pancake for a table.
3. Negiyaki
A thin pancake filled with negi(leeks).
4. Modanyaki
Mondanyaki is an okonomiyaki with a bottom layer of fried noodles (yakisoba or yakiudon).
5. Hirayachi
In Okinawa, okonomiyaki are called Hirayachi. Hirayachi are thinner and prepared at home. It's not typically a restaurant food.
6. Okonomiyaki Matsuri
Okonomiyaki are a popular matsuri food. At matsuri(festivals), okonomiyaki are usually filled with unhealthy stuff like thick cut bacon.
Mottainai Pancakes
Mottainai is an expression of regret at wasting something. Traditionally, the Japanese dislike wasting things.
Okonomiyaki evolved as a way to use up leftovers. Left over chicken in the fridge? Throw it in an okonomiyaki.
Okonomiyaki Freedom
Restaurants in Japan aren't big on custom orders. If you request to customize something on the menu you might be rejected. Even subtractions are commonly refused.
Okonomiyaki are different. Any good okonomiyaki restaurant allows you to build your own pancake from a list of ingredients.
In many cases, you can even cook your own pancake as you like it using a grill in your table. At very least, you should be able to watch the chef. Okonomiyaki restaurants typically have a viewable kitchen.
Okonomiyaki Sauce
Japan loves Worcestershire sauce.
Okonomiyaki sauce is one of many Japanese sauces that is essentially a thick, sweet, worcestershire sauce. For example, tonkatsu sauce and takoyaki sauce are similar to okonomiyaki sauce.
Sauce is the one thing that Okonomiyaki restaurants outside Japan sometimes get tragically wrong. Making your own okonomiyaki sauce isn't easy. The factory stuff is best. Worcestershire and ketchup doesn't work.
Bizengaust is a Russian-American lady who teaches English in Kyoto Japan and dreams of one day having her own tanuki army.
