I’d say that one of the non-debatable best foods in Japan is Okonomiyaki. There are two types of Okonomiyaki, Osaka and Hiroshima, but what is Okonomiyaki? Osaka Okonomiyaki is essentially a giant pancake-like creation, held together with egg, and includes your choice of things such as: cheese, tomato, seafood, Kimchi, meats, and anything you could possibly imagine.
Most Okonomiyaki restaurants have small tables, seating 4-6 people, with a giant Hibachi-like grill in the middle. Most of the time you do all of the cooking yourself, but if you are feeling particularly inept or tired, one of the restaurant workers will prepare it for you. You start by mixing your delicious looking batter and scoop it out onto the Hibachi. It’s smoothed out in a circular shape, perhaps about .5 to .75 inches thick.
In theory, when one side is browned you simply flip the delectable treat with the two scrapers provided. The amount of batter depends on the restaurant, but I always think that bigger is better in this case. There is nothing more satisfying than flinging a molten pile of melted cheese, tomato, and seafood into the air with reckless abandon, well besides eating the aforementioned magmatic delicacy. After the batter is browned on both sides, you add a copious amount of Okonomi Sauce (in my case I forgo the brush and just pour from the container), fish flakes (which seem to dance due to the heat), and green onion. I can’t describe what happens after this, because the carnal food satisfaction cannot be appropriately conveyed in any language, but I’m sure you know the feeling. This is a good time to express the importance of Okonomi sauce in my life right now. It is essentially a mix between barbeque sauce and steak sauce, with what I would imagine to be a pinch of some illegal addictive substance. It’s tangy, sweet, potentially spicy, and delicious on everything from rice to eggs.
Hiroshima Okonomiyaki is more like a giant crepe sandwich. You start by pouring the crepe batter onto the grill in two circles, letting it brown, and then putting all of your ingredients on top of one of the crepes. These ingredients are not in the batter, unlike the Osaka counter part, and can also include pretty much anything your heart desires. After placing the other crepe on top of the ingredients the Okonomiyaki is flipped. This is much more difficult to do than with the Osaka variety, because the tasty bits in the middle are completely free to fly across the room if flipped with a lack of or too much confidence. Personally, I don’t think Hiroshima Okonomiyaki holds a candle to the Osaka version, as indicated by this shorter paragraph.
Manja is another food worth mentioning and is best described as a wet Okonomiyaki. The big glob of batter never fully cooks, so it must be scraped into smaller bits and drug across the Hibachi. This is accomplished with small scrapers that are also used like spoons, essentially small Okonomiyaki scrapers. It’s an acquired taste, because many just can’t grasp the concept or gain appreciation for a runny pancake. I think it’s actually the coolest of the three to eat, but once again Osaka Okonomiyaki wins for taste.
So there you have it, a short description of what could easily be the most satisfying food in Japan. The best part about this dish is that essentially anything can be thrown into the simple batter, so there are plenty of options for making Okonomiyaki in America. If your personal hibachi happens to be broken or nonexistent (I’m imagining the latter) then a griddle or even a fry pan should work perfectly. Please consider the following video to avoid heartbreaking disaster, because nobody besides the dog likes floor pancakes.
Note: I failed to mention the delicious mayonnaise that adorns many foods in Japan. It’s an integral part of Okonomiyaki and is completely different from the culinary disappointment that is Hellmanns. After tasting Japanese Mayo, you’ll never go back (snicker if you will).