Okonomiyaki Ya Restaurants in Japan

Okonomiyaki-ya Restaurants in Japan are one of the popular restaurants which specialize in serving okonomiyaki dishes. The Japanese as well as the tourists visiting Japan enjoy eating out in Japanese okonomiyaki-ya restaurants. There are about 13000 okonomiyaki-ya restaurants across the country, and that will give you some idea about how popular these specialty restaurants are in Japan. Read on with AsiaRooms.com to know more about Japan's okonomiyaki-ya restaurants.

Literally, the word `Okonomiyaki' means: 'cook what you like'. That's precisely what okonomiyaki is all about. It's more like a Japanese pancake. Hiroshima and Osaka are well-known for their distinctive okonomiyaki preparation styles.

" The Hiroshima-style: The ingredients used in the Hiroshima okonomiyaki include yakisoba noodles, chopped cabbages, and eggs etc. The difference from the Osaka dish is the ingredients are separately fried and are later put together. The cabbage is cooked with thin spread of a semi-liquid mixture of Japanese flour, bonito stock and dashi; the noodles fill the central layer and the egg is spread over the pancake.

" The Osaka -style: Here, the ingredients like teriyaki chicken, squid legs, dried fish, mochi, codfish roe, natto and scallions are cooked altogether and the egg is mixed right in. This dish is comparatively easier to cook and is ideal for beginners.

Okonomiyaki is probably the easiest possible thing to cook at home. Besides the basic ingredients, cook it with anything that you can lay your hands upon in your kitchen. Many seem to like the version cooked with pork and kimchi. The dish is also enriched with the tastes of sliced pork, corn, tempura crumbs, red ginger, bean sprouts, Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup and mayonnaise. Okonomiyaki is a dish which is sticky yet crispy, sweet and mushy dish.

The Japanese often say, if you just `ate' okonomiyaki, you had missed the trickiest part of the thing! Want to find out why? Walk into the okonomiyaki-ya restaurants of Japan, find a comfortable corner at the restaurant and sit around a table with teppan hotplates placed on them. Once you've place your order, the waiter/waitress will come up with a bowl full of ingredients. At hat point, you are expected to cook okonomiyaki for yourself. If you're stuck, the waiters are ready to help you. That's it! You're all set to enjoy the delectable okonomiyaki cuisine with your family members, friends, near and dear ones (and lots of beer, of course!).

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