okonomi-yaki

There is a mall called Shopper's Plaza (but often known as "Daiei") just a block away from the main gate of the naval base, and inside it is a wonderful food court with many varied menu items that are bound to confuse most travelers who cannot read Japanese. On the first floor as you enter, you'll see a Wendy's (pretty standard Wendy's fare if you're interested) and a conveyor belt sushi restaurant that is so-so. Going up the escalator finds you on the 2nd floor, but skip up to the 3rd floor for the food court. There you will find, among other places, a tonkatsu restaurant, a Big Boy (Big Boy!), Ducky Duck, a sit down sushi restaurant, and more.


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The okonomi-yaki restaurant might be a little puzzling to non-Japanese. The tables have flat top grills on the tops that is used to cook your own food. The food itself looks a little bit like a pancake or an omelet, and contains a mixture of cabbage, egg, meat, and batter.

I hadn't visited this place in three years of living out here because I was a little uncertain about the process and how it all worked. However, my wife was initiated into it by a friend and she showed me, and we found it to be very easy with easy to read English menus. The staff was also very helpful and checked up on us from time to time (I had a baby in my lap, so the wife cooked; when she and a friend, both with babies, visited, the staff cooked for them).

I chose pork and cheese, and put a mayonnaise type sauce on the top. The wife chose shrimp and put a barbecue sauce with mayonnaise on top of hers. It looked to me like she had more shrimp than I had pork, which was a shame, because the pork tasted very good.
This is the first flip of our meal. Four minutes left!

Now we add the toppings. BBQ sauce and mayo for the wife, special Japanese mayo sauce for me (near).

Cut into quarters, this is how it looks on my plate. I'm not sure if they have forks, but the chopsticks aren't the easiest way to eat this concoction.

This is a great place to check out for yourself. The staff is very polite and helpful, and won't give you a hard time for not knowing Japanese or how to cook it. We had put too much oil on our flat top and the host came and wiped off the HOT OIL with paper towels, and was very kind about it all, which we thought was extra spectacular.

Give it a shot and cook for yourself!