Okonomiyaki

I apologized for not updating my blog lately, midterms, HSK, friend's birthdays kept me a bit busy.

So Okonomiyaki, the name of this dish really drew my attention, sounded funny and very japanese :P

I went with some friends to Liangmaqiao, another small part of this big city that i haven't explored.
We heard about this place from a japanese friend. It's Tanosouske, a small but cosy place where they are getting famous all over Beijing for doing traditional Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a traditional dish from Kansai and Hiroshima, is a savoury grilled pancake with a different toppings on it. Me and my friends ordered 3 different types of Okonomiyaki.

Kansai style: Also known as Osaka okonomiyaki, this one is the most traditional and predominant version of the dish. They mix eggs, water, grated yam, flour, cabbage and pork; with all these ingredients they make a batter out of it and grilled it. They will top it with some seaweed flakes, bonito flakes (this one i had to google it :P), pickled ginger, mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce. The results are a pancake(looks more like an omelette to me) full of flavor, a bit sweet and savoury at the same time. I think it's an ok dish at least for me, it lacks of texture.

Hiroshima Style: This okonomiyaki is a bit diferrent, although the ingredients are almost the same, the preparation is different. This one is actually the ingredients are layered and not mixed as the Kansai style. So its batter, cabbage, pork and on top of it there's a big fried egg with a lot of okonomiyaki sauce. The interesting thing about this one is that is has a lot more cabbage in it, so it gives it the texture that it was lacking off in the Kansai style.

So this was really a new experience and a good one actually...since my concept of japanese food was smaller than i thought, sushi, tempura and teppanyaki are not the only great foods that Japan can offer us, and Okonomiyaki is a proof of it.