Our first dinner in Kyoto was something I very much anticipated. It was Okonomiyaki お好み焼!! If you don’t know what okonomiyaki is, click here.
Okonomiyaki Kinoya 花の屋 was located directly across from our hotel “Super Hotel” (which was a really good hotel by the way). The prices seemed reasonable and it looked authentic so we decided on this one. There’s actually another okonomiyaki restaurant right beside it but one of the magazine in the hotel recommended this one.
(The picture above is from Kyoto Visitors blog. Click on image to enlarge)
Again, they had the realistic plastic models on display.
It was a pretty small place as you can see, so as you can imagine, it got smoky pretty quickly. The fact that all Japanese people smoked did not help either. Funny thing though, we think we had gotten used to the smoke. Or maybe the Japanese just makes their smoke not as nasty smelling??
My pick was the “東山” (Higashi Yama), which had a mix of beef, pork, and seafood, those being shrimp and squid, which is pretty common in okonomiyaki.
So I honestly didn’t know what the “proper” way to do it was. Fortunately it seems like they’ll do it for you anyways. Basically you mix up all the ingredients in the bowl, mix it well.
Then pour the contents onto the griddle. Shape them into rounds. It is IMPERATIVE in my opinion in order for it to be okonomiyaki 😉 You can also flatten it with your spatula.
Then you wait.
I waited until the lady came and told me to flip it over. From the looks of it it could’ve waited a little longer but who was I to complain huh. Now you cook the other side.
When it’s done, you add your toppings. At this place they provided okonomi-sauce, aonori (green seaweed) and bonito (katsuobushi).
Tada! It had loads of ingredients, not just filled with cabbage. Each bite had a bit of something in it which was fantastic. This was miles better than the Guu version (which I loathe by the way).
All in all a filling and fun dinner!
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