Hawaii Food Adventures #1: A Tale of Two Okonomiyaki

Hi, I'm Saru, and welcome to my Hawaii food adventures! This is the first chapter in what I hope to be a weekly series. Today's adventure is a review of the two okonomiyaki I ate last week. However, before venturing any further I suppose it would be helpful if you knew a little about me first. I am a Japanese-American originally from Los Angeles, lived in San Francisco for six years, and relocated to Hawaii around six months ago to be with my girlfriend of seven years; I am fascinated by cryptocurrencies, which is why my girlfriend introduced me to steemit; and like most people, I love food. With that out of the way, on to the adventure!

Last Wednesday, while shopping at the Ala Moana Center with the girlfriend, I felt like eating Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. For those who are unfamiliar with it, there are two types of okonomiyaki: Hiroshima-style and Osaka-style. I will only be focusing on Hiroshima-style. Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki is a crepe-like pancake layered with cabbage, thinly sliced pork, noodles, and a fried egg on top with okonomiyaki sauce poured over it. There are many variations, but this is the base recipe for which I was craving.

To acquire this delectable dish my girlfriend and I went down to the ground level of the shopping center where Shirokiya Japan Village Walk can be found. Shirokiya houses many takeout restaurants, most of which specialize in various Japanese cuisine. (Although, it certainly feels like the majority have ramen as at least one of their offerings.)

Just one of the many entrances to the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk.

One of the seating areas. The flowers overhead are pleasant.

There are multiple aisles with food shops on either side.

Another seating area. You can also buy beer at Shirokiya.

On that particular Wednesday, the variety of food mattered little to me. I was a man on a mission. I was in search of Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. Now, this was where things grew awkward. There were two restaurants with Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki on their menus. I was familiar with one – Yama-chan – in the past they had been my go-to restaurant for okonomiyaki, but then there was also the other – Tokugawa – a restaurant that I had been wanting to try because okonomiyaki was one of their specialties.

Would I be happier with the okonomiyaki with which I was familiar, or was I feeling more adventurous and wanton of something new? The answer was, “Yes!” Why choose one when I could choose both? I ordered one from each restaurant, knowing full well that my girlfriend would only eat a bite of each. I was excited for my future. The first one to be ready was from Tokugawa.

Tokugawa storefront.

Tokugawa's Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. $8.90USD including tax.

Cross-section view.

The presentation of Tokugawa's okonomiyaki was very aesthetically pleasing. In my opinion my photography skills do not do the dish justice. I was immediately pleased by the fact it was served on a cast iron skillet. Also, at pickup I was given the option of mayonnaise. I requested, “Just a little bit,” which was exactly what I got. At this point I was starving and, despite my desire to perform a side-by-side comparison, I made the executive decision that the initial reactions must be made while the dish was still piping hot.

Upon first bite I was very happy. The composition of Tokugawa's okonomiyaki seemed to be pancake, cabbage, pork, noodles, fried egg, okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and aonori (dried seaweed). It was a little more basic than I would have liked, but overall it was decently balanced. I would have liked some beansprouts, some bonito flakes, maybe some green onion, and just a little bit more pork. For $8.90USD including tax it seemed more than fair. About halfway through, the okonomiyaki from Yama-chan was ready for pickup.

Yama-chan's storefront.

Yama-chan's Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. $10.05USD including tax.

Cross-section view.

Admittedly, when I arrived to pick up my order from Yama-chan, I was slightly disappointed because I had forgotten that they did not have dine-in options for their dishes, meaning that it would be served in a less visually-pleasing container. Also, they did not offer me any options on the amount of mayonnaise that I desired. Regardless, I ran back to the table where my girlfriend was waiting. I immediately opened the container and took pictures. It was not pretty, but it looked promising; it had bonito flakes.

The first bite had a lot of everything. Almost every aspect about it was more substantial than the okonomiyaki from Tokugawa; almost everything. The pancake was slightly thicker, there was more cabbage, the pork was slightly thicker cut, there were more noodles, there was more egg, but... but there wasn't enough sauce. This rendered the entirety of the dish somewhat dry. It could have been easily remedied by simply returning to the restaurant and asking for more sauce, but unfortunately I didn't think of it at the time and I let it affect my experience. On the other hand, I was pleased by the layers of tempura bits and beansprouts in the middle. Yama-chan's was a little more expensive costing $10.05USD including tax, but I think the additional ingredients warrant the price difference.

The saddest part of the meal :(

In the end I ate both okonomiyaki completely, but which one was better? Tokugawa offered a nice presentation with their cast iron skillet and mayonnaise striations. The balance found in their dish was also well-received. Yama-chan, on the other hand, had a somewhat unattractive presentation, but offered a more substantial quantity for the cost. Yama-chan also had additional ingredients, which the other lacked.

The decision was difficult, but the better of the two is probably Tokugawa's. If I had gone back to Yama-chan and simply asked for more sauce, this might be a different story. But I did not. This is not to say that Yama-chan's offering was bad. On that day it just so happened to work out in favor of Tokugawa, but on another day, Yama-chan might be more satisfying. Either way, I got to eat two different okonomiyaki and I was happy. If ever given the opportunity I hope you will try Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki too. Outside of Japan, where have you had good Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki experiences?