The Nippon Series: Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki!

Kuidaore is a Japanese word meaning to "ruin oneself by extravagance in food".

Food associated with kuidaore in Osaka are Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, and Kitsune udon. Two of them happen to be on my list of faves and so began their search!

Thanks to Google, I found out about Fugetsu - a restaurant that specialises in Okonomiyaki.

Fugetsu @ Tempozan Marketplace.

For the uninitiated, Okonomiyaki is a Japanese style pancake with vegetables, meat, and/or seafood blended in a batter.

At Fugetsu, they cook the Okonomiyaki on a hotplate right in front of you at your table.

Hotplate at the table.

You can choose from a range of toppings, from beef tendon and shrimp to squid and kimchi. It was a tough choice, but pork was the final decision.

If you've had okonomiyaki in KL, you're probably used to having them filled with mostly batter and hardly any other ingredients. The one at Fugetsu was the exact opposite of that. It came with hardly any batter, and a whole load of cabbage, pork and egg.

Okonomiyaki in the making - with heaps of cabbage, pork and egg.

It took a good 20 minutes if not more for it to cook, and by the time it was ready, it looked perfect with the sweet sauce and mayonnaise to top it off. It tasted wonderful. Now, where can I find Okonomiyaki in KL that remotely resembles this?

They also do pretty decent Yakisoba, which is cooked in the kitchen and served onto the hotplate.

Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki.

Where:

Fugetsu 

They're a chain with restaurants across Japan but the one I went to was at Tempozan Marketplace in Osaka.

Now, on to Takoyaki. I'd heard there are heaps of stores to choose from at Dotonbori so I gave Creo-ru a try. DO NOT GO THERE. The filling, which consisted mostly batter, was uncooked - which one can tell by the deflating ball as they try to pick it up, and there was a sorry size of an octopus bit inside. Such a disappointment.

Good thing I'd already had some pretty epic Takoyaki in Kyoto.

Gindaco @ Porta.

Stumbled upon Gindaco and am really glad as they were the best Takoyaki I've had. The chefs put such effort into those wonderful octopus balls, it's no wonder there's always a line of people waiting to get their share.

Takoyaki from Gindaco, Yummy!

Crisp on the outside and filled with cabbage, bits of pickled ginger, green onions and a big fat piece of octopus. Deliciousness packed in a ball.

Where:
Gindaco @ Porta near Kyoto Station