The Champion of Okonomiyaki
Published: December 26, 2019
Okonomiyaki—street food, pub food, and quintessential Japanese comfort food—is a savoury pancake loved around (and beyond) the country. It’s a great dish for the cold months since it’s usually cooked piping hot right in front of you on a built-in iron hot plate, and an excellent choice if you’re looking to dine in a group.
A great izakaya/teppanyaki/okonomiyaki restaurant to try visiting in Tokyo is Godaime Mariko-ya, located right by Ojima Station. Despite changing owners five times, this cozy second-floor restaurant has been in operation since 1980, and its interior has kept that warm, nostalgic atmosphere reminiscent of the Showa era.
Godaime Mariko-ya is small—16 tatami seats located around four tables outfitted with iron plates. This allows the owner to oversee everything easily and attend to every table, where he grills each okonomiyaki order himself.
“It’s quite a bit of work and can get pretty hectic, but I have a particular way of cooking okonomiyaki to perfection and I want every customer to be able to experience it.” It happens that sometimes customers have to wait a bit for the owner to come around, but no one minds much since there are plenty of drinks and side dishes on the menu to be enjoyed while they wait.
Some of the popular side orders include onions pickled with shiso (perilla), which is a tangy and refreshing starter, and crab tofu, a rich and smooth delicacy.
They pair great with the long list of affordable drinks available, ranging from the always-popular draft beer to various sake and wine. “A lot of my regulars come here to enjoy a glass with their buddies,” the owner remarked jovially. “They’ll spend the night away eating and drinking and making conversation. It’s really nice to see.”
But the star of the restaurant is without a doubt the okonomiyaki. There are many variations for both the filling and toppings listed on the menu, and part of the fun is customizing your experience. For first-timers, however, the “Godaime-ten” special is a great place to start. Its fillings feature shrimp taken in fresh from Toyosu Market, sushi-grade scallop, domestic brand pork, fresh eggs delivered straight from the farm, and “tenkasu”—a topping made of fried batter—sent from a Japanese restaurant that’s been in operation since 1899.
The owner’s insistence on using such star-studded high-quality ingredients mean that the cost is a little higher than normal—1490 yen for an okonomiyaki definitely falls on the more expensive side—but the end result is well worth it.
The owner showed us how he makes the okonomiyaki on the spot. Spreading the mixed batter out on the pre-heated iron plate dolloped with oil sent an amazing mix of delicious aroma into the air, making everyone feel very hungry.
Using just enough batter to coat the ingredients is another particular trait of Mariko-ya’s okonomiyaki. This ensures the fillings don’t get swallowed up by layers of flour.
In addition, the ingredients themselves are cut into large chunks to ensure their taste and texture is not lost or blended into an indistinguishable mix during cooking.
After what seemed to be an interminable amount of time, the okonomiyaki was finally nearing completion and…
Look at this beauty!
The final touch is made using okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise. You can choose from 3 different sauces (a soy sauce blend, an original blend, and a spicy blend) and 2 different mayonnaises (regular or spicy mustard) for a total of 6 different flavour combinations. You also, of course, opt for no extra toppings.
“Do you want to try a bunch of different combinations?” the owner asked. He then layered the sauces so that we got four different combination of tastes (soy sauce x regular mayo, soy sauce x spicy mayo, original sauce x spicy mayo and original sauce x regular mayo)!
While the spicy sauce combined with spicy mayonnaise is probably best left off of children’s plates, those who like their food with a bit of a kick will definitely enjoy it. My favourite was the soy sauce blend with the spicy mayo, which I thought went really well together.
This harmonious blend of sauce and batter, fragrant tenkasu, juicy chunks of pork, seafood and crunchy vegetables, was a real treat. Japan is home to a lot of great okonomiyaki restaurants, but Mariko-ya’s definitely belongs in the top tier!
Before leaving, we asked the owner how he arrived at the recipe for this okonomiyaki. Had he always wanted to be a cook?
“Not at all! When this place opened in 1980, the first owner kept the place going for a good long time, but it didn’t do so well after changing hands,” he explained. After passing from one hand to another, the fourth owner was just about to call it quits when the current owner stepped in.
“I was a boxer until then. I even took the Japanese Championship Title in the Amateur Division at one point. My friend was the one who brought me to here for dinner. The food wasn’t great but it was affordable and there was a good drink selection. I found it endearing. I was actually about to head off to Hawaii for the next phase of my career, but the fourth owner said he was looking for someone to take over, and it had to be now or never. He said he’d leave me everything—equipment, furniture, all of it—so I decided to take a plunge.”
And with a fighter’s spirit, he decided that if something was to be done, it had to be done right, and worked hard on upgrading the food. Now, after years of trial and error to make the best okonomiyaki possible, Godaime Mariko-ya is now a name spoken enthusiastically among okonomiyaki fans, who recognize that the work and love that went into creating these pancakes make them truly a knock-out.
Story by Xianru Shen（Koto City Office Coordinator for International Relations）
