This is just a short post but I want to update as much as possible!
On the 10th day Amy and I went to Shibuya, Asakusa and the Skytree with Eri - our penpal which I covered in a previous post (I still plan to upload some photos of the view from the skytree soon!).
On the 11th day there was a WIC event where we could choose one of four tours to Akihabara, Ueno, Asakusa and Tokyo Tower. We decided to go to on the Tokyo Tower tour as we went to Asakusa the day before and felt like the other two places would be best explored seperately. Also on the Tokyo Tower tour we had the opportunity to try Monja and Okonomiyaki.
First we all went to have Monja and Okonomiyaki for lunch.
The seats in the restaurant had a lid which you could open up and put your bag into which was really useful!
This is what our table looked like. It has a huge hotplate where you cook your own Monja and Okonomiyaki. We all had our own plates that came with baby spatulas! There were two full sized spatulas to mix, spread and flip the food with.
We ordered two Monja and two Okonomiyaki - the place we went to was famous for Monja restaurants. I had never tried it before so I was looking forward to trying something new!
There were 4 of us at our table so we each chose one to share.
The first one was Amy's choice of Mentaiko (fish roe), cheese and mochi - this was the most popular dish on the menu so obviously a good choice!
For the first one we had help from the waiter to cook the Monja.
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| First the waiter added oil to the hot plate |
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| Then he added the dry Monja ingredients to the hotplate |
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| Next he mixed the ingredients all together and made a space in the middle. |
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| Then he poured the wet ingredients into the center and let it cook off for a bit. |
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| After the wet ingredients had thickened a bit it was all mixed together. |
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The mix was then spread out and the waiter sprinkled seaweed on top.
Still cooking!
After the Monja had some time to cook we tucked in! We used the little spatulas we each had to scoop and scrape the gooey Monja up. The Mochi pieces in this were really nice! In fact the whole thing was really tasty! It may look a little like second-hand food but I really recommend trying it!! Near the end the bottom started to get all brown and chewy ~ so good!
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This was the one I selected - it was a curry, mochi (chewy rice cake), cheese and Baby Star (dried noodle-
like snack) Monja.
After the first one we knew how to make it so we all took over cooking the food!
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| The first Okonoiyaki - with pork!!! |
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| Prawn Okonomiyaki!! |
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| The Okonomiyaki batter is much thicker than the Monja - much like pancake batter |
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| Much thicker than the Monja! |
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| Amy flipping the Okonomiyaki! |
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| Pouring the sauce on the Okonomiyaki! |
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| Takaaki and Manon concentrating on adding the mayonaise |
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| ~Adding the final touches~ |
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| A piece of the finished Okonomiyaki!
It was really good trying Monja and Okonomiyaki. I think I had tried some Okonomiyaki before in England but of course nothing can beat eating something in its home country!
I really liked the Monja the bits at the bottom and the Mochi pieces were the best!
The food was really good and I have really been enjoying the chance to make friends with Japanese students. The WIC group members have always been so nice and fun to talk to.
After our meal we went to the Tokyo Tower which I will make sure to cover in the next post!
So long for now! |
That looks like LOADS of fun. I want to try it! Helen xxx
ReplyDeleteYeah you should! I know there are some places where you can eat okonomiyaki in London but its pretty expensive. As for monja, I'm not sure if there is anywhere that sells it in England! xxx
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