Our second night in Tokyo was a new delicious experience for me. We met up with an old work friend of A's, her husband and two small children. We went to this very charming little restaurant in the back streets of Shibuya.
The restaurant specializes in teppanyaki/okonomiyaki/monja. Inside the restaurant, we were taken to our private tatami room and seated at a knee height table with a large open grill in the middle. The idea is that you order your food and cook it yourself on the grill.
We started off with some appetizers, including a melt in your mouth Tuna Steak (まぐろ) with Avocado, Wasabi, and Lime. We threw the tuna on the grill for only a few seconds to lightly grill it (keeping it at a blue rare), dipped it in soy sauce and wasabi, and combined it with a piece of Avocado!
Next up we had Okonomiyaki. Which is kind of like a giant savory pancake topped with sauce, seaweed flakes, and fish flakes.
[Okonomiyaki - Before]
[Okonomiyaki - Cooking]
[Okonomiyaki - Ready to Eat!]
Up next, we had Monja. It was my first time to hear of or taste Monja. It was very interesting and quite tasty. Monja is similar to Okonomiyaki, except the batter is less thick. The first Monja we had was flavoured with Cheese, Curry, and Mochi.
[Monja - Before]
The first step is to grill the meat and chop it into smaller pieces.
2. Scoop out all of the veggies onto the grill ... keeping the thin batter in the mixing dish.
4. Make a hole in the middle of the cooked veggie mixture.
5. Slowly pour bits of the batter into the hole. Stirring it on the bottom occasionally . There should be about half of the liquid batter remaining in the mixing dish.
7. Put the rest of the liquid on top of the cooking Monja. It will overflow. Spread it all out on the grill.
8. Monja is now ready to eat. It looks like vomit...but it's not vomit...it's really yummy!
9. Scrape the Monja off the grill using this mini metal spatula and enjoy!
[Monja Time]
[Exit of Monja House]
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