#4: Osaka and Hiroshima, Japan
Sometimes called the "Japanese pancake" and at other times called the "Japanese omelette," okonomiyaki's flat shape and assorted ingredients have also earned it the nickname, "Japanese pizza." Even the phrase okonomiyaki loosely translates to "cooked as you want it," which sounds a little like what makes pizza so special in the first place. But what exactly is okonomiyaki? At its base is batter (made from flour, eggs, water, cabbage and cooking stock) paired with your desired combination of cheese, vegetables, fish and meat. In the city of Osaka, where the most popular version of the dish originated, all the ingredients are cooked together (by grilling on both sides) before the pizza is topped with a sweet brown sauce, mayonnaise, katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and aonori (seaweed flakes). If you're dining in Hiroshima, the cook will fix your okonomiyaki batter first before layering on the other fixings.
Where to Taste: Several Japanese eateries earn a shout-out for their "Japanese pizza." Osaka's Mangetsu restaurant serves an okonomiyaki original sauce that "tingles and tantalizes your taste buds to the point you can't stop eating the food that's covered in it," according to a satiated Virtual Tourist. And foodies across the web recommend Hassho, a Japanese chain scattered through Hiroshima Prefecture, for the best sampling of that city's style of the dish.
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Reputation bullshite for Tsuru....
