Osaka’s famous takoyaki. Part 1 : eating…

That’s crazy I could run a blog called “gourmande in Osaka” during so long without mentioning them. And not get arrested…
So, yes, this is the specialty of this huge city of foodies. Ugly small balls.

Try them 3 times. The first, that’s weird, too unexpected. The second, taste is still uneasy. Third time, you’re getting addicted…

We don’t eat that for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Only for other meals. Like… when you walk in the street. It’s the biggest sign of vulgarity and dirty manners to eat in the street in Japan. Except for takoyaki you get from yatai street stands. They are also proposed at all the festivals in Japan, yearlong, but particularly in Summer.

They are invariably containing bits of tako (octopus), hence the name. The ginger and negi leek are classic too. The bits are small, not overwhelming. Don’t let that deter you. So if you roughly like seafood, you’ll like them.

They are cooked in those iron plates with half-sphere holes. See the recipe soon here (from tomorrow).

You buy them by 6, 10, 12… depending on the shop. They put them in a box and make them totally un-dietetic at your taste.

1-they paint them with shoyu (thickened soy sauce) or soosu (thickened Worcester sauce).
2-they add aonori seaweed, katsuobushi fish flakes.
3-then mayonnaise

You can skip all these… if you are able to explain that in Japanese or in sign language. Not too hard.
In Summer, they also propose ponzu sauce (soy sauce with citrus flavor). Some shops have many variations.

These on the photo are mines, the shoyu is not thickened (same for the taste, but you can’t see it), I used thicker fish flakes I had at home. And I replaced the mayo by home-made white salad sauce (soy milk + mustard), you hardly see it.

A toothpick to eat them hot, standing in the street. You can’t go far. They are not good cooled down, not good re-heated.

This one is how I like it. Most Japanese would find it overcooked. That’s how I like them. I always go to buy those that been cooking for a while on the stand and when they propose to make fresh ones, I refuse.