Takoyaki experience

When I was a kid, I used to see a stall in Landmark where the vendor would pour a batter into a hot iron plate with small 'dimples' (i call it that way back then) and put pieces of octopus on it. It will then be cooked and served with a reddish sweet spicy sauce topped with a brownish, fishy powder. It is then packed in a rectangular styro box to be consumed by the customer. This is where I got introduced to Takoyaki.

Takoyaki is a popular Japanese food made with a batter, tempura scraps or tenkasu, a chunk of octopus, Kewpie mayonnaise, katsuoboshi, aonori bits and topped with okonomi sauce, . As named, Takoyaki means 'baked/fried octopus'; 'tako' which is octopus and 'yaki' which means to bake or grill. Takoyaki is a popular street food or snack food.

Right now, I've always come back to my favorite takoyaki stall in Makati. It is the takoyaki stall in Little Tokyo. It's right in front of Hana and is manned by a Japanese named Takumi who hails from Osaka which is the hometown ofTakoyaki. I always go back to his stall since this is the best takoyaki that I have tasted. Over the course of several servings, I've managed to strike some conversations with him and he shared to me his method of cooking his takoyaki. Takumi cooks his takoyaki in the usual way but with a difference. The difference is on his use of the beni shoga or the red pickled ginger. I haven't seen a takoyaki stall here that does the same way of cooking like him. When he cooks his takoyaki, he sprinkles bits of chopped beni shoga into the batter. For me this makes the difference. It has a more 'well-rounded' taste since the ginger has added another balancing flavor to the dish apart from the 'seafood' taste made by the diced octopus and the katsuoboshi powder. His verion of okonomi sauce also suits my taste. This is the most authentic and best-tasting takoyaki that I have tried. It's already great to be eaten on its own but I wouldn't hesitate to have it wolfed-down with a cup of gohan.

The takoyaki is sold in a 6-ball serving for 100Php.

Try it!

HANA RESTAURANT

Little Tokyo, Makati City

Telephone: +63 2 339 3855