TAKOYAKI is especially popular in western part of Japan, recently it’s widely found anywhere in Japan though. TOKOYAKI is similar to OKONOMIYAKI but the biggest difference is the shape and the contents.
TAKOYAKI’s tako means octopus, and yaki means grill or fry in Japanese. Direct translation is Fried Octopus.
Takoyaki’s shape is like a small ball. In each ball, there is a cut of Octopus. Watered wheat flour covers octopus and when it’s fried on the round shaped pan, it would be fixed in the ball shape.
Some foreigners actually rejected takoyaki even though they tried in their mouth. We Japanese probably like it very much, so we don’t know why they can’t eat. Taste is basically on Japanese sweet sauce and sometimes add mayonnaise, shaved and dried fish, seaweed, or leek.
Actually it’s fried, so maybe not so wired as Sashimi or Sushi for foreigners.
People in Osaka especially love takoyaki and there are many barrows in in the main shopping streets of Osaka, and most of them sell them in low price but the taste is really good. In Osaka, we don’t miss having it. We just buy it at a barrow and eat it right away sitting on the street edge or while walking. Of course, take away is possible.
Below video shows how to make Takoyaki well. It seems a very small street takoyaki shop but looks nice.
