Zen moment

Meditation here this morning in the middle of Tokyo

Food is love = monja

 

May 7, 2015

  

My friend Makiko asked me what I wanted to eat in Tokyo. I have eaten so much and there is much more I want to eat, but the first thing that popped in my mind was okonomiyaki! I loved eating it with Yuki when I was last in Tokyo and have never forgotten about it and the experience. Every city has their own version of okonomiyaki, including Tokyo, and there is even a certain area of town where you go eat it called Tskukishima. 

 

We arrived in the area, filled with ancient restaurants that haven't changed much over the years except for the exterior neon signs and found the same restaurant that Yuki and I had went to last time and loved. When we sat down, Makiko asked hesitantly if I wanted to try monja. You can order okonomiyaki or monja. I said nanedemo suki (I love everything) namedemo tabemasu (I eat everything). She cocked her head in the way that the Japanese do when trying to making a decision and say nan de and/or make sounds as they are concerned what to do and they don't want to offend you by making the wrong decision. 

She made the courageous decision to let me try monja. You see, the Japanese are a bit shy about letting foreigners try things like monja because it's not pretty like the usual Japanese food, actually quite ugly looking, it's gooey, and from their experience either people love or hate it, and they would hate to offend anyone. 

Okonomiyaki is often referred to as similar to a pancake or pizza, but it is much different. It's made with flour, nagaimono (mountain yam), dashi, eggs, cabbage and a variety of ingredients that you can pick from. Monja has more liquid and is a runnier version of this.

Monja is only made in Tokyo and those who love it, really love it. I really loved it and now I am now a full fledged monja addict! We had our monja with mochi, and being a mochi addict already, I was jumping in excitement!

 

We started the meal off with ramune, which I loved from my childhood visits to Japan with my mother.It's a bubbly Japanese lemonade in a stylish glass bottle that is pressurized with a marble. I think that is so cool!

At the restaurant where we were at, there is a grill at each table and the server makes it for you or starts you off. You use a mini metal lifter to eat monja right off of the grill. It's gooey like cheese and the toasty brown bits formed from cooking are prized. 

Afterwards, we had okonomiyaki and it was good but seemed tame in comparison.The Tokyo style looks more like a pancake-pizza. There is a sauce that is put over it (like a sweet thick worchestire sauce), in addition to aonori (seaweed), katsuoboshi (bonito) and Japanese mayo. You slice it into sections to eat. Both monja and okonomiyaki are meant to be shared and it's more fun that way anyway. Food and fun, my favourite combination!