Pasutakan - Mylord Shinjuku, Tokyo

According to a Japanese magazine I read, this restaurant is one of the most popular do-it-yourself okonomiyaki joint in town. This was evident from its bee-line of customers queuing for seats, even at 10pm. I guess okonomiyaki is a 'night food', probably somewhat parallel to martabak in Jakarta (well, they're both pan -fried, greasy, and best eaten on cold nights).

This restaurant is located at Mylord, a small ladies' department store adjacent to Lumine I in Shinjuku. It's a little bit hard to find for those inexperienced with the area...

Looking at the menu, there is a plethora of different okonomiyaki ingredient combinations. In fact, there are close to 30 different combinations. Makes me wonder why don't they enable customers to choose the individual ingredients they want in the okonomiyaki.

This restaurant also serve monjayaki, which is somewhat similar to okonomiyaki, but softer and runnier.

First of all, read the instructions, "Oishii yakikata" (how to cook deliciously)

Next, heat up the grill until it's really hot...

Decide on what sauce would you like...
(L-R: Basil mayonnaise sauce, oroshi sauce, and traditional okonomiyaki sauce)

...and prepare the furikake (sprinklings)
(L-R: mayonnaise, shaved bonito, chopped shiso)

They even provided an hourglass (4 minutes cooking time on each side)!

Here's the batter...
I chose the squid, bacon, prawn and beni-shoga (pickled ginger) combo

...after mixing thoroughly, fry the batter (about 16cm in diameter)

Immediately cover the batter (now pay attention...if you don't make it about 16cm, the cover won't be big enough to cover the batter!)

...and after cooking for 4 minutes (each side), smear it with sauce, smother it with mayonnaise (in grid pattern), and sprinkle with shaved bonito and chopped shiso.
Ja-jannn...okonomiyaki dekiagari! (ready!)

-> As suspected, okonomiyaki in this place is much better than others I've tasted so far. It's really soft, light, and fluffy. If there's one thing I hate is a thick, stuffy okonomiyaki. This one is wonderful. The sauce is amazingggg...

Raspberry Soda
(I loveee artificial Japanese fruit sodas)