People party late (it was Saturday night after all) in Hiroshima, and we ended up at Fumichan Okonomiyaki - a great place for okonomiyaki, a delicious dish that seems like it was invented by desperate college students. We sat on stools at the wooden counter with a five inch lip to put your beer (or Coke) framing a two meter long by one meter frying griddle. Behind the griddle were five young guys in t-shirts with towels wrapped around there head cooking okonomiyaki in an assembly line style. The recipe (if you can call this description a recipe) proceeds rapidly as follows:
- Pour thin pancake batter on the griddle and spread out to make a 10-inch crepe
- Sprinkle pepper and some other spice on top
- Drop two handfuls of raw shredded cabbage on top (like for cole slaw)
- Drop two handfuls of large, raw bean sprouts on top
- Sprinkle one handful of green onions on top
- Add five small shrimp, several pieces of squid, and other seafood
- Layer four pieces of uncooked bacon on top
- Top off with a healthy dribbling of pancake batter
- With two spatulas, flip the crepe with the mound of toppings upside down on the griddle
- Meanwhile, cook up a pot of fresh ramen noodles in boiling water and transfer to the griddle, douse in cooking oil, and spread into eight inch piles
- Pat down the crepe mound until about one inch thick with the spatula.
- With two spatulas, lift the crepe mound (crepe on top, bacon on bottom) on top of the ramen noodles.
- Separately, crack an egg and spread out to about eight inches in diameter
- With two spatulas, lift the crepe and ramen noodle mound (crepe on top, noodles on bottom) on top of the frying egg
- With two spatulas, flip the egg/noodle/crepe mound upside down
- Sprinkle the pile with pepper and other spices
- Lather the top with a sweet barbeque sauce
- ... and shove over to the guys sitting on the edge of the counter to serve. Provide chopsticks, a small spatula to cut the concoction into pieces, and extra barbeque sauce.
- Optionally cover with green onions and/or add cheddar cheese to the noodles
We spent the day (seen in pictures) visiting the Hiroshima Peace Park and the attached museum. There is so much else to do in Hiroshima, but experiencing the Peace Park is a must for every human - especially those in countries possessing nuclear weapons. (Wonder when our president will visit??). The museum doesn't blame so much as warn against the dangers of war. Very sobering...
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