Why is “Yakisoba” in okonomiyaki restaurants more delicious than at home?
Yakisoba is fried noodles with meat (pork, seafood or fish cakes) and vegetables (cabbage, onions or carrots), flavored with salt and pepper or okonomiyaki sauce (a blend of ketchup, Worcester sauce, soy sauce, honey, etc.). It is served with aonori (seaweed powder) and katsuobushi (fish flakes) on top. There are so many combinations of ingredients, sauce and garnishes that they vary greatly depending on restaurants and houses.
At home, yakisoba is prepared in a frying pan, but in okonomiyaki restaurants it’s prepared on an iron table. An iron plate is wider than a pan and keeps a high temperature, then the noodles are fried while being lifted in the air and mixed on the plate with spatulas held in both hands. Because of this, yakisoba is well-cooked and has both a crispy flavor and good smell in okonomiyaki restaurants. Needless to say, beer goes well with yakisoba.
