A lunch I could eat often and never tire of the enjoyment

Suezawa Yoshikatsu (outside) and Suezawa Toshiko (inside) big us goodbye after we are lavished to one of the most beautifully simple meals ever. A lunch of mixed Okonomiyaki (mixed with oysters, clams, shrimp, octopus, squid and bacon), Tompeiyaki (pork), Nikupeiyaki (beef) and Yakimeshi (fried rice). Of course brought to an end with beautifully big and red strawberries. The restaurant is called Okonomiyaki Hikari.

1-3-21 Minamihanadaguchi-Cho, Sakai-Ku, Sakai City

Tel: 072-233-6338

Mixed Okonomiyaki and Tompeiyaki (made with bacon, eggs and yamaimo) and some cabbage being cooked on the griddle, to be eaten as it wilts away. The Okonomiyaki is topped with Katsobushi (fish flakes). These were the two items placed on the griddle in front of each of us, as we walked into Okonomiyaki Hikari, which I had been told is the best places to savor Okonomiyaki in Sakai City, and perhaps all of Japan. The Tompeiyaki was sensational. So good that I asked for more, something I am loathe to do, in company, but I did what I never have. Charlie convinced me to try the beef version (Nikupeiyaki) which was also just as sensationally good. So greedy was I, that I did not even bother taking a photograph of it. Sorry!

Yoshi San and Miyuki, two of our several very generous and kind hosts, sitting at the counter, waiting to start our lunch. Our hosts in Sakai City have fattened us with amazing food, and hosted us with infinite kindness and generosity. The patience with which they do things and deal with situations, is only part of the wonderful legend of Japan. What is also very charming is the decency that runs through every gesture one sees from them. Thanks everyone! Thanks Saori San (Korin Trading Company and The Gohan Society) for bringing these wonderful moments to us.

Tompeiyaki, the pork and egg dish with yamaimo, was magnificent. It was very close to the Anda Paratha of the streets of India. As good as they are, they do not have bacon. Adding bacon into anything takes it to levels unforeseen before the addition, and so, what can I say.... this was supernal. The yamaimo base gives the bottom of the tompeiyaki a crust that is very similar to that of a well cooked and crispened paratha. I could have eaten three of these and still craved more. Of course that I had some cabbage wilting away, made me think I was being healthy at the same time.

Suezama Yoshikatsu was finishing the last of the Okonomiyaki just as we were coming in for lunch. Everything in Japan works as clockwork. All is always in place.

The other end of the kitchen/restaurant is the stove where Miso is prepared. And perhaps some of the sauces. Austere kitchen. Managed chaos. A couple cooking amazing food, cleaning dishes, and prepping all at once.

Rice being finished and MSG being added. And on the back, two eggs being cooked to be topped onto noodles that he had finished moments before.

XXL eggs and bottles of mayonnaise. The restaurants we have visited thus far, seem to be places that love their Mayonnaise.

The sheet pan holds all the many sauces that get used in the preparation of the wonderful dishes the couple prepare. Everything from Ketchup and Mayonnaise, to a mix of both, and other secret sauces, can be found in these bottles.

No Heinz ketchup here. And the Kagome bottle, which is the other sauce mixed into the dark syrupy sweet and tart sauce that is brushed on top of the Okonomiyaki. On the Tompeiyaki, the chef brushes this mix, and also mustard and mayonnaise. Magic every bite you savor.

The fried rice (Yakimeshi) was sensational. The pork, the eggs, the seasoning, all in perfection. We all ate big plates of this rice, and could have gone for more.

Chef Lee Ann Wong, our fellow traveler through Japan, is always gracious and kind, always helpful and encyclopedic when it comes to Japanese cuisine. Here she is enjoying the lunch and tweeting at the same time.

how could one not be enamored by such honest love and beautiful people? The couple were so happy in their kitchen, so beautifully at peace with themselves, and their food was richer for it. I said to Charlie that we should someday open a restaurant like this, and be alone in our cooking and working, but I wondered if he would be wanting to work  this way, this hard and this simply. His answer - "I would kill you if I had to work alongside you all day long". Honesty is the best way! So no such dream for us. We are both honest... we are both divas. I salute Toshiko and Yoshikatsu Suezawa.

This was a bacon okonomiyaki being made for an order upstairs. The small family run restaurant has the griddle-front counter at the ground level, and 6 tables above.

The beautiful menu, the dishes, and the sink all make for a lovely honest decoration. They also remind  the diner that you are here for food, not frills. And the food could not be any better. In fact it makes you wonder how much we lose sometime, actually more often than we would believe, when dining at places that are grand. More often than not, the experiences can be very rich and memorable, but not always about lasting food memories.

The bathroom Lee Anne told me gave her a quick remedial course in Asian toilets. I have still not used a public bath. Tonight it may change... since we are staying at a traditional Inn.

It was wonderful to see how things were always in place, always managed just in the right amount of time, and just on time. The rice cooker, the washed dishes, the ones on the shelves, and the menu, all seem to scream, "we belong", and that was perhaps the secret ingredient, that added most magic to every bite we enjoyed at lunch. How I hope all our friends and family could dine at Okonomiyaki Hikari, and enjoy simplicity at its best.

PS: Hiroko, you would have been very proud! And thanks for bringing Okonomiyaki (which I have told our hosts should really be called Hirokonomiyaki) into our life. You are a dear, dear friend.

Comments

[May]

I can't believe you have jet set yourself to japan and are eating okonomiyaki! you need to eat that in kansai region = osaka as well. okonomiyaki and ramen have regional differences so it depends on what you like!

Make sure you go to Kyoto and have French Kaiseki (the opposite of the street food you've been enjoying) - i've eaten everywhere and this was one of my most memorable meals:

Misogi-gawa Frommer's Exceptional

Cuisine FRENCH KAISEKI

Hours Tues-Sun 11:30-1:30pm and 5:30-8:30pm (last order)

Location Sanjo-sagaru, Pontocho. on Pontocho, north of the playground, Central Kyoto

Transportation Bus: 5, 17, or 205 to Kawaramachi Sanjo (5 min.)

Reservations Reservations required

Phone 075/221-2270

Prices Set dinners ¥13,230-¥21,000 ($110-$175/£55-£88); set lunches ¥4,935-¥10,500 ($41-$88/£20-£44)

Frommer's Review

Dining here could well be the culinary highlight of your trip. For more than 25 years -- long before fusion cuisine burst onto the scene -- this lovely and exclusive restaurant has been serving nouvelle French cuisine that utilizes the best of Japanese style and ingredients in what could be called French kaiseki. It's located on narrow Pontocho, which parallels the Kamo River and is one of Kyoto's most famous nightlife districts, in a century-old renovated wooden building that once belonged to a geisha. Dishes are the creations of owner/master-chef Teruo Inoue, who trained with a three-star Michelin chef and successfully blends the two cuisines into dishes that are arranged like a work of art and served on Japanese tableware.

Although four set meals are offered, diners are often asked for their preferences and dislikes, with favorite foods incorporated into at least one dish. The dining experience is enhanced by an English-speaking staff, who explain the ingredients of each dish as it's presented, and by an extensive wine list, culled from Inoue's annual visits to France. Seating options include an L-shaped counter with tatami seating and leg wells; an informal counter for customers who prefer to order a la carte dishes (written in French and changing regularly) while watching chefs at work; private tatami rooms; and my favorite, an outdoor summer veranda overlooking the river. Note that the L-shaped counter and veranda add a 10% service charge and private rooms add a 15% service charge, but no service charge is added for the a la carte counter. This is a great place for a splurge.

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/kyoto/D71951.html#ixzz0fVgVjqgD

[Paula]

Here in Hebron my daughter and I are modestly attempting to perfect our technique for making rice balls. Do try to bring home a few pointers for us.

[Stacey]

This lunch sounds like a religious experience, Suvir. Thanks for transporting me to another place. I'm making a note to try mixed Okonomiyaki and Tompeiyaki if I ever do make it to Japan.
Signed,
Mouthwatering in the Frigid Adirondacks

[Sally]

Thank you first for seeing the beauty in a small, well used kitchen and the charming couple who cook there, and thanks again for sending us photos that make us feel as though we are right there. If I am not mistaken, Chef Lee Ann is from the Albany area?

[Suvir]

Paula, what kind of rice balls are you all making? How wonderful that someone in Hebron is making something Japanese, or foreign. Gives me another reason to love our lovely charming community. You are too good to be true.

Mouthwatering in the Frigid Adirondacks - We miss you and are sad you are not enjoying these foods with us. And of course the moments too. Chef Lee Anne is from Troy and quite energetic and relentless a foodie. Do you know her?

[Judy Short]

Oooooh, I'm in a swoon over your mouth-watering descriptions of the Okonomiyaki. In Japan in '07 with friends on a tour with fabric as a basis (Tokyo Quilt Show, shibori dying, private collections of antique kimonos and hundred's years old indigo dyed fabrics) we discovered Okonomiyaki quite by accident, having been directed to a nearby noodle shop, which had 6 tables, all full, and there were 7 of us.
Going back toward hotel,there was a sandwich board style sign on the sidewalk, with a picture, but where was the restaurant? Three stories up, via an outside, steep and twisty staircase. So worth the hike up--we had the most hilarious evening sitting at the counter and trying to figure out what to order. No English spoken there and about all we could do was ask for Kirin beero. Lots of looking over the counter to see what was cooking, pointing to adjacent diner's meals and holding up 1,2 or more fingers to indicate how many orders. The 2 guys at the grill got a big kick out of us. The next time when we came in they had great big grins for us and somebody had taught them to say "good evening" in English (sort of) in responce to out "kom-ban wa". I didn't know until I read this that Okonomiyaki is only for one dish and that if it has pork or beef it has a different name. But we definitely most loved the egg, cabbage (maybe bacon) "pancake". I would love to try to make okonomyaki--any recipe to share?

[suvir saran]

Judy, how wonderful to read your comment. Did you check out the other Japan posts?
Would love to hear your feedback on those.
Lucky you that you were able to enjoy textiles, kimonos and indigo dyed antique fabrics - WOW! I was so keen to see these myself, but the focus was FOOD, and I lost out on this part of my Japan dream. Another trip.

Buy the two books written by Hiroko Shimbo, and you will find yourself feeling lucky and blessed. I have done a couple of blog posts on Hiroko as well, and you can read them, and learn more about her. You can go to her blog at www.hirokoskitchen.com

She is an amazing writer, authoritative voice on Japanese cuisine, and my teacher for all things Japanese food related.

Her books are phenomenal and very detailed.

Suvir