Monja, Monja, Monja!

As I've previously blogged, I've eaten okonomiyaki quite a number of times, but I've always wanted to try monjayaki, and at last I've finally satisfied my desire!

Okonomoyaki is a savoury pancake filled with a choice of ingredients e.g. seafood, meat etc. Monjayaki is similar, but has a thinner consistency. At Issei 一世, a restaurant in Musashimurayama in Tokyo, I went for the mochi, cheese and curry monja, and it was YUMMY! I also tried the seafood okonomiyaki, American okonomiyaki, pork modanyaki (a variation of the okonomi with fried noodles), mushroom monja, and finished the meal with vanilla ice-cream on an apple and banana pancake.

The food was fab, and I particularly liked the restaurant interior, it had an aura of privacy with a relaxed atmosphere, and one effective ventilation system! Usually, after sitting at the hotplate cooking up your okonomiyaki, you'd come out of the restaurant smelling strongly of fried food, but this was not the case here :)

[Ingredients for mushroom monja (top left); okonomiyaki (top right); ingredients for mochi cheese and curry monja (bottom left); mochi cheese and curry monja on the hotplate (bottom right)]