Classic Japanese Snacks of Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki at Otafuku

The New York City food scene has a distinct dichotomy. On one hand, there are premier luxury restaurants like Per Se, Le Bernardin,  and Morimoto. On the other hand, there are cheap eateries and hole in the wall (quite literally). One such place is Otafuku, a Japanese eatery in East Village.

Otafuku, albeit a Japanese restaurant, doesn't serve any sushi. Instead, it specializes in takoyaki, which are bite-sized baked octopus balls. My friend and I decided to share Combination B ($9), a mix of takoyaki and okonomiyaki, or Japanese-style cabbage pancakes.



The eatery is so small that you can't even wait inside for your food, but have to step outside. I'm sure the sales plummet during the winter and when it rains...After waiting for about 10 minutes, our order came out. The girl behind the counter drizzled the takoyaki with mayonnaise, sweet sauce, and some green powder, as well as bonito flakes.

There were six takoyakis that were about the size of golf balls. I asked the person to not put mayonnaise on my balls (haha). I am not quite sure what the green stuff was...it certainly didn't add much flavor.

Even though the balls are bite-sized, I ate them in two bites. Because these treats are baked in something similar to a waffle maker instead of fried, the outside wasn't too greasy. The batter might have been a little undercooked, however.

There was an octopus inside the takoyaki. I wasn't too fond of the three textures of chewy octopus, crispy outside, and mushy inside. I was fine after eating just three of these, but if I were to eat the entire plate, my stomach would have hurt a lot. I don't have any pictures of the okonomiyaki, but with no regret because it tasted awful. The cabbage pancake was way undercooked, so I felt like I was just eating the batter. Yuck.

 

A Delicious Affair: Tiger Toppoki

I hate going to the doctor's office for multiple reasons, but by far the most frustrating is the endless wait. Today, I had a doctor's appointment at noon, and guess when they called my name? 1:20! Absolutely ridiculous. What made it even more unbelievable was that it was an extremely speedy check-up; the whole thing literally took less than 2 minutes. Wow.

Mom and I were quite angry afterward, but we soothed our frustrating and our hungry stomachs with a trip to Tiger Toppoki, a Korean fast food restaurant a few blocks away from the doctor's office.

We decided to sample all the main items on the menu. This is every Korean child's dream. Yum :)

Toppoki is a spicy rice cake dish, a very popular street food/snack in Korea. I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't as spicy, but the rice cake was chewy and the sauce was not too salty, not too dull.

Odang, fish cake, is served in a bowl of soup. I ordered a spicy pepper odang. Nothing spectacular.

Udon Noodle. Personally I am not a huge fan of Udon, so Mom ate the whole bowl.

Sondae, Korean sausage, used to be made of noodles wrapped in pig's intestine, but nowadays a lot of places have replaced the intestines with something more artificial...thankfully! Sondae here was way too greasy.

Overall an affordable (~$10 for the entire feast!) meal/snack. It reminded me of my childhood. Haha.

A date with "poop" bread

Last time I went to Insadong, a very touristy neighborhood in Seoul for its traditional Korean food, trinkets, etc., I had something called Ddongpang, literally translated as Poop Bread. It's a poop-shaped pancake bread filled with sweet red bean paste. The lasting taste of Ddongpang lingered in my mouth since then so I made a walking trip to Insadong after the HCKISA graduation to satisfy my sweet tooth. Because the graduation lasted until 2 p.m. and it took me quite a while to get to Insadong (I took a detour via Dongdaemoon), I finally got my hands on those Ddongpang at 4 p.m. They were 4 for 2,000 won, and although quite delicious, I regretted purchasing them because right across the street, there was another similar bread for only 1,000 won! I'm not angry about the price, but the fact that I missed the chance to try something different since I already had Ddongpang before. I only have three more full days in Korea, and I want to shove my face with as much different variety of food available only in Korea before I leave.

The walk home was quite arduous. My legs were hurting and I was exhausted from being out and about all day. My parents are coming tomorrow. Ahhh I can't believe I am leaving so soon! I'm getting nervous. I really hope I can keep myself cool amid all the overwhelming events/experiences/etc.!

The creator of Ddongpang

Displayed on the rack

Strawberry bread (left) and Poop bread (right). The former is just the name of the girl, Strawberry, not the flavor.

Best when hot and crunchy!