Japanese pancakes

One of the great things about Erik being here is going out to new restaurants and having things I haven't had in ages. Tonight was okonomiyaki, which is Japanese pancake. It is savory rather than sweet - containing things like seafood and vegetables rather than sugar.

We met up tonight with John and Melissa, two other world travellers and readers of Erik's blog. Then we headed off for okonomiyaki in Ebisu. I had asked Hiroshi to find a good place for us - meaning one where you didn't have to sit on tatami mats. I hate eating on tatami because I can never get comfortable. After some jostling around of tables and a 20 minute wait, we finally got a table by the window. It was really nice! The restaurant, called Chibo, is on the 38th floor of Ebisu Garden Place, so the view is very nice.

The table at an okonomiyaki restaurant has a grill in the center of it. Sitting beside the window was also good because their was an air conditioner directly above us. Wonderful against the heat that the grill was producing. I elected to cook the pancakes myself since that is more fun. The last time I did this, it ended up being a huge falling-apart disaster. Luckily this time I created a pancake masterpiece. LOL It turned our pretty well. It was shaped nicely, didn't fall apart and was cooked all the way thru, so that's about all you can ask for.

The pancakes and beer were delicious... and cheap! Add in the great view and this is a nice place to go for a meal. Your clothes end up smelling all greasy by the end of the evening, but that's ok. Definitely somewhere I'll head back to again.