monjayaki in tsukishima

The other day our friend invited us to a dance music festival he was running called 'Body and Soul'. All our crew were there and it was really cool to catch up with everyone as it'd been a super long time. Macchan gave us a world-class tour behind the scenes and we had an absolute blast - it was a really cool, laid-back festival and everybody was just out to enjoy themselves, dancing along to remixed disco and old school anthems. 

It finished around 8pm, and since we were in the area, Satoshi took me out to Tsukishima Monjayaki street to chow down on one of the less well-known regional iron grill dishes. Monjayaki originates from Tokyo, and unlike Osaka's okonomiyaki or Hiroshima's hiroshima-yaki, the mixture is runnier and not as stodgy, with the main focus being on enjoying the vegetables and toppings, which range from seafood, to meat, to gyoza, to cheese, to anything you can imagine. The batter acts as a sort of flavouring or sauce so you don't need to add any extra dressings or mayo, which makes me like to think that it's a (somewhat) healthier option! 

Monjayaki street is packed with row after row of monja restaurants so it's really hard to know which one to go for, but Satoshi took me to a place called 'Okame' which he used to go to with his company senpais. We luckily got the last free table, and ordered butter oysters and two monjayaki - gyoza and seafood. There's just something about DIY food and eating freshly off a grill pan that makes food taste so very good - the slight charring really rams in the flavour. 

You prepare monjayaki firstly by sautéing the solid ingredients. Once all the veg has softened, shape it into a donut shape and pour the batter inside the hole. Eat it directly off the grill pan with the little spatula that comes with your chopsticks. 

We also got dessert - we went for anko (red bean paste), but there was also anzu (apricot) or mixed filling to choose from. Dipping the fried anko in kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) created a really warming, comforting taste very typical of Japanese desserts - simple and not too sweet. 

Also on the way home, there was a cute little bakery selling melon pan and ice cream, so we had a cheeky post-dinner nightcap there too. The whole Tsukishima area was a really cute, Shōwa style town with cheesy little souvenir shops and funny mascot statues, and all in all it was a really fun gourmet experience.