Okonomiyaki Dohtonburi, Quarry Bay

Okonomiyaki - a grilled Japanese savoury pancake topped with sweet okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, bonito flakes and seaweed flakes - can be easily found freshly made by the occasional food stall at events/markets, along with the token takoyaki and deep fried chicken stalls. If you're lucky, you can find speciality restaurants within the Kansai region of Japan that allow you to cook your own okonomiyaki. I tried this on a previous trip to Osaka but SissyG and I were way too noob to figure out how to do things on our own so the waiters took pity and ended up cooking everything for us 😆.

However, to see such a restaurant in Hong Kong is a peculiarity, given the Hong-Kongese penchant (especially for younger generations) for not cooking at home and opting to eating out.

Outside of Restaurant

This was actually my second attempt at going to an Okonomiyaki Dohtonburi restaurant - we abandoned our mission the first time round after waiting for over 20 min with zero progress in the queue and a dozen odd ticket numbers between us and success - and it makes you wonder why it takes so freaking long to get a table! This time round, we were five ticket numbers away but still waited about an hour before we found ourselves perched at a table.

Inside Restaurant

Staff here are a rare commodity, as the few waiters were too busy bringing food to tables before quickly disappearing into the kitchens.

Condiments, Timer and Water Bottle

Serving portions are on the small side so if you're normally a big eater, you'll have to order a few dishes. SissyG and I were settled for two dishes since we had plans to pick up dessert at the nearby Aeon Supermarket.

The first okonomiyaki that we tried was the Mochi Cheese Okonomiyaki, which included two slabs of pre-made mochi, cheese, mixed veggies and what looked like tenkasu (i.e. tempura bits):

Ingredients for Mochi Cheese Okonomiyaki

Cooking the Okonomiyaki

Cooked & Flipped to Perfection

Add the Appropriate Sauces and Toppings

Dissection of Okonomiyaki

Time to Eat
(finally!)

After all the waiting and cooking, we were finally able to dig in and taste the fruits of SissyG's labour. I loved how the okonomiyaki included stringy cheese and chewy mochi but I would have like more of the mochi and/or have the mochi diced up into smaller pieces and spread more evenly across the okonomiyaki.

Ingredients for the Mixed Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki

Cooking Noodles and Adding Ingredients

Flip Time

Adding Eggs

Finished Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki

Food time!

I don't think the (udon-type) noodles were quite right for the Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki - usually they include thin yakisoba noodles, which adds a firmer texture - but otherwise tastes pretty similar the real deal.

Overall, the experience was interesting and novel - something you can do within Hong Kong without having to make the 4-5hr flight out to Japan. However, please do pay attention to the videos on loop outside the restaurant that show you how to cook the varying types of okonomiyaki, as the given instruction sheet is written in Chinese and doesn't specifically cover all variations. The waiter did briefly explain how to prepare and cook the okonomiyaki, albeit at lightning speed so we both didn't quite catch all the steps and therefore winged it.

If you're up for a visit, be sure to eat during off-peak times, or be prepared to wait for hours in hope of a table. The interior of the restaurant is outfitted with tables to seat four, however most people come are either there alone or in pairs, making it highly inefficient. Despite being only 5 ticket numbers into the queue, we ended up waiting almost an hour for a table, which makes me question whether it was all worth the wait.

Link to Open Rice: Okonomiyaki Dohtonburi


Food: ✰✰✰✰
Service: ✰✰✰
Atmosphere: ✰✰✰
Overall: ✰✰✰ 1/2
Summary: Reward after a long wait