Okonomiyaki in Seattle

Come to Cheeky Cafe and you'll get two medium-sized cabbage and onion pancakes that are easily shareable if you don't have a large appetite in the morning. Sadly, there is no okonomi sauce but you'll still get mayo and aonori flakes on top.

Cocoa Izakaya 2.0 offers their okonomiyaki in a steaming-hot cast-iron pan right on the table. The pancake is fluffy, soft and chewy and comes packed with cabbage, bits of pork belly and small slices of shrimp. Katsu sauce is their topping of choice, along with mayo, bonito and nori.

This pancake is definitely large enough for two people to share and we recommend you do exactly that. If you're hoping for okonomiyaki at lunch, we recommend calling ahead first - it takes about 30 minutes to prepare and they offer it plain, with noodles or with beef. Once it arrives, you'll be treated to a hearty cabbage pancake with baked-in ginger and shrimp. The whole thing is topped with mayo, bonito, ginger and a sunny-side-up egg.  

Issian offers three varieties of their Kansai-style pancake: pork, squid or plain Osaka-style. The pancake itself is a thick, doughy okonomiyaki made of large pieces of cabbage with a strong ginger flavor, covered in mayo, okonomi sauce, bonito and ginger.

Stop by Ku Sushi and Izakaya for a simple seafood okonomiyaki with a Hiroshima-esque layer of egg on top. The okonomiyaki employs all the usual toppings, as well as scallions and sesame seeds to round out the flavor profile.

Nuna's eye-catching okonomiyaki is great for one person, or for sharing with others who only want a bite or two. The pancake comes deep-fried and crispy on the outside, while the inner cabbage is soft and fragrant. Mayo, sauce, bonito and interestingly enough, coleslaw make up the toppings.

Shibu Ramen

9733 NE 117th Ln, Kirkland, WA 98034

Shibu Ramen offers up a person pan-sized okonomiyaki that's perfect for an individual. It comes deep-friend and crispy on the outside, with a warm and chewy center. Mayo, scallions, bonito and okonomi sauce serve as garnish for the top.

Don't ask for the okonomiyaki here- they're "Osaka Pancakes" on the menu at TanakaSan in downtown Seattle. Whatever you choose to call them, they're served up crispy with shrimp and pork belly baked into the bottom and all the usual toppings piled high on top.

Similarly to TanakaSan, if you check Wann Izakaya's menu for "okonomiyaki", you won't find it; however, if you order the "yakisoba omelet" you'll be treated with a fluffy pancake- er, omelet that is thick and eggy with a hearty pile of yakisoba noodles and ground beef under a layer of egg and cabbage. Bits of seafood sprinkled throughout the dish round out the flavor profile, which is subtly spicy, perhaps due to the spicy mayo they sub in for the regular stuff.

At Yoroshiku, you're treated to a variety of options. We ordered the modan-yaki with kimchi, which came with noodles soaked in a savory sauce. The pancake itself was soft and savory, and came with all the usual toppings, plus scallions.