Okonomiyaki

"Good Fried/Cooked Thing" is what that literally means, but in practical terms, it is a pancake made with egg and savory batter. In the version we had, there were also soba noodles and pork involved. Then you choose one topping for them. I had garlic chicken, but you could choose from a range of vegetables, fruit and meat. The food is cooked on a large griddle by the chef dudes, then served at the table where there is another fairly large griddle in the middle of the table. We had to strip down a little bit to get that to work for us, but it was nice being warm for a change. Only fancy department stores and the like have central heat, so you're often found huddling around the heated seat on the train, a heated blanket, a heated toilet seat, or a space heater. In this case the table was hot hot hot, so no need for huddling. This is the bar where they made them and the menu is on the wall on the wooden panels. As you can see, there are plenty of choices (not one of which I can read).

There are a few more pics on Flickr, so visit if you want to see. We went to Nara yesterday and saw a gigantic Buddha and deer that bow before you feed them. I will give better descriptions of the photos once I'm not sharing a computer with 3 other people.