We were far from any busy restaurant districts when it was time for dinner. First we tried our luck at a highly-rated sushi place, but there was an hour’s waiting time, and that was more than we wanted to wait. Ingrid’s legs were tired, and I was so hungry that I would have accepted a McDonald’s meal, so we just picked the next closest place.

Which turned out to be a tiny corner place that served okonomiyaki, pancakes with shredded cabbage. Clearly a place that wasn’t aimed at tourists at all, what with its location and all-Japanese signage, and staff who didn’t have a word of English. But the menu had English translations, and we managed to order by pointing.

We were served absolutely delicious okonomiyaki by a very kind older gentleman, who also demonstrated the correct way of eating it. (You definitely don’t cut it like a pizza, but in square pieces.)

This would turn out to be the best okonomiyaki of the whole trip. We ordered okonomiyaki at two more restaurants, but neither could measure up to this.

Okonomiyaki is one of a very few Japanese dishes that I’ve cooked at home, based on a recipe from the Linas Matkasse meal kits. I was curious to see how close the Swedish version was to the original. Pretty close, actually! The meal kit version was fully vegetarian whereas here okonomiyaki is often topped with tiny bonito flakes. The squirted mayo topping, which I’ve always found a bit strange, is very much present in the real deal.