How they make pancakes in Osaka

A marriage of a pancake and an omelet is a beautiful thing — two breakfast favorites grilled to juiciness and served piping hot.

In Japan, they call this delicious hybrid okonomiyaki, the “scrambled” version of which originated from Osaka. It is prepared like a pancake and served with okonomiyaki sauce, seaweed flakes, bonito flakes, Japanese mayo, and pickled ginger.

One of the original okonomiyaki restaurants in Osaka, Chibo Okonomiyaki, is now in Manila at S Maison in the newly opened Conrad Hotel. Okonomiyaki shops abound in Osaka, but Chibo is one of the oldest, dating back to 1973. They pride themselves on delivering the same original okonomiyaki taste consistently across all its branches around the world. Even visitors from Japan looking for something to eat that reminds them of home say that Chibo Okonomiyaki in Manila is up to their standards.

Imagine this: you are in a room (they call it the Presidential Room), engulfed in smoke while you watch the Chibo chef chop, toss, whisk, and press an okonomiyaki into shape, carefully creating a nice, thin crust. It resists your bite but the center — composed of anything you like, anything at all, because Chibo Okonomiyaki has a variant for all tastes — melts in your mouth.

Chef Akihiro, who is from Osaka and therefore versed in the art of creating these savory pancakes, creates several different dishes for us, while Kenji Komuro and David Guevarra, operations manager, share the dish’s origins and how they create the same okonomiyaki flavor in Manila. They bring most ingredients from Japan, while some they create. The batter and the sauce are key and must be consistent. As for what’s inside the pancake, their menu has more choices than you can handle.

Chef served us a really complex-looking one, topped with unsweetened meringue and a flattened crab crown — the Shirayukihime or “Snow White Princess,” an extra-soft okonomiyaki with prawn, bacon, pork, tomato, avocado and cheese. Kenji says it’s so pretty some guests like to order it during birthdays, in lieu of cake. Well, happy birthday to me. It’s delicious.

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Chibo Okonomiyaki is on the second floor of S Maison, Conrad Manila, Seaside Blvd. corner Coral Way, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.