The city is famous for its streetcar, Peace Park

museum and a-bomb dome and the lively HonDori shopping arcade

but when it comes to getting a great Hiroshima style meal

look no further than OKONOMI MURA, right in the center of the city

Its stocked with three floors of OKONOMIYAKI shops

that make the famous layer Japanese pancake

OKONOMIYAKI is considered Hiroshima's soul food

It's that good,so I came to experiment

Is it simple enough for someone like me to make ?

SHINCHAN's on the second floor let me have a go at it, and I brought a friend

to keep me honest. Ingredients ready? batter check

cabbage check! Moyashi (bean sprouts) check

Tempura bits, check!

seaweed check! NEGI (green onion) check!

Tamago(eggs) check!

soba noodle boilers running on high,check and check

newbie OKONOMIYAKI Chef

oh yeah! He's ready! Its go time!

on the hot grills

make a beautiful circular pancake I

looks easy enough

the cabbage goes on top of the pancake

Cabbage is important

Moyashi! Moyashi bean sprouts on top of that

That is all volume! A mountain of vegetables already

NEGI (green onions)

green onions and seasoning

then a secret ingredient

So this is a seaweed

And it's famous for this shop

This dried graded kelp add some seaside taste

to the Okonomiyaki

best of all, it's super healthy

Strips of pork!

top it off with a little extra batter

just a little

Ahh, waiting

This is the hard part cuz I'm really hungry

I wanna make her happy

Hard to wait

The first challenge

a 180 degree flick we've added a lot of weight to this

a wipe out is always possible with unskilled hands

So now we're gonna flip it

its kinda big I'm not sure how this is gonna go

the pressure's on

no time to celebrate

it's time to prep the SOBA noodles

everything must be fresh

Whilel we start this,

those veggies and pork strips have time to grill

mix the SOBA

smash it down

there are a few more layers still to come

it's gotten flat

here comes the soba

spread it out and grill with some oil

yakisoba

oil

so that SOBA has gotten harder because

it's been grilling on it. I didn't expect that

Usually with Yakisoba there's a sauce and mix it around and it stays

well..lsoft

And here when grill it on the top makes it a little crunchy

One more time?

die!

On the SOBA!

this is like a sandwich

OK, ready....

voila! OHHHH

All of it!

it all came onto the...

I was really surprised at how easily it all came up

and held together! Must be those pork strips underneath

keep it clean and pretty there are customers here

egg-time

if he can do it one fisted so can I

honestly

it's harder than it looks

Oh well..

put it on..

I think there are already seven layers stacked up

so flip it!

Thank you...

now the famous okonomiyaki sauce

it's a little salty a little sweet and real tangy

You can never have enough of the sauce

Yeah, wild west! Cowboy! I'm American!

We use a lot of sauce where I come from.

Add some seaweed flakes for color

and we're done!

Finished!

Toppings are extra

let's go for some extreme NEGI and pink ginger for color

then serve it up to the customer

it's pretty heavy

a work of art

Hiroshima's okonomiyaki is very different compared to Osaka's

Osaka mixes it all together like a pancake

Hiroshima's is layered, offering a more complex taste

What do the locals think okonomiyaki?

we love, ofcourse

a lot of veggies and we love the sauce on it.

A lot of taste in our mouth

It is fun

Cooking is fun, eating is fun

Carp is a shop next door

a popular hangout for Hiroshima Carp baseball fans

They also have a recommended unique ingredient IKATEN

its tempera squid and it packs the power of the sea

So, how do we eat this?fork?

Chopstick?

spatula?

Real Hiroshima people eat OKONOMIYAKI with a spatula

Warning! It's hot off the grill!

always be prepared

Sip some water first and attack with caution

so when you're in hiroshima

Eat it off the grill like a pro.Try different shops and experiment

you won't be sorry