Monja is an unique dish for which Asakusa is famous in Tokyo. It is a little similar to Okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese savory pancake. Hiroko has never eaten a real monja, and Rick has never heard of the dish. While we were wondering around Asakusa district, we stumbled upon a small mom-and-pop restaurant, Hosato, which has only 4 tables. Owner is very nice man in 60's, who loves talking to customers and teaching them how to make monja. 
Bake the liquidy dough first, and when it is crispy. you scrape it from the cooking surface with your small spatula and eat the thin crepe-like skin. Atfter that....eat the rest of Monja by scraping small sections of the pancake bit by bit.
2 comments:
I am also a New Yorker who loved the experience of trying Monja for the first time when I recently visited Tokyo. If you ever get a chance - you might want to make the trip to the Tsukishima area. There is a street called "Manja Dori" which has dozens of places specializing in Monja, and it is a fun area to walk around for a night. There is a good article here:
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/445/dining.asp
Thank you for the link to the Monja article. We have to check it out Monja Dori next time we are in Tokyo!
hiroko
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