Inspired by the Okonomiyaki stall at Sunday Upmarket, I thought I would try making this Japanese pancake delicacy at home. It shouldn’t really be too hard, after all, the recipe is a simple pancake batter with cabbage and pretty much anything else you want for topping.

Okonomiyaki sauce is a key ingredient to the dish, and it took me quite a long time to find it as well, scouring almost every grocery store in Chinatown. Only one of them had a sauce properly labelled as Okonomiyaki though I was going to give up and just try the Tonkatsu sauce. For the record, I found the famous Japanese Bulldog branded Okonomiyaki sauce at the New Loon Moon Supermarket, though I realised later I should have headed straight to the Japan Centre located near Piccadilly as it seems to have almost everything you would ever want from Japan.

Since you can add pretty much anything you want to Okonomiyaki, I decided to follow the pork and prawn mixture I’ve enjoyed at Abeno Too, substituting smoked streaky bacon for the pork. I didn’t buy the fish flakes that dance like they’re alive, nor the seaweed bits but with the mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce still tasted delicious.