Okonomiyaki vs Monjayaki: Our Morning at Osakaya

It was still morning in Shinjuku, and Cream already had a lemon sour in his hand. Mine was yuzu orange, and soon the griddle built into our table was sizzling with cabbage, beef, and batter. Two hours of all-you-can-drink, wrapped up before lunch: that's how we were introduced to monjayaki.

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In this guide 12 sections

We'd walked past Osakaya, a 24-hour okonomiyaki spot in Kabukicho, and came back first thing one morning to have the place to ourselves. We'd had okonomiyaki once before in Osaka, and we had no idea how you even eat monjayaki, Tokyo's runnier take that looks like someone spilled dinner on the hot plate. When the raw bowls landed on our table, we truly didn't know whether we were cooking or they were. That was half the fun.

The okonomiyaki made our top three meals in Japan, and the monjayaki became my favorite thing on the griddle. Here's how the two dishes differ, what the course gets you, and why Osakaya earned a 10 from us.

Watch Our Morning at Osakaya

Here's our breakfast-time griddle session, sizzle and all:

Is Osakaya Good for Monjayaki in Tokyo? My Quick Answer

Yes. Osakaya is a fun, central place to try monjayaki in Tokyo, with okonomiyaki and yakisoba on the same course and drinks included, open around the clock. It's a 10/10 for us. The staff cooked everything for us, so you don't need to know what you're doing, and going in the morning meant we had the room almost to ourselves.

Okonomiyaki vs Monjayaki: What's the Difference?

Okonomiyaki is a thick, set pancake you cut into slices. Monjayaki is its runnier Tokyo cousin, cooked into a thin, gooey layer that you eat straight off the griddle.

Both start as a bowl of cabbage, batter, and toppings, and both are cooked on a teppan, an iron griddle built into your table. The difference is how much liquid goes in and what happens next. Monjayaki is often described as a watered-down version of savory okonomiyaki, and it grew out of Tokyo's old candy shops, where kids gathered around the griddle for a cheap snack.³

To cook monjayaki, you fry the toppings, push them into a ring, and pour the batter into the hole in the middle.³ You can see exactly that in our photo below: the okonomiyaki is already a neat round pancake on the left, and the monjayaki is a doughnut of beef and cabbage on the right.

	Okonomiyaki	Monjayaki
Linked with	Osaka	Tokyo
Texture	Thick, eggy, and fluffy	Thin, gooey, and caramelized at the edges
How it's cooked	Shaped into a round pancake and flipped	Toppings in a ring, batter poured in the middle, then spread thin
How you eat it	Cut into slices	Scraped off the griddle with a small spatula
Looks	Like a pancake	Like a mess, until you taste it

Order both. The okonomiyaki is the easier first bite, and it made our top three meals in Japan. But monjayaki is Tokyo's own dish, and it was the one I loved most.

The monjayaki capital is Tsukishima, where Monja Street has around 80 monjayaki restaurants near Tsukishima Station on the Toei Oedo and Yurakucho lines.² We had ours in Shinjuku instead, close to where we lived.

The Osakaya Course: What You Get

We went with the Osakaya Course, a set menu of three dishes per person with 120 minutes of all-you-can-drink on top. We paid 3,630 yen each with tax, so 7,260 yen for the two of us. That's about $23 a person, drinks included.

For each of your three dishes, you pick from a list of okonomiyaki (pork, beef, kimchi, octopus, and more), monjayaki (beef tendon, shrimp, squid, cheese, cod roe, and more), or pork yakisoba. Edamame and an almond pudding dessert come with the course. There's also a bigger Excellent Osakaya Course with six dishes, including teppanyaki, for 4,730 yen with tax.

A few rules from the menu worth knowing before you sit down:

• Everyone at the table has to order the same course.
• You order one food or drink item at a time per person.
• Seating is limited to two hours, with a 30-minute extension available.
• A 10% late-night charge is added between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The menu is in English, and ordering is easy: when you're ready, you press the call button on the table. Getting the drinks was fun too.

Round One: Sours and Okonomiyaki

The drinks came first. Cream is convinced "Sours in Japan are incredible," so we started with a lemon sour for him and a yuzu orange sour for me. The yuzu orange was so good. A sour in Japan is a fizzy, citrusy drink, usually made with shochu, a Japanese spirit.

Then the food arrived raw in metal bowls, and we just looked at each other. Were we supposed to cook this? Were they? We honestly didn't know how any of it worked. Then the staff oiled the griddle, mixed everything, and cooked it for us, forming the okonomiyaki into a pancake right on our table. It was just funny to experience.

The okonomiyaki is the one everyone knows, and it lived up to it. The texture is eggy, with cabbage all the way through. Cream put it best: "It's fluffier than an omelette, but not quite to the level of a quiche." The sauces are rich without being overpowering, and the bonito flakes on top are what pull it all together. It's hearty, and you get why people call this comfort food.

Beef Monjayaki: Better Than It Looks

Next to it on the griddle was the beef monjayaki. Once the batter cooks into the ring of beef, cabbage, and onion, it's spread out thin and left to bubble until the edges caramelize.

It looks like a mess. In Cream's words, it "tastes way better than it looks." The sauce reminded him of a teriyaki soy sauce, and the whole thing is a gooey mix of beef, cabbage, and caramelized edges. This was my favorite dish of the morning.

Here's the one rule for monjayaki: wait. It comes off the griddle steaming, and it's so hot you have to let each bite rest before you eat it. You eat it with the little spatula at your seat, scraping a bite off the griddle and eating it straight from the metal.

Round Two: Shrimp Monjayaki and Pork Yakisoba

For our second round of drinks we shared a sake. With edamame and something always sizzling on the griddle, it felt more like a party than a dinner.

For our second round of food we ordered a shrimp monjayaki and the pork yakisoba, fried noodles with pork and cabbage. When the pork hit the griddle, it looked just like thick bacon. The noodles came out soft, with the pork fat and the Japanese barbecue sauce soaked all the way through. The little scraper earns its keep here too, for all the crispy bits stuck to the griddle.

The shrimp monjayaki had the same base as the beef but came out even gooier, with a really good shrimp flavor through the cabbage. Same rule as before: let it cool first.

We finished with a round of highballs, whisky and soda.

Do You Cook It Yourself?

You might be expected to cook at a teppan restaurant, but at Osakaya the staff did it all for us, and I was more than fine with that. I don't think I'd have done a good job at all. Cream said the same on camera: after watching them, he wouldn't have cooked it the same way.

If you do end up cooking, oil the griddle, form the okonomiyaki into a thick pancake, and for monjayaki, build the ring of toppings first and pour the batter into the middle.

Good to Know Before You Go

The biggest catch is the heat: the monjayaki is scalding when it comes off the griddle, so be patient. Everyone at your table has to order the same course, and the two hours are a set limit, with a 30-minute extension on the menu if you want it. We never felt hurried.

Going at night? From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. a 10% late-night charge is added to the bill. Going in the morning skips that and gets you a quiet room.

Getting to Osakaya

Osakaya (大阪家) is in the basement of a building at 1-17-12 Kabukicho, in Shinjuku. It's open 24 hours a day, and it has been in Kabukicho since 1980.¹ We found it just walking by. There's also a newer second location, Osaka Ya GOLD, nearby in Kabukicho, which opened in 2023 and keeps shorter hours.⁴

We lived in a quiet part of Shinjuku and walked into the center all the time. Kabukicho is Shinjuku's nightlife district, so if you're staying in Shinjuku, Osakaya is an easy walk or a short train ride. Apple Maps and Google Maps both get you there, but you'll want working data from the moment you land in Japan, so get an Airalo eSIM before your trip.

Who Should Go (and Who Should Skip)

Go with a group of friends or as a couple. It's food, drinks, and a bit of chaos on the griddle for one set price, and it's a fun way to try monjayaki next to okonomiyaki without trekking out to Tsukishima.

Skip it if your group can't agree on one course, since everyone at the table orders the same one. If you don't drink alcohol, the course still includes soft drinks and tea, but you're paying for the all-you-can-drink either way.

Our Verdict on Osakaya

Osakaya gave us one of our favorite meals in Tokyo: okonomiyaki good enough to make our top three of the trip, a monjayaki that won us over despite its looks, and a griddle full of food with drinks included for about $23 each. Go in the morning, let the staff cook, order both dishes, and get the yuzu orange sour. I'd totally go back.

Next Steps for Your Tokyo Trip

• Torikizoku, yakitori where everything is one price
• The Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Nakameguro
• A Japanese bakery run, from melon pan to yakisoba bread
• Where to stay: Tsukishima is the monja street, and it is an easy train ride from most central areas. Compare where to base yourself