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| - A friend of mine kept talking about this place, so we took a little walk in the Plateau to find Noren. It's a small place, but very well designed and organized. A huge chalk board on the wall (chalk-wall?) listed the two constants of the menu, the takoyaki and okonomiyaki, plus the special and drinks.
We ordered everything, namely the takoyaki (classic sauce), the okomiyaki (pork) and the special, which was banbanji (chicken cold udon). There was no place to sit anymore and we had 20 mins to wait, so we went for a short stroll to the park nearby. When we came back, we used the leftover waiting time to play the Nintendo Famicom that was sitting in the corner of the restaurant. I wish all restaurant had consoles. It would make waiting times so much more agreable!!
We had the food as take-out, and everything came neatly packaged. The takoyaki was piping hot and absolutly delicious. Some of them didn't seem to have any tako in them, but the katsuobushi, sauce and other condiments were enough to make the soft dough sparkle with flavor. The okomiyaki was another great piece of work. It was full of shredded, still crunchy cabbage, and was much less rich/overwhelming than what you find at, e.g. Imadake. The surface of the pancake was nicely browned and the toppings were as good as ever. The pink, marinated ginger on top gave the dish some bite. The banbanji, in contrast, was a bit less impressive. The flavors were much more simple and subtle, and so it was easily overshadowed by the two previous dishes. Also, I have to say that I cook udon regularly at home, so the experience was a bit less exciting. I hope next time the special will be soba!
Strongly recommend the takoyaki and okonomiyaki!!
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