..Food addiction in Osaka..#3 たこ焼き

This is the third entry of my food addiction series in Osaka
All pictures taken with my iPhone.

京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ

Kyo no ki-daore, Osaka no kui-daore

Kyoto people ruin themselves on clothes,
Osaka people ruin themselves on food

たこ焼き (takoyaki)

Takoyaki literally means "grilled octopus" and was also invented in Osaka. It is basically a ball-shaped salty pancake with diced octopus in it.
You can make them at home with a takoyaki pan... It is actually quite difficult to get a perfect ball shape, on the first picture above I tried to but I failed most of them. （￣□￣；）

Takoyaki are fun to made in family or with friends, if you are in a hurry or lazy it is better to buy them at takoyaki shops: they can be found everywhere and you get to see the cooking performance right in front of you!

The picture is taken on Dotonbori, which is Osaka's touristic street, so the prices are a little more expensive and the balls slightly smaller:

6 takoyaki balls for 350 (4 USD)

10 takoyaki balls for 580 (6 USD)

Some of the takoyaki shops there even offer takoyaki with cheese and ham instead of octopus, as most foreign visitors can't stand eating octopus. Traditional places only offer the octopus version though.

To order takoyaki balls, you have to ask directly:

「たこ焼き6個で」 
takoyaki rokko de
"6 takoyaki balls"

「たこ焼き8個で」 
takoyaki hakko de
"8 takoyaki balls"

Usually you can chose between different sauces for topping, mayonnaise and katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

There is a takoyaki shop on my way to the train station, so I used to buy takoyaki at least twice per week when I was at uni! 8 takoyaki balls for 250 (2 USD).

You can also get some variations of takoyaki, like the takosen which is a kind of sandwich made of a poor takoyaki squashed onto a rice cracker with some sauce (≧∇≦)/ (and cheese here on the picture). Delicious!