Okonomiyaki Mizuno

Mizuno is one of the long-established okonomiyaki restaurants on Dotonbori, in business since 1945 on the busiest food street in the city. It has been listed with a Bib Gourmand, the Michelin Guide's award for good-value cooking, for several consecutive years, which makes it a reliable choice for anyone who wants to try okonomiyaki at a respected address.

Okonomiyaki is Osaka's signature savoury pancake: a batter mixed with shredded cabbage and other ingredients, cooked on a hotplate and finished with sauce, mayonnaise, dried bonito and seaweed. Mizuno's speciality is yamaimo-yaki, made with a batter of grated Japanese mountain yam alone, without any flour. The yam gives the pancake a soft, airy texture quite different from the flour-based versions sold at street stalls, and it is the dish that built the restaurant's reputation. Groups often share one alongside the mixed okonomiyaki, filled with squid, octopus, prawn and pork belly and finished with brown sauce, mayonnaise and aonori seaweed. There is a vegetarian okonomiyaki with mushrooms and plenty of spring onion, and the menu is available in English, Chinese and Korean. Standard batters contain fish stock, so vegetarians should also ask for no bonito flakes on top.

Reservations are not taken, and queues often stretch out of the door at peak times, but they move quickly, and staff take your order while you wait so the food follows soon after you sit down. The restaurant is non-smoking. Mid-afternoon is usually the calmest time to try. The restaurant closes on Thursdays, except on public holidays, according to the tourism directory listing, so check before making a special trip.

A meal takes under an hour once you are seated, and prices are moderate, in line with its Bib Gourmand status. It suits couples, families and solo travellers. If you are unsure what to order, the yamaimo-yaki is the reason to come.

The restaurant is on Dotonbori about two minutes' walk from Exit B22 of Namba Station, among the giant shop signs that line the canal. After eating, the Tombori River Walk beside the water is a pleasant place to walk off the meal before an evening in Minami.