is a popular

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In much of Japan, the term refers to simple grilled squid topped with

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and '' Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''Asp ...

; the portion of squid served may be the whole body (minus

entrails The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans a ...

), rings cut from the body, or one or more tentacles, depending on the size.Squid tentacles draw the crowds
/ref> Ikayaki is served in many ''

izakaya An () is a type of informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks. are casual places for after-work drinking, similar to a pub, a Spanish tapas bar, or an American saloon or tavern. Etymology The word entered the English la ...

s'' and a grilled tentacle on a stick is popular at

Japanese festivals Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time to have little resemblance to ...

Osaka variety

The term "ikayaki" may refer to a style of "squid pancake" that is regional specialty in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. This pancake style is prepared like folded crêpes and made of chopped squid, hard dough, Worcestershire sauce and sometimes egg, and is cooked and pressed between two iron plates. The popularity of this style of "ikayaki" is partly due to its speed, as it only takes a minute to cook it this way. The Snack Park of

Hanshin Department Store is a Japanese department store chain owned by , a subsidiary of H2O Retailing Corporation. Stores ;Hanshin Umeda :*13-13, Umeda Itchome, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan :*Access ::*Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line: Umeda Station ::*JR West: Osak ...

(

Umeda is a major commercial, business, shopping and entertainment district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, and the city's main northern railway terminus (Ōsaka Station, Umeda Station). The district's name means "plum field". History Umeda was historical ...

, Osaka) is famous for its ikayaki. Ikayaki is also commonly served on the

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

or at the beach. It should not be confused with

takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bod ...

, which are spherical

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

dumplings also from Osaka.

References

External links

Ikayaki Hompo
*{{in lang, ja}
Hanshin Department Store
Japanese cuisine Fast food