The at-home restaurant Senza-an Ito (Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto), run by the beautiful Takeda family, is famous for its choboyaki, a traditional Japanese dish with a downtown atmosphere that is said to be the original takoyaki. 12 dimples are filled with chikuwa, konnyaku, takuan and other ingredients, and the dough with broth is poured into each dimple. The finished product is sprinkled with powdered bonito and a dash of seasoning. The dough is then poured over the top and finished with a sprinkling of powdered bonito and a dash of spicy seasoning.

The restaurant is run by the third generation, Nobuharu Hirai, who inherited the business from his mother, and the fourth generation, Risa, the second daughter of Hirai. You can choose from pork, squid, or suji (pork or squid meat) for the mambo-yaki filling, and soba or udon for the noodles. Enjoy the taste and atmosphere that explains why customers visit the restaurant several times a week.

Chie, the owner of Okonomi-Chie (Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture), was born in Osaka and grew up in Hiroshima. After returning to the Kansai region, she fell in love with Hiroshima okonomiyaki and gained experience at izakayas, teppan-yaki, and okonomiyaki restaurants before opening her own restaurant here, near her mother's home. The okonomiyaki is made by spreading a thin layer of batter on a large griddle and topping it with a heap of cabbage. The cabbage pile shrinks as it is cooked slowly, slowly bringing out its sweetness. I was also in love with Chie's deftness in combining the noodles and eggs for the finishing touch. Watching the process of making the okonomiyaki is also a blissful experience.

Takako Hasebe, who was a housewife until her four children left the nest, started her own restaurant [Kyo-chan] (Minami-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture), which she had longed to open, at the age of 62. With a signboard bearing the name of her mother, Kyoko, she began her second life as a mother of an okonomiyaki restaurant. She sources the key ingredients for her okonomiyaki, such as hormone, suji, pork, and beef, from four different suppliers, each of which has its own specialties. The restaurant is now gaining fans for its easy-to-eat combinations that are an extension of home cooking, such as the salted sticky rice cake, which he learned from his daughter-in-law, and the negi modern, which uses kujo leeks instead of cabbage.