Otafuku
“Okonomiyaki Okonomiyaki Okonomiyaki Okonomiyaki Okonomiyaki Okonomiyaki
I also ordered the red bean medetai/taiyaki.”
“You can watch the bonito flakes dancing on the hot octopus balls–don't worry, everything is dead.”
“They have streamlined their menu to include only three things, Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, and Taiyaki.”
Otafuku
Take-out: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Man, I was so excited to try out Otafuku, but the food, unfortunately, fell flat. I really enjoy the Taiyaki that's made by Delimanjoo in Koreatown. The taiyaki at Otafuku was not so great, despite its golden brown fresh-out of the iron cast appearance. Argh. The texture of the fish-shaped cake that envelopes the red-bean paste filling was dry and meager. The red-bean paste was not smooth/pureed enough to my liking. It was also dry and lacking in moisture. -sigh- Please don't tell me this is even close to how taiyaki in Japan actually tastes.
Next up was the Octopus Takoyaki. The Octopus Takoyaki with the benito flakes was pretty good and flavorful. Texture was not soggy and still maintained its shape and flavor even when I left it in the refrigerator overnight. This I liked. You should totally try this when you get the chance.
And finally, the Matcha Parfait. Oh God. No. Just no. The picture that's displayed is so misleading. T.T For ~$6, I got a little cup with a tiny matcha sundae, a taiyaki(w/o filling) that was violently ripped in half, some red bean paste, and a tiny mochi. The matcha sundae was overwhelmingly bitter. Taiyaki was dry as usual. The sweetness of the red bean somewhat alleviated the bitterness of the matcha. Mochi was terribly bland(no filling either), despite its deceivingly glossy exterior. blargh.
Verdict: The hot-food items are worth the $, but save your $ for better sweets/dessert options around the area.
Eating at Otafuku always satisfies but it never quite blows me away.
The takoyaki are nice and hot, with a solid dashi flavor in the batter for umami, the chunks of octopus are tender. The okonomiyaki is cooked perfectly into a light, fluffy cabbage pancake with the tasty little shrimp. The taiyaki is classic and they're generous with the red bean.
But there are some little things that are sometimes a let-down. Sometimes the cooks are too heavy-handed with the sauce and that worcestershire-based takoyaki sauce drowns out the flavor of everything. If they're really busy and making takoyaki too fast, not every single piece gets a chunk of octopus. Also, when they make all the takoyaki in advance and hold it in the hot box, you lose the ability to taste the separate ingredients in the takoyaki- the benishoga, the tenkasu, the scallion and it just tastes like dashi custard. With the taiyaki, it's a simple street food snack and when it's not made to order, the crispness on the outside is completely lost as it steams up in the box.
Overall, the flavors are good and the prices are okay but Otafuku just isn't quite 5 stars for me.
I didn't have high expectations, but for a place that has 4 items on their menu (takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and medetai), I am going to assume you do them well. I gave the takoyaki and okonomiyaki a shot, but they were, to be honest, not good. The takoyaki was large, but mostly starch and very little tako. The okonomiyaki felt like it was only fried cabbage. I've had much, much better takoyaki and okonomiyaki at other establishments that don't even specialize in them.
Ok ok ok this is another restaurant I've known about for years and haven't written a review for it yet. Let me start off by saying I love Takoyaki and I try to eat them whenever I can get my hands on them. Takoyaki are grilled octopus balls with Japanese mayo, special sauce, squid bonito flakes, and garnishes on top.
Otafuku is a NYC staple and must do for me when I'm visiting. They only make 3 different dishes and 2 desserts, that's literally it and people still flock to them. I always get the Takoyaki and okonomiyaki.
Ive never been to Japan, but I've been told these are authentic as they come. I've tried Takoyaki in Korea, Malaysia, Maryland , Virginia, and other NYC restaurants and nothing has come close to Otafuku to me.
The Takoyaki always come out piping hot and will burn your mouth, so be careful. I would love to go to Japan one day to compare and go on a Takoyaki binge spree! ;p
I've been meaning to try okonomiyaki for some time, so I was excited to check out otafuku. I got the combo with the shrimp oko and the hot shrimp yakisoba. (I know the pork is supposed to be better, but I'd rather not eat meat if I can avoid it.)
The okonomiyaki was very enjoyable, with sweet, smoky, and umami flavors hitting me one after the other. I think I'd have a hard time eating two of them, making the $9 entree a solid deal. The "shrimp" were the creepy little wiggles that you get out of a can. Even at that price point, they could do better than that–especially considering that they don't have to pay for seating. Still, if this had been the only thing I ordered, I probably would have given a 4.
The yakisoba was nasty. It tasted like pasta tossed with onion soup mix, an ungodly amount of oil, and more of those creepy wiggle-shrimp. I threw it out.
I'll probably be back, but just for the okonomiyaki.
I love takoyaki, and I was super duper excited to try a NY takoyaki… (that's how much I love them)
I literally made my friends take a detour so we could try this place.
First off, there wasn't any other customers. You'd think they would make fresh takoyakis for us… WRONG! They gave us takoyaki that clearly had been made hours earlier.
The flavor fell flat of expectations. It wasn't anything to rave about.
I should have told the worker I was from Cali and ask for some fresh balls! But that thought didn't occur to me.
I see this photo of a fish shape looking thing like a pancake and it's called Medetai from Otafuku. And I look up the menu and I can get it with red bean or Nutella & Banana for $3.
I figure I need to get something else too if I'm making the trip and I see Octopus Balls, Takoyaki.
So or yea I never had those how would they feel when I put them in my mouth, are they squelchy or crunchy and does anything squirt out of them when I bite them?
Well I walk in hopping to see the Medetai being made in a their cooking mold but they had some pre-made and it took 30 seconds to bag my order of Nutella & Banana Medetai and a set of 6 Octopus Balls.
The Octopus Balls are thin crispy on the outside but not crunchy, and soft and mostly empty space on the inside. They slathered a sauce and some mayo with some bonito flakes on top. there is a little piece of something inside but I could not tell what it was, a piece of Octopus something maybe but I did not like the flavor. It left me in a blah blah state knowing I would be having Octopus Balls anytime soon.
Now the Medetai was different the outside was plain but the Nutella & Banana was a good mix. If anything I would add powered sugar or something to the outside to make them better.
I didn't see anything other than the Medetai in this place that would make me do a return trip and I think there is a Medetai like vendor in K-Town I could try in that case.
Dropped by after dinner and was ecstatic to see taiyaki on the menu. The pastry chefs make it right in front of you in cute fish molds.
Space – No seating inside, but there's a wooden bench you can sit on outside. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain.
Red bean taiyaki – I'm all for red bean, but this one just wasn't sweet enough and was a little dry.
Banana Nutella taiyaki – Yum! I preferred this one over the red bean. The banana gave the taiyaki a little moisture and the nutella amped up the sweetness.