New Yorkers are at times still too dazzled by sushi and its rice-less companion that they forget that Japanese cuisine isn’t all about immaculate pieces of raw fish. Otafuku is a place where you can add three new dishes to your gourmet repertoire: okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and yakisoba. Take a moment to open your eyes to the rest of Japanese deliciousness.
Always crowded, overflowing onto the streets.
The place is truly a Manhattan shoebox. Three employees clad in their branded t-shirts are typically seen efficiently running the “kitchen”, hovering around the takoyaki molds and grill. The process may be a little slow, but certainly not because they’re not moving fast enough. If they happen to be out of those yummy octopus balls (also available in cheese and plain, but I’d suggest still the one with octopus bits), they’ll make them on the spot, which may require a 5-10 minute wait.
Employees work tirelessly on the grills
Okonomiyaki, a sort of glorified Japanese omelet, is also a nice choice. If you go, definitely order the combo with it for the full experience. Like Ramen, how it’s made is different all over Japan and to be honest I’m not quite sure where this particular recipe is from, though I must say it’s quite good. For your information, Hiroshima is typically the region people associate with okonomiyaki, but it is loved up and down the four islands. There are four or five “flavors” of okonomiyaki, including beef, shrimp, etc. The combos add up only to about 7-10 dollars, so it should be in your budget to give them all a try at some point.
Simple Menu
Yakisoba falls a bit into the background at this place, seeing as it is a bit more common, but you never know when you’ll be in the mood for fried noodles. Otafuku also offers daifuku (a really really big mochi/ricecake) and dorayaki (a red bean sandwich of sorts, for those of you who know who doraemon is, that’s where he got his name). There is also an impressive assortment of Japanese drinks, a nice supplement to any combo you may get.
The only real draw back to this place is that there are no seats, only a lonely bench in front of the store. However, if you don’t mind looking like a bum, you can eat standing up or find a stoop across the street. For the price, it might just be worth 10 minutes of your dignity.
You're looking at the entire store.
P.S. Ask for the both the sauce and fish flakes, without it, it just isn’t the same.
Yum~~~ now go join the crowd on the sidewalk eating..
P.P.S. Also check out Sobaya across the street for some excellent soba (buckwheat noodles) and Cha-An next door for lovely tea and food parings.
Jessie
Rating: 
236 E 9th St New York, NY 10003
[...] and various ingredients. You can put anything you want in it, ranging from chicken meat to yakisobaOtafuku New York, Otafuku Takoyaki | Eat Big AppleNew Yorkers are at times still too dazzled by sushi and its rice-less companion that they forget [...]
I Love Otafuku, especially their funky sounding name, lol.
They seem to have a cult following that don’t mind standing on the sidewalk to enjoy the delicious authentic Japanese eats.
When we first built this place (I’m the General Contractor that built this hole-in-the-wall eatery), I had no idea they would be so popular.
There’s no room for seating in there, so the customers would overflow into the sidewalk, and passers-by would see groups of people outside eating out of those clear plastic containers, and blocking pedestrian traffic.
I actually prefer to wait a few extra minutes for a fresh batch of Takoyakis to be made, since they taste much better right off the grill.
They also had a small fire there a few months back, and we replaced the storefront for them again.
We built all of the restaurants you mentioned in this review, and a few others in your blog. It’s interesting to read the reviews of something we were involved with.
Happy eating!
@Taste
Very cool. What is the name of you contracting firm? and which restaurants did you guys work on? is it the restaurant’s by the legendary Bon Yagi?