Okonomiyaki sauce

As the name suggests, okonomiyaki sauce is one of the two main condiments drizzled on top of okonomiyaki, along with Kewpie mayo. It’s similar to the whole family of thick Japanese brown sauces like yakisoba and tonkatsu sauce, which will sometimes be used interchangeably depending on what someone has on hand but which each have slightly different profiles.

Okonomiyaki sauce is balanced but complex; it’s sweet and savory, with a Worcestershire-like backbone and tang.

Okonomiyaki itself is a Japanese savory “pancake” made of cabbage, dashi batter, egg, and whatever mix-ins you like; crumbled nori, little shrimp, octopus, squid, scallions and sometimes other vegetables and/or seafood are popular, along with bacon or thin pork belly on the outside to add a crispy savoriness.

With the crisp flavors of the dashi, pork belly, cabbage, and other fillings, the sauce for okonomiyaki brings another layer of scrumptious, sweet-savory-tangy complexity. This balances with the balanced creaminess of the Kewpie mayonnaise, and the smokiness of the katsuobushi bonito flakes, which are another standard topping.

You’ll find okonomiyaki sauce, alongside other similar Japanese Worcestershire-style sauces like tonkatsu and yakisoba sauce, in Uwajimaya’s grocery department.