Quick Bite: Octopus balls and pancakes. Yum!

For take-out with a more exotic spin than typical fast food or Americanized Chinese, there is Otafuku in the East Village. There you can try the 'Takoyaki', a Japanese street foood which is basically doughy bread balls with octopus and 'okonomiyaki', similar to a pancake made of cabbage, your choice of meat, and more. Okonomiyaki roughly translates to "what you want cooked" I had the combo meal B ($8.00) that gave me 6 Takoyaki and 1 okonomiyaki, which I tried with shrimp, though pork, beef or squid are the other options.

There are no seats and the place literally can only hold two people so it’s really only a take-out place. Make sure you have a few minutes because they fry up the okonomiyaki fresh right in front of you, and then they top it with mysterious yet delicious sauces and toppings. It was plenty of food, plenty delicious and a new experience.

Otafuku
236 E. 9th St., New York, NY 10003
nr. Second Ave
212-353-8503
Cash only
Hours: Mon-Fri, 1pm-10pm; Sat-Sun, 11am-10pm