The Mira Mesa Farmer’s Market happens just about every Tuesday. I was driving home from work yesterday and passed by the high school and thought, “Oh! Farmer’s Market! I’m gonna go.” And so I did.
The market seemed a little emptier on the farmer’s side yesterday, there was a big gap with some missing vendors – maybe they didn’t have enough stuff to sell that day. After wandering through the whole market I went back to check out the food.
I noticed there was a little stand making takoyaki with two Japanese ladies. The banner is in Japanese and I have no idea what it says. I had never tried takoyaki before and I was curious about it. Wikipedia tells me that takoyaki is “… a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion.”
Here’s the menu for the takoyaki. You get six pieces with your choice of filling: traditional filling has octopus and there is also shrimp, bacon, and cheese.
They also have egg waffles! I’ve read about egg waffles over on Kirbie’s blog and really wanted to try them, but didn’t have enough cash for everything. Next week!
Here’s a closeup of the takoyaki cooking.
This is another shot where you can see the ingredients on the right. She had just poured the batter all over the pan and I was wondering how in the heck they were turn into little balls.
Here’s a little video of the lady starting to turn the takoyaki over:
She just kept turning them over and into themselves to get the batter to stay inside. Looked so cool!
In the back of their booth you can see the steamer and the egg waffle pan. To the right of the pan is an egg waffle that was just taken off the griddle. It was hanging over a whisk and after a few minutes, the lady prepared it for the customer.
Here is my prepared takoyaki. Can you guess what flavor I picked?
I totally picked CHEESE. Yummy, delicious cheese. Look how stringy it is! I’m not sure what kind of cheese they used. I saw her put a small squares of cheese inside but I couldn’t tell what it was. Didn’t taste like mozzarella. They top the takoyaki off with a sauce that tasted a little bit like BBQ sauce with some mayo and bonito flakes. Bonito flakes weird me out since they look like they’re alive. They also look like fish food. They’re not my favorite thing, so I scraped it off before eating the takoyaki. The balls were quite soft and had a nice flavor to them – I really liked the hot, melted cheese inside. I had expected the outside to be a little bit crisper and more firm but they were very soft and squished together when I picked it up.
I also sprung for one of their steamed pork buns.
It tasted just like Filipino siopao buns (but with no egg in it). The filling was very saucy and on the sweet side. The bun wasn’t super soft and tasted like it had been made a few days before. I was hoping for something like the pork buns we get at Cream Pan but alas, they were not like that.
All in all it was fun to try both items. I think I’d enjoy the takoyaki without the flakes on top and I wonder if you could get bacon AND cheese together… hmmm. I’ll be back to try those egg waffles!
Takoyaki Booth
Mira Mesa Farmer’s Market
(at Mira Mesa High School)
10510 Reagan Rd
San Diego, CA 92126
Tuesdays 3PM-7PM
Oh my gosh!!!! I was thinking about this place a few months ago and tried to inquire if they were still here at the FM in Mira Mesa. Were they called Okada-Ya Takoyaki? I loved their takoyaki (especially the octopus and cheese – they sold me 3 and 3 so I could try em out). Thank you for posting this b/c I will so be there next Tues (time willing) to see them. I hope you do a post about the Mira Mesa FM too – it’s been ages since I’ve visited their FM.
Hi Faye – The name was only in Japanese so I don’t know what their actual name is :/ oh well! Maybe it’s still early in the year because a lot of stalls seemed to be missing. I also spied some arepas which are a Venezuelan treat I also want to try. I think next week I’ll try and arepa and an egg waffle! Maybe I’ll see you there!
I’m going to the Santee Farmers Market now, and hope that some new vendors have shown up. Haven’t been there all year. If there is nothing interesting, I’ll be in Mira Mesa next Tuesday.
Hi Cathy – I’ve never been to the Santee FM. I imagine a lot of the same folks travel around to the different FM, though some are bigger than others. Maybe it’s still early in the year for some of the vendors. Hoping to see more stalls at Mira Mesa, soon.
I like the bonita flakes on top of takoyaki! I like how they “quiver” like they’re alive, haha! I’m not too fond of steamed buns, unless the ratio of meat to bun is larger. I don’t like the doughy-ness of the bun.
Hi CC – You can have allllllll the bonito “I’m-really-alive” fish food flakes. They’re all yours 🙂