Okadaman

Last week I saw a post online that it was Chef Okadaman's birthday and that to celebrate they were giving out free food at lunch.  Okadaman is a relatively new truck to the streets of Manhattan, specializing in okonomiyaki (pancakes), yakisoba (noodles), takoyaki (octopus balls), and kara-age (fried chicken).  Since I hadn't been able to get over to the truck before, this was the perfect opportunity.

I got to the truck on the later side of lunch and they were out of takoyaki.  I was in the mood for noodles so even though I was really curious about the okonomiyaki, I went for the yakisoba.  It would normally be $6.25, but since I used the magic birthday words, it was free!

My first thought when I got the container was that it felt really light.  Maybe that's a reflection on how much I eat, but it was much lighter than my salad bowls usually are.  I thought that maybe it was a smaller portion since it was for the free offer (which would be fine, since the free lobster roll promotions are usually only half of a lobster roll), but looking at other people's photos, I'm thinking that this may actually be the full portion.

The yakisoba consisted of stir-fried noodles, pork, cabbage, ginger, and special sauce.  I liked the flavor of the yakisoba, but to be full from lunch, I would need to get something more than just the yakisoba.  Although the dish itself wasn't that small, the noodles were lightly packed.  I think Sunrise Mart uses the same container for theirs but the noodles are much more densely packed, yielding a more substantial lunch.  Even more food than that is the yakisoba from Sapporo, which is only a few dollars more than Okadaman, but a giant plate.

I plan to go back to Okadaman at some point to try the okonomiyaki (which I would assume is more substantial than the yakisoba).  If you don't have a huge appetite, the yakisoba might be enough for a tasty lunch, but I think I need more!