About the Japanese on this page
Some Japanese is left here on purpose. **Source titles** are given as published, so you can find the original. **Addresses are shown in Japanese as well as romanised**, because Japanese is what works in a taxi or a map app. Shop names keep the Japanese alongside for the same reason. Everything else — hours, closing days, prices, seating, how to get there, and the articles — is in English, translated from the Japanese edition rather than machine-translated on the fly.
SIMILAR
Regional dishes close to monja
The regional flour-based dishes that sit around monjayaki. We do not lump them together as "variants of monja"; each is treated as its own dish. To be listed, existence must be confirmable from a primary source — a local authority, a prefecture, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, or the body concerned. We start with the six we could confirm and add more at each monthly update.
Tarashi-yaki たらし焼
Relation to monja It shares one thing with monja: a batter thinned with liquid, dribbled onto an iron plate. It also shares the past as a snack at a penny sweet shop.
Difference No ring is built. The batter is poured and cooked until it sets, and eaten as a single piece, closer to okonomiyaki. It is not stirred on the plate the way monja is.
Where it stands now A few shops serve it. As of 2021 it was reported that only four or five were left.
| Tarashi-yaki | Monjayaki (Tsukishima) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | 茨城県 / Oarai, Higashiibaraki District | Tsukishima, Chuo City, Tokyo |
| Since | Taisho period (1912–1926) | Descended from monjiyaki of the Edo and Meiji periods |
| Ingredients | Wheat flour, dashi, cabbage, red pickled ginger, cut squid, egg, spring onion | Wheat flour, cabbage, dashi, sauce, other ingredients |
Sources
- Wikipedia「たらし焼き (大洗)」
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%9F%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E7%84%BC%E3%81%8D_(%E5%A4%A7%E6%B4%97) - 観光いばらき（茨城県）大洗町のグルメガイド
https://www.ibarakiguide.jp/gourmet/seaside_gourmet/page001886.html - V-STORAGE「ファンが支えてくれた伝統の味」お好み焼き 道 副店長インタビュー
https://v-storage.jp/talk/interview/154246/
Isesaki Monja いせさきもんじゃ
Relation to monja The name and the method are monja itself. It is said to have begun when merchants of the textile town of Isesaki brought it back from trading trips to Tokyo, and it spread as a penny sweet shop snack.
Difference Seasoned three ways — ama (strawberry syrup), kara (curry powder) and amakara (both) — not the dashi-based monja of Tsukishima. No ring is built and there are few ingredients.
Where it stands now Eaten at a few shops and sweet shops in the city. The junior chamber of commerce promotes it with an official site and a mascot.
| Isesaki Monja | Monjayaki (Tsukishima) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | 群馬県 / Isesaki | Tsukishima, Chuo City, Tokyo |
| Since | Said to date from the Meiji period | Descended from monjiyaki of the Edo and Meiji periods |
| Ingredients | Wheat flour, strawberry syrup (ama), curry powder (kara), Baby Star noodle snacks and others | Wheat flour, cabbage, dashi, sauce, other ingredients |
Sources
- いせさきもんじゃ 公式（伊勢崎商工会議所青年部）
http://www.isesaki-yeg.jp/monja/ - 群馬県観光物産国際協会「いせさきもんじゃ」
https://gunma-kanko.jp/spots/465
Monji-yaki 文字焼（もんじやき）
Relation to monja The direct ancestor of monja. Batter loosened with syrup was dribbled onto a copper plate in the shape of written characters.
Difference A sweet. No cabbage, no dashi, no savoury seasoning. What survives into today's monja is the name and part of the method.
Where it stands now Does not survive in its own form. The name and part of the method remain in monja today.
| Monji-yaki | Monjayaki (Tsukishima) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | 東京都 / Edo and Tokyo (penny sweet shops) | Tsukishima, Chuo City, Tokyo |
| Since | Edo to Meiji period | Descended from monjiyaki of the Edo and Meiji periods |
| Ingredients | Wheat flour, syrup | Wheat flour, cabbage, dashi, sauce, other ingredients |
Sources
- 農林水産省「うちの郷土料理」もんじゃ焼き 東京都
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/search_menu/menu/34_3_tokyo.html - Wikipedia「もんじゃ焼き」（清水晴風『街の姿』の記述を含む）
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%82%E3%82%93%E3%81%98%E3%82%83%E7%84%BC%E3%81%8D
Dondon-yaki どんどん焼き
Relation to monja Said to be Tokyo monja changed to suit a stall, so that it could be carried and eaten while walking.
Difference Wound onto disposable chopsticks. Made to be carried, so it is cooked firm rather than kept loose.
Where it stands now A fixture of stalls at festivals and events in Yamagata, and introduced as a regional dish of the city.
| Dondon-yaki | Monjayaki (Tsukishima) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | 山形県 / Yamagata | Tsukishima, Chuo City, Tokyo |
| Since | Said to derive from Tokyo monja adapted for street stalls | Descended from monjiyaki of the Edo and Meiji periods |
| Ingredients | Wheat flour, sauce, aonori, dried fish flakes | Wheat flour, cabbage, dashi, sauce, other ingredients |
Sources
- 山形市 お宝読本「タカラの山ガタ」どんどん焼き
https://www.yamagatakara.jp/takara/specialties/dondonyaki.html
Nikuten にくてん
Relation to monja One of the flour-based dishes that share a root with monja and okonomiyaki.
Difference Built on simmered beef tendon and potato, and cooked firm. Closer to okonomiyaki than to monja.
Where it stands now Eaten both at home and at okonomiyaki restaurants. There is a "nikuten society" formed by okonomiyaki shops.
| Nikuten | Monjayaki (Tsukishima) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | 兵庫県 / Takasago | Tsukishima, Chuo City, Tokyo |
| Since | Pre-war | Descended from monjiyaki of the Edo and Meiji periods |
| Ingredients | Wheat flour, beef tendon, konnyaku, potato, cabbage | Wheat flour, cabbage, dashi, sauce, other ingredients |
Sources
Issen-yoshoku / Beta-yaki 一銭洋食（べた焼き）
Relation to monja The step between monjayaki and okonomiyaki. Thin batter spread on the plate with ingredients laid on top.
Difference Cooked firm and folded, then eaten. Not kept loose.
Where it stands now Specialist shops remain in Kyoto, Hiroshima and elsewhere.
| Issen-yoshoku / Beta-yaki | Monjayaki (Tsukishima) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | 京都府・広島県ほか / Kyoto, Hiroshima and elsewhere | Tsukishima, Chuo City, Tokyo |
| Since | Taisho to early Showa period | Descended from monjiyaki of the Edo and Meiji periods |
| Ingredients | Wheat flour, spring onion, egg, dried shrimp, sauce | Wheat flour, cabbage, dashi, sauce, other ingredients |