Tamayaki Wars

tamayaki balls

As a San Juan resident, it was interesting to almost wake up one day and find three shops serving fried egg batter balls with origins from the exciting street food scene in Osaka. The Wilson area in San Juan, where a rather large concentration of Chinese reside, shop and hold office, has been doing good business with innovative food concepts that first got the nods of the residents of Chinese descent in the area.  Food giants such as North Park, Mann Hann, and Lugang Café are just a few of the innovative players in the food scene that arose from this area. Now my district seems to have the highest concentration of tea bars in any area serving Taiwanese beverage creations that are now widely accepted in Asia.

Tamayaki is not really a new concept. It has been around ever since in the classic presence of Takoyaki which of course through the years has been Filipinized (like Shawarma with a Barbecue glaze). Takoyaki is a dynamic street food concept that seemed to have evolved from the Okonomiyaki, an egg batter omelette on a Japanese frittata with vegetables and a piece of octopus that is made easier to eat by cooking it in mouth-sized, (still horrendously large) seasoned, round grill molds that eventually became non-stick. Shaping the egg batter filled with vegetables, chives and a piece of octopus or protein (chicken or bacon) such as its bigger cousin the Okonimiyaki and creating the balls requires speed and some dexterity in the turning and folding of the batter as they cook in the mold. It is good visual merchandising and seems to whet one’s appetite when you watch. The term “Tama” seems to be a substitute for the classic “Tako” (octopus) since “Tama” means round spot and “yaki” means to cook, so one can now play around with the protein and flavors put in the egg batter.

My contention is, whether it be Takoyaki or Tamayaki, I would tend to agree with purists that this street food can best be eaten on premises and not taken out. There is a dimension of excitement, challenge and a flavor that one misses out as steam is ejected into one’s mucous membranes when one pops a freshly hot ball into one’s mouth and the scalding steam and almost béchamel-like consistency of the center starts flowing out of the crunchy exterior almost peeling off the protected layer of your upper pallet.  One gets a combined freshly cooked frittata and shabu-shabu experience, not to mention back flavours of yakinibu from the caramelization and the katsuoboshi shavings. 

My young nephew Andrew Lizares seemed to panic and said, “Tito, why is smoke coming out of your mouth?” The technique is like eating ramen which is sucking in air and blowing it out much like slurping the near boiling broth to catch the flavors and ease the temperatures as it gets in one’s palate. (Much like fooling around with the general’s daughter.)

Anyway, I went around and tried these “hot” omelette balls since I’ve been a sucker for these ever since I was a teen.  

Here are some notes I made on the San Juan Tamayakis: 

TEA MONKEY – This place done in cheery pastel lime and mint greens is located on J. Abad Santos St. near the corner of Wilson St. Aside from the beverage and yogurt selections, the place has an area for visual merchandising where one can watch Tamayaki balls being freshly made to order.  The strength of the Tamayaki balls in this place is their emphasis on toppings which has three variants: Charlie chimp is topped with Japanese mayo, tamayaki sauce, roasted nori and katsuoboshi which is closest to the classic Takoyaki; Gorilla George is a Japanese mayo tamayaki sauce, roasted nori, katsuoboshi but with fresh nori (seaweed) and tobiko; while Kingkong has all the toppings of Gorilla George but with additional kodako or baby octopus. One also has the choice of wasabi mayonnaise or an all-ebi Tamayaki.  Gorilla George is my choice as the fresh seaweed gives the flavor an added lift and texture. With all the toppings and the busy textures of other condiments including the kodakoon, the Kingkong was really cancelled out even as an additional texture. Prices per order are reasonable considering an order is six balls.

TAMAYAKI – This is located along P. Guevarra right beside my place between Wilson St. and Recto St. Tamayaki’s emphasis and strength lie on the fillings as variants. I had the classic octopus with the crunch of vegetables and the flavors of dried and lightly smoked Bonito (katsuoboshi) with nori in a sweetish soy-based topping, enriched with sweet mayonnaise. A stronger tasting order was the Smoked Mackerel which had the Filipino flagship (tinapa) on the menu. The Smoked Mackerel was delicious and blended well with all the embellishments like the Katsuoboshi, the sauce and the sweet mayonnaise. I had the oriental beef on another day where tender morsels of marinated beef were centered on the balls of steamy freshly cooked balls.

A Tamayaki ball seems to have a crispy, crusty exterior, and truly creates their fillings. Many combinations are kid-friendly and have some fillings such as hotdog and cheese or ham and cheese but may get more adult and sophisticated with fillings like oyster and cheese. The grill molds are larger than their competitors' but an average order may be pricier being four balls per order. The batter is whiter, probably a less proportion of egg yolk, thus, producing a crispier product as compared to its neighbors.

TEA TAP – This is located at the corner of Wilson and P. Guevarra and serves milk tea and frozen yogurt creations.  Recently, they have added rice meals that seem to veer towards a Taiwanese – Asian theme such as Hamburger Curry Rice and Bulgogi Rice Burger.  And one of the incidental items is Takoyaki which requires a 15-minute wait. Since average prices of all menu items are on the above 100-peso scale, an order of Takoyaki would cost more than the neighboring places that specialize in these balls. The style here is very traditional and does not have the fancy fillings or toppings the other two tea places offer. One should insist though that they cook their Takoyaki “well done” as I’ve had it in this state the last time and it was what it should be, golden on the outside with a moist wet but cooked interior that doesn’t taste like flour. This was well enjoyed with a glass of cold Formosan milk tea.

You can email at 

chefgenegonzalez@yahoo.com [1].