Happosai (八宝菜) is another Japanese Chinese dish similar to Yasaiitame stir-fry vegetables. Various vegetables, seafood, and pork are braised in a gooey savory sauce. It is a wonderful entree for dinner or a hearty lunch over rice.
Fried Squid Ring (イカリングフライ) is squid sliced into “rings,” coated with Panko and deep-fried. It could be an appetizer dish to go with drinks or a tasty entree for dinner.
Fried Squid Ring is more a home cooking dish than restaurant food. It can be served at some diner-type restaurants, but more often, you may find it at Izakaya, food and drink bars. It is like fried calamari in the US, but Fried Squid Ring is definitely always coated with Panko bread crumbs.
Okonomiyaki is a cabbage pancake covered with savory Okonomiyaki sauce. Okonomiyaki sauce is a Worcester-based sauce with some sweetener, similar to Tonkatsu Sauce, and it is the crucial flavor of this dish. Okonomiyaki with pork is the one of the most popular kinds, but Squid is also a staple item on the menu at Okonomiyaki restaurants in Japan. We recommend using raw squid because it will give the batter more flavor, but any squid you can find, such as calamari (not breaded), is fine.