JJapanese Food

Shrimp takoyakis. In my country, they sell them at a Japanese restaurant. Do you think they look like authentic Japanese food?

  • April 22, 2025


Shrimp takoyakis. In my country, they sell them at a Japanese restaurant. Do you think they look like authentic Japanese food?

by UrCherryLady

30 comments

  1. Is it shrimp or takoyaki? Tako = octopus. If it has shrimp inside, it’s not takoyaki. Looks exactly like takoyaki though, so yeah, looks like authentic Japanese food.

  2. Yes, but with a caveat: the vast majority of takoyaki served around the world is frozen and premade, which is why it’s easy to find “authentic” looking takoyaki. The sauce and mayo look good, and the nori is fine, but the more common topping is aonori (powdered nori).

    Even in Japan, if you’re not at a specialty takoyaki shop, there’s a good chance you’re being served premade, frozen takoyaki. Not that there’s much wrong with that – made to order takoyaki is amazing but frozen can be pretty good too!

  3. Barring the fact that tako (octopus) is the most common filling, the above picture looks pretty decent. I personally would put more bonito flakes and use aonori over regular nori, but other than that it looks authentic enough. Plus, shrimp is a pretty reasonable substitution, I’ve even seen fillings like bacon and cheese.

  4. I’m yet to find takoyaki in Australia that’s anything like Japan. Unless you make it yourself, every here is prefrozen and not cooked fresh from scratch

  7. It’s pretty easy to make and I actually prefer to use shrimp at home – I have a weird ethical thing with octopus and don’t like boiling and preparing it myself, but will eat it if skillfully made (Osaka was amazing).

    However this would be called ‘ebiyaki’

  8. As someone who tend to enjoy a few too many takoyaki and ebiyaki, they look fairly authentic! Probably frozen though. They just need more drizzle, more katsuobushi and aonori instead of regular nori!

  10. They should be upfront about the shrimp and label them as such.

    While those with crustacean (shrimp) allergies aren’t necessarily allergic to mollusks (octopus)…it can happen. There’s no need to accidentally kill a customer.

    That said, those look very tasty!

  12. They look good, but tbh they should be drowning in sauce, not just dipping a toe.

  14. I’m sure this is tasty, but takoyaki MEANS grilled octopus, just as yakitori MEANS grilled chicken, so no this is not traditional, but so what – it sounds like a decent misnamed variation.

  16. So jealous. My friend just made mitarashi dango in preparation for a school project and we don’t live close so I cannot et

  17. Ebi-yaki I guess but they look the part. Swapping shrimp out for the octopus would be fairly easy.

  19. I like to make my own. It is fun. I also make sugar-coated pancake balls for the kids sometimes.

  21. I can get ebiyaki frozen at my local Japanese grocery store. It’s pretty good with either filling!

  22. “shrimp **tako**yaki”

    wouldn’t that make it ebiyaki?

    Stuffed fried dough would make it a shrimp beignet. Takoyaki is specifically reserved for octopus filled beignets

  23. Takoyaki contains take=octopus. Try finding another name for the shrimp version.
    Btw, you can buy these also frozen at your conbini. But instead of using the sweet sauce I pour a good olive oil over it. It goes well with a simple red wine, not the expensive Bordeaux one.

  25. I’ve always wondered why we don’t see them with other ingredients. There’s a lot of options I’d prefer over tako

  27. Just to clear up any confusion seems to be causing, I did a quick survey of everyone at work around me here in Osaka, and even without the octopus, we will still call it takoyaki.

    In OP’s case it’s エビ入りのたこ焼き “takoyaki with ebi inside”, etc.

    We have Takopa (takoyaki parties) here and you can put whatever your like, a wiener, kimchi. We even used pepperoni slices (quite rare here in Japan) and cheese.

    Regarding OP’s question, does it look Japanese? Yeah, it does, but it’s also good to know that it comes in a variety of toppings or no toppings at all.

    Some prefer the simplicity of an undressed takoyaki if it’s made with good dashi (kinda like salt and pepper is the best seasoning for a really good cut of meat).

    I am partial to dunking my takoyaki in ponzu.

    Or you can dunk it in some dashi broth, like how you’d eat akashiyaki, the precursor of the takoyaki.

  29. While it looks authentic and I would surely eat it with shrimp, I recall an incident at a stall during the Yodogawa fireworks display in 2005 when they served takoyaki with shrimp, squid, and even pork in it. The problem was the staff didn’t notice the customers about the various ingredients and two customers got an allergic shock and were transferred to the hospital.
    It’s nice to try different styles but let others know about it is pretty important 😓

  30. I went to a place in Rhode Island that had “traditional” Japanese street food I had takayaki with octopus. It was great

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