It looks like takoyaki, but this specialty from Shikoku is something else.

Takoyaki, bite-sized octopus dumplings, are popular across Japan, but hey’re especially loved by people in the country’s central Kansai region. So when our Kansai-resident reporter K. Masami was taking a trip through Kagawa Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, she thought she saw the familiar sight of takoyaki being grilled at a street food stall.

But while what the stall was serving up definitely looked like takoyaki, the signs called it something else: kasshayaki. As a matter of fact, one of the banners even said that this was “ganso kasshayaki,” or “old-school/authentic kasshayaki,” implying that there are enough kasshayaki fans out there for there to be an established, nostalgia-triggering taste for the dish.

▼ 元祖かっしゃ焼 = ganso kasshayaki

And yet, Masami had never once heard of kasshayaki before this. She’s never seen a kasshayaki stand in Nara Prefecture (where she lives), Osaka (Japan’s top takoyaki town), or Tokyo (the city with Japan’s most diverse dining options). With her interest piqued and appetited whetted, Masami ordered a plate of eight kasshayaki for 500 yen (US$3.50), which is pretty similar to common prices for, you guessed it takoyaki.

Taking a closer look at her kasshayaki, Masami saw that they’d come slathered with the same sort of savoy sauce that usually accompany takoyaki as well.

▼ Kasshayaki

▼ Takoyaki

But when Masami took a bite of her kasshayaki, she finally found out what separates it from takoyaki: kasshayaki dumplings are filled with chicken.

Suddenly, it all clicked. The “kasha” part of “kasshayaki” comes from “kashiwa,” a way of saying “chicken” in Japanese. So instead of takoyaki, which are stuffed with octopus (tako in Japanse), the filling for kasshayaki is chicken, which is stewed in a curry-seasoned sauce prior to be being plunked into batter on a sphere-shaping griddle.

▼ Kasshayaki being cooked

The breading of Masami’s kasshayaki was cooked to perfection, with just a touch of surface-level crispness and an enticing chewiness underneath. Waiting in the middle was the delicious curry-seasoned chicken, which meshed deliciously with the savory sauce and sprinkles of katsuobushi (bonito flakes) that had been added to the dumplings after they left the griddle. Kasshayaki can stand shoulder to shoulder with takoyaki in terms of flavor, and Masami has a hunch that the meatier filling, would make it the superior pairing for a nice cold beer, especially with the satisfyingly firm texture of the chicken, which is a local cuisine quirk that Kagawa is known for.

Kasshayaki is very much a regional specialty, though, and we’ve never encountered it outside of its home prefecture. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that this tasty street food snack in other parts of Japan, and it’s definitely something to keep an eye out for if you’re traveling in Kagawa.

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