Kakioko, the okonomiyaki with oysters in the Hinase style

Kakioko is a sort of okonomiyaki (a Japanese pancake with various ingredients) served in Hinase town in Bizen city, Okayama.
The word kakioko is an abbreviation of "Kaki (oyster) okonomiyaki".
As the name suggests, oysters are used as toppings.

Hinase town is located by the coast of Seto Inland Sea.
Fishery is the main industry there, and also they cultivate oysters.
At the okonomiyaki restaurants, local oysters are used abundantly for the okonomiyaki.
Usually, oysters are a bit expensive in Japan.
However at Hinase, they provide local oysters, so we can eat the kakioko with fresh oysters in cheaper price.

How to make Kakioko (okonomiyaki Hinase style) is different from both the Osaka style and the Hiroshima style.
In Osaka, people mix ingredients with dough and baked them together, later put pork meat on them.
Then they turn it over and bake other side.
In Hiroshima, dough and ingredients aren't mixed before people bake them.
As baking them, the dough and the ingredients such as cabbage, egg, noodles and pork meat are piled up one by one.

For kakioko, dough and cabbage are mixed and baked together.
Besides them, many of oysters are baked alone,
After the dough is baked, they put oysters and other ingredients on the dough, then pour another dough on top of them.
Finally they turn it over and bake other side.

Kakioko is served in the season of oysters (usually October to March), so you better visit Hinase the season if you want to enjoy fresh oysters.

Once I have happened to visit Hinase June or July.
But fortunately there was a Kakioko restaurant which had kept frozen oysters during the out of season, and they served kakioko even in summer.
The oysters were kept frozen so they were not seasonal, but I enjoyed them anyway.
If you don't care they are seasonal or kept frozen, you can visit Hinase anytime to eat kakioko.