okonomiyaki sauce
A thick, dark brown Japanese condiment, sweet, fruity and savoury, brushed over okonomiyaki.
Okonomiyaki sauce is a Japanese condiment made from fruit and vegetable purée, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and spices, related to Worcestershire sauce but much thicker and sweeter. It tastes fruity and sweet with a mild tang and a deep, savoury background. Its syrupy consistency matters, since the sauce should cling to a hot pancake rather than soak in; it is often topped with lines of Japanese mayonnaise. Takoyaki and tonkatsu sauce are similar, though slightly thinner and tangier. It is sold in bottles at Asian grocers, sometimes in well-stocked supermarkets, and by mail order.
Substitute:
Tonkatsu sauce is the closest match and only slightly less sweet. As a stopgap, mix ketchup with Worcestershire sauce, a little soy sauce and sugar or honey; this hits the sweet-savoury direction but tastes more of tomato and less rounded than the real thing.