A savoury pancake between 2 pieces of bread? Yum!
I try not to think about carbs too much in my spare time, but with this they're staring you in the face before you even open the packaging.
(Yeah, not that you can see that much of the filling in this photo... Huge yellow discount stickers for the win! #ThanksLawson)
Chibo is a great Japanese restaurant chain to go to for okonomiyaki. It doesn't have a huge menu, but it does a few different dishes pretty well.
Lawson is a... meh convenience store to go to for sandwiches. The store I found this at didn't even have plain ham and lettuce in stock. (Which is what I was really looking for at the time, because I'm getting boring in middle age.)
Where did this collaboration come from, anyway? In early 2025, Lawson created limited-edition foods inspired by Osaka area classics, including guest appearances by some famous local eateries.
I could also have tried: the takoyaki onigiri (huh), curry udon (too messy), old-school purin (hell yeah), or a retro cafe-style hot dog (maybe another time).
The okonomiyaki sandwich is the most innovative (read: just plain weird) of the bunch.
Once these sandos were out of the plastic and onto a plate, they looked thick.
A decent amount of sauce visible from the start, always a good sign. Dry bread and interesting food reviews don't mix.
They also looked cold, though. The idea of eating chilled okonomiyaki didn't appeal to me all that much. So I decided to warm these sandwiches up a bit (the bread seemed like it'd be okay).
The result:
On feeling the microwave's cosy embrace, my sandwiches relaxed. They refused to stay upright any more, not even for a quick photo. It's been a rough winter, so I know exactly how that feels... Okay, time to eat!
To me, something that can make or break okonomiyaki is the amount of bacon on top. In this case, bacon saved this sandwich from being a stodgy disappointment.
You can see in the pics that the ratio of okonomiyaki batter to filling isn't ideal to start with. (That's what you get with a discount sandwich, I guess.) I was hoping it wouldn't taste too plain. Bacon and sauce combined to make sure that wasn't the case.
I'm not about to start putting restaurant okonomiyaki in bread, I can tell you that much.
You know what would've been way better for this collab? Using okonomiyaki instead of slices of bread, with a bacon and lettuce filling. Even more innovative, even more Osaka 'eat your heart out' style. A woman can dream, right?
Verdict: 6/10. A great idea, could've been better and involved more lettuce. I've also never said that a sandwich 'needs more lettuce' before...