"Let me just ..." Yamato says, washing his hands before grabbing the octopus and moving it to a chopping board. It doesn't take long for him to dice it into small pieces. "Okay. Now we just have to cook all of this."

He takes a second to figure out who's going to do what, then: "Kiddo, grab some tongs or something and start frying the beef in this pan. Take it out of the pan and dip it back in the glaze every minute or so, and then keep frying it."

To Barry, he says: "This pan here is for the takoyaki. Pour a little batter in, add some octopus, and pour a little more batter to cover it. Roll it around with spoons as you cook it to get it into a ball shape."

He moves over to the last pan. "And I'll handle the okonomiyaki, and if either of you need help on anything, just say."