Okinawa City Okinawa (沖縄市): Eating in Okinawa

Here's a little bit about what my diet looks like here in Okinawa
Okonomiyake

"Okonomiyake? Have you tried it? It's like a Japanese pancake." This is how I've heard a few Japanese folks explain this delicious little number. This is really more of an Osaka food, and I've only had Okonomiyake in Kansai Airport, so I may not have the best frame of reference... still, I thought that the Okonomiyake place in Misato was awesome. Rumor has it they're moving to Takahara, which is much closer to where I live. Here's another photo to give you an idea of what's in it (basically everything):

Nothing about the above suggests pancakes to me, but then I was looking through my photos and remembered what the pancakes at Caracalla in Chatan look like:

Even includes ice cream on top. So maybe Okonomiyake and pancakes are a lot alike. We prefer ice cream, fruit, and syrup; they prefer octopus, mayonaise, scallions, and slightly sweet soy sauce.

Cook It Yourself
You saw it in Lost In Translation, and it's true: they make you cook your own meal, sometimes. Actually, you have that option at the Okonomiyake place above. Here are some other CIY foods:

Hiroshima-style Noodles
They're so nice they left this little card in eigo (English) for us

Basically, you get to make your own broth. You pick, to some extent what will go in your soup, but you get to really jack up the spice if that's your style.

Yaki Nikku
Wanna grill out, but you don't have a lawn, or a grill, and you don't have anyone over to your house? Yaki Nikku to the rescue. There are many yaki nikku places here in Okinawa and for the most part it's the same game: order meat you like cooking, order vegetables that you like cooking, and, voila, your paying to do the job of chefs across America!

Above left is the plate o' steak (very thin, so try not to overcook) and then a little duck and steak cooking.

Food from Other Places
The Japanese are really into eating food from everywhere else, so long as it has mayonnaise included (I'm told it's the younger generation that are responsible for all the mayo, I'm just sayin the learned it somewhere).
There's Thai:

and Mexican:

This is a burrito that has been deep fried, topped with avocado and served with a sesame/mayo dressing. Que Sabroso!
You can even get French-ish foods, like croissants stuffed with hot dogs

Also Featuring Hotdogs
Try the uma no suteki up in Kin Town at Gate One, it comes with a tempura (which is a Portugese food, actually) hotdog, that is, a lightly breaded, deep fried hot dog:

Food from Here
You're in Okinawa, you have to have Okinawa Soba, once you know how to read "soba" in hiragana, you will realize that you are surrounded by shops that sell Okinawa Soba.
"But I thought soba was from Japan, not just Okinawa."
You're right, but in the mainland, soba is made from buckwheat and so the noodles are brown with a slight purplish color to them. In Okinawa they use something other than that, they look like thick spaghetti, and, unlike in the mainland, Okinawa soba is served hot. The Okinawans are known for their pork and so your soba will undoubtedly have a nice hunk of it in there:

This one also has fish cake in it. I don't know, just eat it. Be sure to put a nice dose of the Awamori hotsauce (next to the bones bowl in the left picture) in their as well as some chili pepper. When you're done put the bones in the little bowl that comes with it, feel free to suck the marrow, it's oishii (delicious)!

Didn't You Say Horse a Minute Ago?
I sure did, sir. Uma nikku (horse meat) is not really popular, but it is available, just like goat (yagi) you can get it as a sashimi (thinly sliced and raw). You will hear frmo me when I have uma sashimi, I promise.

Uma Suteki (horse steak) with tempura hot dog
Below, Yagi Sashimi (thinly sliced raw goat meat)

Really the horse steak was just alright: it was slathered in an A-1 type of sauce and so I wasn't really to pick up on any major gaminess or anything. The texture of the steak was a bit different though. It was more lean and there was more sinew in there than you get with beef. Maybe this was most like minute steak. The goat sashimi, however, was off the hook! You have to have it with the skin on their because that hide texture makes the whole experience amazing.

That's a lot of Meat
Yeah, so maybe you want to try something a little more heart healthy, like this taste kimpira rice burger from MOS Burger. Kimpira is a medley of root vegetables (burdock root, lotus root, carrot) that are marinated in what I think is soy sauce then served on two rice patties with a sheet of sea weed instead of a leaf of lettuce. This is definitely my favorite food at MOS:

Or maybe you want to cook. It's the summer time so right now you can monster sized Moui (Mo-ee). It looks like and is about the size of a water melon. It is also known as winter melon and is used in a lot of Chinese cooking. Just peel it, slice it to about 3 cm and cook with carrots and mushrooms and a generous helping of salt. Be sure to ladle out the bitterness that will clump at the top of the broth as it boils.

How About Fruit?
I'm glad you asked. Being from the States, I am accustomed to the most ridiculous variety of fruits and vegetables available to me at any time of year. Now that gas prices are climbing I'm glad I've moved to a part of the world that respects a little more the basic truth that you can't get oranges all year long, you just can't. Eat local. It sucks, but that's how nature intends it.
Here are some fruits that will be available in Okinawa at some point or another:

Biwa

Biwa is known as loquat and is related to the kumquat. Both are of Chinese orgin. Loquat (biwa) is perhaps the most delicious thing I've eaten this year so far. Simply peel the skin (you can use your fingers) and reveal this small little peach looking fruit. In the center is a large stone like a lychee's pit. Don't eat it.

Mikan
These are like clementines and are also known as mandarin oranges. If you've only had mandarin oranges from a can, let me tell you something: you are missing out. Mikans are easy to peel and are like tiny drops of citrus-flavored sunshine.

Passion fruit

Oh man, late June/early July is passion fruit season. I thought this was a made up fruit, something that Snapple and Sobe concocted in a factory near the New Jersey shore. I am delighted to inform you that I was really wrong.

You'll know the passion fruit is ready when the skin starts to feel like it is wrinkling (like when your fingers get all pruny in the bath tub or when you're snorkeling)
Cut the little guy in half and grab a spoon to slurp out this amazing fruit. If it's a little sour, try it with honey.

Rose Apple
or renbu (レンブ), maybe denbu (デンブ) This is a strange fruit. You have to soak it in water for a few hours because there are more than likely many ants inside it. Once you've taken care of that you've got this bell-shaped fruit that tastes a little like a sour apple with the firmness of celery. You can put it on a salad for a nice little something.

Desert
You're in Okinawa, it's really hot here, you want desert but the idea of eating one of those faux cheesecakes that everyone sells is nauseating, why not have Okinawa zenzai. Just like with soba, Okinawa has taken something from the mainland and done something better.

Zenzai is a mixture of adzuki beans (the red beans of red bean paste fame) and mochi and shaved ice. It sounds gross, but it's really the only thing other than snow cones that cures what ails me in the summer time here. The best part is the little mochi ball (sweetened, pounded, super chewy rice dough).
Somethings I Just Can't Eat Yet
In the U.S. we will usually have beer and maybe some queso dip, or some pretzels, or some peanuts. Here you can have smoked almonds and... yes, smoked fish:

Mayonnaise, the Food Group
Maybe you are in the mall and you want something to eat, something pasta-y but also combining an aesthetic that the gaijin just won't get. Why not try this?