Pollock Family Adventures: Food Experiences in Okinawa

A collection of our food experiences in Okinawa. This is just a few of our sights and stops - not a collection of the many restaurant dining styles available on island (sushi, soba, ramen noodle house, yakiniku, just to name a few).

July 2013 - Our first attempt on our own at a local Japanese restaurant. Japanese-only speaking staff and menu. We had no idea what we were doing. We just looked at the menu and pointed.

No idea what we ate, but we were happy with the selection :) this was my order

WAX FOOD DISPLAY

These wax food displays are at the front of many restaurants. I love that you know what they offer and what the food looks like even before you step foot inside the restaurant. They look very real!

FOOD FINDS
Driving around a northern beach side town off-the-beaten path (at least it was to us!), we stumbled upon this charming little Japanese house restaurant. Again, ordering off a picture menu without a clue.

Henry was unsure of his soba soup meal.

My yummy order. I have yet to order something I don't like. This is a typical Japanese combo meal. They refer to it as a 'set'.

A teeny, tiny Asian pear at the military base commissary.

How they sell seasoned meats at a Japanese grocery store. Haven't tried it yet, but I like the pick and choose option.

YAKINIKU STYLE
You are given a tray of raw meat and veggies and marinade sauce(s), then you cook it at your very own table grill.

Japanese pose!

All-you-can-eat Yakiniku restaurant. Self-serve buffet of raw meats and veggies along with soups and rice varieties, salads, and desserts. Cook the way you like.

Another set I ordered at a Japanese food court in a mall. As you can see, these are big portions!

TACO RICE
Another popular adopted dish in Okinawa is the Taco Rice plate.
Essentially a Mexican dish: rice topped with seasoned meat, lettuce, tomato, and creamy dressing. This one had chicken and avocados.

No trace of Japanese here, but definitely YUM!

Say Sweet Potato!

There is a picture opportunity for everything in Okinawa...even with a gigantic, over-sized sweet potato dessert.

Japanese Buffet (the healthy version)

A local friend recently took me to this Japanese, all-you-can-eat buffet! Locally grown and mainly vegetarian selection. All of the veggies were grown on Okinawa and the seafood caught locally, too.

I love how the plate is divided into 9 small portions so that your food doesn't touch, and you got to try little bit of everything. Keeps portions realistic too, for us Americans who don't know much about tiny servings, haha! Don't be fooled - I was full!

Not-so-TEX-MEX
At a local "tex-mex" restaurant in the touristy American village shopping plaza, we ordered two "taquitos" and this is what we got.
Yes, just two pieces of polish sausage with a sad piece of a taco chip wrapped around.
At least he likes hot dogs so the ordering customer was happy anyway.

Guess we should have stuck with traditional burgers like everyone else was ordering... Thanks for the effort though!