The best fish is what you catch

Many visitors say Okinawa doesn’t have good fish. I used to say that too before I moved here. It seemed that the cold weather made animals put on fats that we all appreciate if it’s fish or beef. And Okinawa was tropical. Fish had no reason to wear fats. That’s what I thought. The fish I had at restaurants here was nothing like what I could have in northern Japan or in distribution central Tokyo.   But I moved to Okinawa and started fishing in these waters, and I totally changed my ideas. There’s a deep-sea trench along Okinawa islands and there’s cold mineral-rich deep-sea currents flowing around here. This […]

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The Best Kara-Age, Japanese fried chicken

  We were at our favorite dinner place, Umiyuri.   With our favorite friends to hang around with.  Jimmie and Masami-san from Miyabi Chaya.   This is the Kara-Age I’m talking about.  Kara-Age is a Japanese style of fried chicken.  Typically marinated in soy sauce, mirin, sake, and ginger before patted in flour or potato starch and deep-fried.  It’s probably one of the most loved Japanese home cooking dishes.   And THIS is so crispy and crunchy outside, so juicy inside.  And it’s sooooo tasty!!!  Love it!   This is another chicken dish we couldn’t resist.  Stir fried with veggies and peanuts in fish sauce.   The dinner set.   This is the […]

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Pan-Fried Wonton

Right in the middle of night clubs in downtown Naha is the house of Mr. Rou.  Chinese owner chef from Shanghai. It usually opens from 23:00 to 5:00, but it opens at 20:00 only on Friday.  That’s the only chance for us to have dinner here.   That’s Mr. Rou in the kitchen.   Boiled soybeans in very tasty broth.   His signature wonton.  Wonton is usually for soup, but here it is available in pan-fry (this one), in soup, and steamed in spicy sauce. 6 pieces per serving.   The dough skin is a little more chewy with more resistance to bite than other dumplings.  Very tasty filling, not the kind […]

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Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen and Egg Rice

We just came back from a week trip to USA. And we were drawn to Hachi Ren Ramen for lunch again. Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen with green onion and sprout topping.   The spicy flavor comes from their housemade spicy oil with fried shrimps.  Gorgeous soup.   The straight medium-heavy noodles is silky and chewy.   Today I celebrate my return with rice with a raw egg. It came with 2 different soy sauce, which is naturally brewed by a traditional soy sauce maker with some 400 years of history.  Very round and rich flavor.   I always eat noodles first.  It’s a crime to let noodles sit in the soup and become […]

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Fine Cheese, made in Okinawa!

Ever since I had my first taste of his cheese in Tedako-Tei, the cozy Italian restaurant in Naha, I’ve always wanted to try more.   His name is John, the cheese guy. The Cheese Guy in Okinawa   While we knew so little about his cheese where-abouts, we heard that his cheese is available at Ryubo in Omoromachi, Naha.  We’ve been looking for a chance to go to Naha, and we finally did. (We didn’t know it was available at Chatan and also at Onna too.  from the cheese guy facebook.)     We found that Ryubo had a descent volume of imported natural cheeses.  For a Okinawan grocery store, that is. We love cheese.  It’s […]

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Oysters!!! Steamed and Sashimi

We have been chasing after oysters lately. We searched at Tenpusu in Ginoza this time.       They have such great Dashi.  If you have good broth like that, everything tastes so good.     There it is!!! They have oysters from Itoshima, Fukuoka.  Itoshima is a home of oysters, the most famous port for oysters in Kyushu.  JPY250 a piece.  Sashimi or steamed. They told me they fly in oysters on Tuesday and Thursday.   Here comes Oysters sashimi. It’s sitting in Pon-Zu.  Pon-Zu is a Japanese seasoning made of citrus juice, soy sauce, rice vinegar and dashi.  They make their own Pon-Zu here and it’s brilliant Oyster’s so delicious […]

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Hawaiian Coconut Mochi

In the late afternoon yesterday, we dropped by our favorite little cake shop in Ginoza, Kino Store.   They were busy making cakes and cookies for mail orders. Yes, they pack every cakes and cookies of the week, about a dozen of them, and ship to you.  If you are in Okinawa, JPY3100 per pack, including freeze shipping.  They are very popular with this mail order. If you want to order, send me a message and I will help you.  info@fullofokinawa.com   These holiday cookies are included in the mail order of the week.   Their signature Lemon Cake JPY150   Black and White Cookie, JPY150   Hawaiian Coconut Mochi, JPY200.   […]

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Oysters in season!! Ajillo!!

The oyster season is hitting Okinawa now! Who should we go to see first to cook the oysters for us, but Kato-san? We are here at Kato Shokudou.   Oysters in Ajillo. Usually they cook with oysters with potatoes which would be so delicious by absorbing the flavor from oysters.  But we ordered some other things that come with potatoes, so Kato-san did us a favor to change it to snap peas and okura.   Perfectly cooked with right temperature.  So tasty. This is from Hiroshima.  The most famous place for Japanese oysters.   It comes with baguette. The olive oil carries so much flavor of oysters and we love dunking pieces of bread into […]

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