Food (食べ物)

All about food!

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Indian Food in Okinawa

I absolutely love Indian food. There’s this misconception with Indian food: it’s spicy. But in learning about Japanese tastebuds, “spicy” Indian food wouldn’t make it in Japan.
Still, at an Indian restaurant my husband and I went to on Kokusai-dori in Naha City called Nanak, there were options for spicy food but it didn’t readily come with it. The strong flavor in Indian food-tasting the fullness of curry and other seasonings- was deep in the dish. Just a small amount of chicken and eggplant curry, and potato nan with chicken and seasoned meats, was enough to fulfill our appetites. The nan was so delicious, I preferred it to the plain white rice with the curry. Thankfully, the food we ate wasn’t too heavy, since we had a lot of walking to do, but it was just enough. The price was a bit steep-almost 3000 for both of us-however, it was worth it.
I don’t know the name of this restaurant. Like many whole-in-the-wall businesses in Japan, this yellow-signed, basement level restaurant’s name was the last thing on my mind. Only its good food that was made by Nepal cooks still exists in my mind.

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Yakiniku – Just like the Anime!

My husband and I went to yakiniku, loosely translated as “baked meat”, and cooked meat over a hot yet calm grill in the center of the table.
Of course, the first time I went to a yakiniku restaurant, I instantly realized that many of the Naruto characters did the same thing.

Naruto and his friends eating yakiniku

The waiters delivered platters of seasoned slices of meat and we cooked it on the grill. My husband is now addicted to yakiniku!

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Finally, a Japanese Country Club!

There weren’t any classes today, but I was scheduled to go to school anyways. At lunch, instead of eating kyuushoku, or school provided lunch, I tagged along with a few teachers. We arrived at what looked like a country club.

“It’s a golf club,” the head English teacher said before we stepped into an expansive foyer flanked with a large jade piece and an impressive ivory piece. The teacher told me that the golf club had a good restaurant, so you didn’t need to play golf to eat there.

The food was great! They served us traditional Japanese food filled with tempura, sashimi, and soba in beautiful traditional dishes. I think one thing about Japanese food presentations and American food presentations is that color is more important in Japanese dishes.

My mother–a seasoned cook, former caterer, perpetual culinary student, and a registered dietitian–always toned down the colors. Even my cooking friends only keep two colors or sometimes three to make the meal more functional. With Japanese food, there’s a break from keeping with the same tone in presentation, and it’s not just in a piece of parsley.

Because of the way Japanese foods look, I normally have my camera phone on hand to capture the arrangement before they disappear.

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Papa’s Kitchen in Okinawa

I was invited to a women’s luncheon at a school I worked for and the restaurant turned out to be an Italian restaurant. I love Italian food!

First, they served salad (sarada) with an egg soup, light cheese-tofu square, and a bit of meatloaf with a dallop of mustard. It tasted very well, though the taste was more towards the Japanese tastebuds than the Italian ones.

Pasta promptly followed the salad. It came a big, funnel-like bowl and looked like it wouldn’t completely satisfy my Italian-loving tastebuds. I was wrong; the pasta was absolutely delicious. The sauce wasn’t too heavy and the pasta wasn’t over or undercooked. It definitely beat out the jar of Prego my husband and I bought from San-A (a chain grocery store similar to Vons or Albertsons).

Handmade bread came to our tables in baskets, fresh from the oven. Having no oven, I had forgotten what it was like to eat handmade fresh bread. The outside was slightly crunchy while the inside was soft and fluffy. It reminded me of the bread served at the Cheesecake Factory, except this bread didn’t have that cardboard-paper taste. There were two kinds, wheat and white. The wheat was slightly sweeter than the white, and knowing that it was healthier as well, I took more than one slice of the warm bread.

Once the bread was nearly gone, the main course arrived, piping hot and beautifully arranged. A single piece of potato, broccoli, daikon (Japanese radish with a slight pungent flavor), and some purple mush I couldn’t identify surrounded a slice of saucy chicken. The chicken was so plump and moist, the vegetables flanking it was almost forgotten. The sauce was slightly sweetened and complemented the chicken and the various vegetables. As everyone ate their entree, I could hear the purrings of approval from the other women. Some even dipped the handmade bread into the sauce.

Lastly, the dessert came. Served with a thinly-sliced piece of sponge cake were arranged fruits and an ice cream cake. The fruits, which turned out to be sliced bananas, baked apples, and strawberries, tasted fresh but not overly sweet. The ice cream cake was chilly with its vanilla ice cream and cranberry cake mingling together for a wonderful, soft flavor. After the dessert, coffee or tea was brought to everyone, and it needed little sugar to sweeten the end of an amazing meal.