Okinawa Short Trip: A Couple Casual Pork Meals

One thing on our to-eat list whilst in Okinawa was pork, particularly their famous local breed Agu Pork. It’s not that hard to find really, given pork is the main food stable on this Pacific island.

We were looking somewhere for a casual lunch after our morning road trip, and stumbled across this place called Yakiniku no Ganaha in Nago, the town in the north side of Okinawa island not far away from the aquarium which almost everyone would stop by for a visit (it's fun, but I wouldn't miss it if we ended up not going). The restaurant is owned by one of the meat distributor on the island and has a few branches around Okinawa. The one we went was supposed to be the “original” shop, at the site where the meat processing plant was just right next door with a retail shop below the restaurant – so one could safely assume the meat just came direct from their facility next door.

Okinawa Short Trip: Italian-Okinawan Dinner

Wanting a quiet getaway in Okinawa, we decided to spend 2 nights in a resort up north after the initial night in downtown Naha, and on our first evening there, we ate at one of the restaurants inside our hotel. While Okinawa might not be the place to be as far as fine-dining is concerned, both restaurants at the Ritz Carlton Okinawa offered the rare luxury dining options in the region, which included a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant plus an Italian one, in addition to the lounge and all-day-dining restaurant, all within this cozy property.

Okinawa Short Trip: Mixed Bag Experience

It's regrettable that I couldn’t exactly say our stay at the Ritz-Carlton Okinawa got on well from the moment we walked in to the resort property – in fact it was probably the most unpleasant "Marriott Experience" in my memory. We found ourselves greeted by no one when we pulled up to the front after a long drive from Naha, then we were made to wait in the lobby for over 15 minutes with our luggage sitting next to us on a cart until someone actually came and completed the check-in steps (despite having urged to check-in online 2 days before and I did and we arrived right on time as we have earlier indicated), during which no one even mentioned basic information like when and where breakfasts will be served.

While the property boasted their magnificent, “panoramic” view of the golf course and the sea behind, I was shocked when they showed us our room with a partial view, snuggled right behind another structure (they should have called this a "concrete rooftop view" – that’s pretty much all we could see from the balcony) That's on top of somehow they thought sticking us to the far end of the hotel was a good idea - that took a good 5 minutes walk from the room to the lobby.

Okinawa Short Trip: The Traditional Cuisine

Despite the brief time we got to spend in the island, we were eager to learn more about traditional Okinawan cuisine, so on the night we arrived at Naha, we went to eat at Tantei, a restaurant specializes in Yaeyama Ryori, the style of cooking rooted in the region for centuries (on another recommendation by my friend JP). The restaurant was a bit hard to find even with GPS equipped in our car with the place also doubled as the home of owner-couple Nobuhiro and Reiko Miyagi in a quiet residential area not far away from the Shuri Castle.

Okinawa Short Trip: Initial Impression

“You are going to love it as long as you don’t think of it as Japan”… my friend JP gave me this piece of advice on Okinawa. To be honest, we never thought of this remote Japanese prefecture in the Pacific as an interesting destination worth visiting, thinking the place is more suited for parents with kids rather than serious travellers, but JP assured me that’s just a common misconception and there were plenty of nice places to go. So one day when we saw the air ticket promotion to Okinawa, we took advantage of it and made a short trip there.

Okinawa x Yardbird

For two evenings in mid-December, pork, instead of chicken, became the major theme of Yardbird as they were running a special menu inspired by Okinawa cuisine. I left office on the dot to be at the restaurant, trying to beat the crowd and joined the group for an early drink/dinner at this ever-popular izakaya/yakitori joint in Sheung Wan.