What I Ate in Asia (Pt. 2)

On to Okinawa.

Welcome to the second-ever edition of What I’m Eating Now. Thanks to everyone who’s subscribed, especially those I don’t already know IRL. Last newsletter broke down highlights of our trip to Tokyo. This one is dedicated to the four days we spent on Okinawa — the largest, namesake island in Japan’s most physically remote prefecture.

I think I owe Okinawa an apology. I was obviously excited to see such a singular place in the flesh: a tropical archipelago that was once its own independent nation, the Ryukyu Kingdom, and only joined Japan in the 19th century, minus 25 years of direct American occupation after World War II. (Famously, there’s still a massive base there, leading to the very odd experience of overhead fighter jets intruding on your peaceful beach walk.) But I also assumed that, like many resort-heavy vacation destinations, the food would take a backseat to relaxation and sightseeing. I was wrong.

Awamori Pub Yomitan Monogatari (Yomitan, Okinawa)

I mean, not entirely wrong. We certainly had our overpriced hotel breakfasts and perfectly adequate dinners, both of which felt more “when in Rome” than like a lost opportunity. But our first dinner, at a local izakaya recommended by our hotel (the Hoshinoya, highly recommend!), required no qualifications.

Because Okinawa is so culturally, geographically and historically distinct from the rest of Japan, it also has its own style of food. (We spotted some Okinawa-style restaurants in Tokyo, which reminded me of how you’ll find, like, Roman-style restaurants in Milan because Italian food is so regionally specific.) Instead of sake, for example, this izakaya served awamori, a drink distilled from Thai, long-grain rice that fills the massive earthenware vessels — pottery being another Okinawan specialty — you see above. I drank mine in a hot-pink, Cosmo-adjacent, dragonfruit cocktail I’m too embarrassed to post, so let’s focus on the food.

These aren’t much to look at, but they’re fried balls of purple sweet potato — perhaps the most famous Okinawan ingredient — stuffed with a mix of ground beef and peanuts. The texture was like savory mochi: squishy and dense, but also airy and light.

We also ate this salad with seaweed “grapes” (look at those pearls!):

And a version of chanpurū, the other dish most closely associated with traditional Okinawan food. It’s a simple stir-fry, and while the standard variation is tofu-based, this one was made with wheat gluten. The better to soak up all that awamori with, since we did have to drive home.

All in all, delicious crash course in a subset of Japanese food I knew very little about and don’t know when I’ll encounter again, because the Okinawan izakaya down in Torrance — the historic center of Southern California’s Japanese community — appears to have closed. :(

Okinawa Soba Eibun (Naha, Okinawa)

The weather was pretty overcast while we were there, which was less-than-ideal for taking in nature’s bounty but extremely well-suited to another Okinawan staple: Okinawa soba, which uses noodles made from wheat flour instead of the traditional buckwheat. This soba is also fairly thick and chewy, without the fine, angel-hair texture of its mainland cousin, and often accompanied with the on-the-bone pork rib you see above. Okinawans love their pork products.

We drove into Naha, the prefecture’s capital and largest city, for the day to wait out some rain in museums and local shops. This place somehow ended up on my Google Maps saved locations, and despite a personal failing that leaves me generally indifferent to super broth-y dishes like this one — I prefer my ramen tsukemen style, and often boil down my “soups” into stew-like sludge at home — I didn’t want to leave Okinawa without a bowl.

Guess what: it was great! The pork fell off the bone, the vending machine ordering system felt as magical as it always does, and the table hot sauce (unpictured) was actually chilies pickled in awamori and therefore very boozy. Consider my horizons broadened.

Pizza Bar Maruki (Yomitan, Okinawa)

Remember when I said non-Japanese food is really worth seeking out in Japan? Especially Italian food? I present Exhibit A: our final Okinawa meal, another slam dunk endorsement from our hotel.

Real heads know Japan loves its pizza so much it’s developed a homegrown strain some have dubbed Tokyo Neapolitan. (Here in LA, you can find a sublime rendition at Pizzeria Sei, which is set to relocate into a larger space in the new year.) One of my favorite factoids is that Tokyo supposedly has more Italian restaurants, including pizzerias, than San Francisco has restaurants, period. That scans to me, but I never want to know if it isn’t true.

Japanese pizza is like Neapolitan pizza, but…better. (Don’t yell at me, Italians — pizza al taglio is great!) It’s got the same charred, puffy crust, which Maruki baked off in a massive oven that’s about a quarter of the interior space, but with more structural integrity and fun toppings. We went with half margherita, half mushroom and bacon, but the housemade pici with an oregano-heavy meat sauce and a sort of broccoli-and-garlic-broth situation served with focaccia may have stolen the show.

And that’s it for Okinawa! Next time, I’ll round out the travelogue with a few days in Taipei, and then I can figure out what this newsletter looks like when I’m not fresh off a major international trip.