• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

A Taste of 8-page pullout Okinawa The 3 ‘R’s to good eating – Restaurants, Reviews & Recipes Make it a date at SAM’S! Satisfy your seafood and steak cravings at Sam’s by the Sea, the popular restaurant with a nautical- themed interior and exotic Hawaiian and Polynesian décor that was elected “Best Date Night Restaurant” in Stripes Best of the Pacific 2019. Take in the view of the ocean as you and someone special enjoy a tasty full- course dinner by candlelight. Delight your taste buds with our fresh lobster, King Crab, prawns, red snapper, mahi mahi, swordfish and oysters. And our top-quality juicy steaks will leave your mouth watering and your stomach satisfied. Our friendly staff promises to make it a memorable dinner. STRIPES OKINAWA E OF OK DECEMBER 12 – DECEMBER 25, 2019 AST INAW A T 2 A Try Kadena’s newest star – Seaside Restaurant One of the hidden gems of Kadena Air Base is the Seaside Restaurant. Recently renovated to offer a comfortable atmosphere and accompanied by a delicious new menu, the old Ristorante is GONE! The newest star of the menu is a 20-ounce Tennessee whiskey-glazed pork chop, which is cooked over an open flame grill and then topped with the succulent glaze. The fire perfectly chars the exterior, giving it classic grill marks and caramelized edges. This treat is sure to hit the spot for even the most discerning palate. Come taste it for yourself, we are sure you will agree! Gen a real gem on Okinawa Offering authentic Japanese and Okinawan cuisine at a reasonable price, Gen was recognized in Stripes’ Best of the Pacific 2013 as the best restaurant to expe- rience the local culture on Okinawa. Owner and Head Chef Naoki Tsukayama highly recommends the “Fish Garlic Butter Combo,” a popular dish among American customers. Tsukayama and his staff make you feel at home, so stop by and enjoy a delicious meal. Gen is lo- cated across from Camp Foster’s fire station. Just look for shi-shi dogs on a traditional Okinawan tile roof outside Foster’s Fire Station Gate. DECEMBER 12 – DECEMBER 25, 2019 E OF OK STRIPES OKINAWA AST INAW A T 3 A Start the year off with a Japanese tradition STORY AND PHOTOS BY SHOJI KUDAKA, STRIPES OKINAWA lthough there are many “good luck foods” for the new year in Athis world, the majority of lo- cals in Okinawa have only one thing in their mind New Year’s Eve: Oki- nawa soba. Dec. 31 is a day for “soba joogoo,” which means soba lovers/maniacs in Okinawan dialect. It is a day when a “soba joogoo” like myself can eat as much as possible without feeling Ingredients: pork loin (1 10. Pour sweet cooking guilty, because you eat for good luck. block, 227g), pork picnic rice wine, soy sauce, Since the local noodle is one the (1 block, 321g), pork belly and cooking sake in most common menu items at lo- (1 block, 393g), raw noo- the pot. For each con- cal eateries, and there are so many dles (3 bags), minced and diment, make two cir- guidebooks and websites dedicated steamed fish, green onion, cles around the pot as to the best soba restaurants on the ginger, red pickled ginger, you pour. (The amount soy sauce, sweet cooking island, finding a place to eat soba on of condiment is up to rice wine and cooking sake. Dec. 31 shouldn’t be a problem. individual’s prefer- ence.) Better yet, for those planning on 1. Fill two pots with water. 11. Cover the pot with having a New Years’ Eve party at 2. Put pork loin and pork a lid and heat on a home, or just in the mood a hands-on picnic in one of them and stove about 20 to 30 experience, you can try cooking your heat it up on a stove for own Okinawa soba. about 50 minutes. minutes. Make sure you stop before the For many Okinawans, soba made at 3. Roast the pork belly skin liquid dries up in the home is just as popular as it is in res- on a grill. When it’s lightly pan. Sample the taste taurants, and especially so on Dec. burnt, take off the stove. and add sugar if you 31. Local supermarkets are flooded 4. Shave the skin with a ra- zor to remove fuzzy hair. prefer to make it taste with people planning to serve the 5. Put the pork belly in the sweeter. good luck food to their families. And other pot and heat it on 12. Put two handfuls of although it takes time and effort to a stove for about 50 min- dried bonito flakes in prepare, Okinawans are more than utes. the broth left in the willing, because having homemade 6. While heating up the two pot for pork loin and Okinawa soba on New Year’s Eve is pots, skim off foam and picnic, and heat on a part of the family bond. Homemade cover the pots with a lid, stove. When the broth Okinawa soba is to Okinawans what but leave a small gap to comes to a boil, take homemade pasta to Italian families. let heated air out. the pot off the stove Each family on Okinawa has its own 7. From time to time, check and strain the broth flavor and style of soba. Some prefer on the softness of the with a net. port loin and belly by pig bone as opposed to bonito flake- 13. Put the broth back piercing with a stick. in the pot. broth. Or some may chose thick and 8. After about 50 minutes, 14. Wash the soba noo- straight noodles over thin and twist- take out the pork loin, dles in hot water. ed. And when it comes to toppings, picnic and belly from anything goes. the pot and cut them into 15. Heat up Although Okinawa soba looks like small pieces. Leave the the broth, and combine with noodles, a simple dish on the outside, there broth of pork loin and pork loin and bellies. Top the is a good variety and depth to it picnic in the pot, and soba noodles with grated that you can play with. There is no dump the broth of pork ginger, red ginger, sliced green onion, and Kooree one golden recipe. But I would like belly (or put it in another Goose (Awamori liquor to share a recipe I learned from my pot or bowl). 9. Put the pieces back in flavor with hot chili). mother. I hope it will give you some one of the pot which was 16. Enjoy a tasty meal ideas. (Please note that the recipe is previously used for heat- and good luck for 2020! for a family of three.) ing up pork bellies. [email protected] STRIPES OKINAWA E OF OK DECEMBER 12 – DECEMBER 25, 2019 AST INAW A T 4 A Taste 2020 the right way STRIPES OKINAWA the eye as they are the palate. I can’t government. “But ever since Okinawa when people, say that I liked them all as a child. But was returned to Japan (in 1972), New especially the elderly and ew Year’s is Japan’s biggest these days, I find that their tradition- Year’s foods have caught on. Nowa- small children, have severely and longest holiday. People take al meanings as well as the childhood days, many people eat Okinawan and choked on this densely chewy NDec. 29 through Jan. 3 off from memories they bring back make this Japanese foods for New Year’s.” treat. So watch out when you work to celebrate the first three days a feast that I look forward to all year Local dishes you should be on the eat mochi for the first time. But of the year praying at temples and long. lookout for in restaurants include “ra- once you try really good ozoni, shrines for the coming year. It is our You could say that, traditionally, the fute” (pork belly), “taamu” (taro) and you will be obsessed with the awe- Christmas and Thanksgiving – a time feast really begins on New Year’s Eve, “inamuruchi” (white miso soup with some taste. This is, by far, my fa- to relax with family and friends over or “Oomisoka.”On this day, it is cus- chopped pork). While at the same time, vorite New Year’s dish. special foods and sake. tomary for Japanese to clean house to stores across the island will have tra- Then there is osechi, which literally When I was a child, every year my bring good fortune in the coming year. ditional Japanese New Year’s fare on means beginning a new season and family would go to my grandfather’s (OK, this part is not a fond memory; I offer. represents the start of the new year. house in the Oita countryside to cele- always wanted to play with my friends The first three days of January are This is a set of selected dishes. It’s kind brate New Year’s with relatives. It was while my mom made me clean my called “oshogatsu.” During oshogatsu, of like a fancy bento box for the entire an important time of year when we room.) Then we eat “toshikoshi,” or “ozoni” and “osechi” are the main family that is eaten during oshogatsu, enjoyed a traditional New Year’s feast passing-year, soba noodles at night. dishes on a typical Japanese family’s sometimes for all three meals.

Load more

  8

Copy Link