Ramen Ryuyu, Naha, Okinawa

After all my previous write ups on this Okinawan holiday having been on establishments serving Western cuisine, this one below is a change.

My wife and I stumbled across Ramen Ryuya when walking around Naha town centre and this was our second visit to this noodle restaurant.

The decor inside is traditional Japanese although not old looking. There are basic tables and stools and also a counter by the kitchen that you can sit by.

I ordered a standard bowl of noodles, of the many variants that they have on offer. The friendly staff gave us a Chinese / English menu when they knew we were not locals.

My food arrived fairly quickly after ordering. The hand made noodles where nice with a slight buttery taste to them. The broth was pork based and flavoursome too and there were slices of pork and sprinkling bean sprouts to add some meat and crunch respectively, to the dish, which were good as well. This was all topped off with a sheet of seaweed as shown in the picture below.

My bowl of noodles

After we finished our noodles we were given a small bowl of flavoured ice, on the house. This was a nice, sweet end to the meal consisting of ice crushed into small pieces and a berry flavoured topping.

Complimentary Dessert (and tea towards the top)

A nice touch also were the paper bibs they have available to wear to stop any splashes getting on your clothes.

So this place was quite a find: the food was really good, service was friendly and efficient and it was reasonably priced by Japanese standards.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 13 /20

Total bill: ¥1400, about £7 a head.

I ate: Noodles

I drank: Chilled oolong tea, which was freely available.

I wore: Slightly damp clothes, accompanied with broken umbrellas due to the wind.

McDonald's, Naha, Japan

Having been stranded in Okinawa for a day due to a tropical storm, we had to stay overnight in Naha.

Our hotel tariff did not include breakfast so I decided to go the world famous Golden Arches for an early lunchquest.

The weather was still wet and windy that morning so luckily the restaurant was located nearby and my walk in the storm was not too long.

As I entered they had their menu board of items to choose from, which is pretty standard wherever you are in the world. There was nothing I noticed that seemed like a local variant so I opted for a Sausage and Egg Mcmuffin.

I ordered a meal and chose a hot tea and hash brown. After receiving my order I found a seat, of which there were plenty.

My Breakfast

The bun had the usual paper wrapping and unsurprisingly had a pleasant looking muffin with a sausage and egg filling and cheese slice. The sausage was slightly spicy, egg was thoroughly cooked and muffin was soft. The hash brown was hot and crunchy.

Sausage and Egg McMuffin

I actually ordered a lemon tea and was given a cup of hot water, tea bag and small carton of lemon juice, which was in lieu of real lemon slices. The drink was OK but I would have preferred the actual fruit to have come with it.

I usually have a sausage and egg muffin when breakfasting at McDonalds and this tasted no worse than from other branches around the world. Service and cleanliness was to the usual standard as well. Price wise I reckon this was on a par with UK. So that is another cross-country comparison of this global institute done!

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service:3 /5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 12 /20

Total bill: ¥440, about £3.75

I ate: Sausage and Egg Mcmuffin.

I drank: Lemon tea.

I wore: Slightly rain soaked t-shirt and cargo shorts.

Sesoko Beach, Okinawa, Japan

This was one of the many beaches we visited during the holiday in Okinawa. The sun was shining, sea was clean and marine life was moderately abundant.

There was a beachside restaurant serving fast food items and so I decided to go there for some food. It was the only establishment selling food so there was a long queue that I had to stand in before getting served. However, it meant that I had the time to decide on what to order.

As the menu was in Japanese I used pointing as means of communication and ordered what looked like fish and chips, which seemed like an apt meal to have when by the sea. It turned out to be chicken instead of fish, which was already made and kept warm by the counter so service was instant. I placed ketchup on it and returned to the beach to sit on the sand and share the meal with my wife.

Chicken and Chips

As the chicken had been cooked some time ago, the batter around the chicken pieces had lost its crispiness. The meat was cooked well enough. The chips were a lot tastier with some of the potato skin still on.

My meal did the task of filling me up adequately and that was it. It was not bad, even with plastic packaging and I can think of worse things to do than sitting on the beach in the sun after a morning's snorkelling.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 12 /20

Total bill: ¥600, which is about £5.

I ate: Chicken and chips.

I wore: Swimming shorts, flip flops and not enough sun cream.

Aqua Belle, Intercontinental Hotel, Onna, Okinawa

Konichiwa from Japan, where this entry is part of the greater Hong Kong series. On my birthday we popped into the Intercontinental Hotel Manza Beach Resort for my birthday lunch.

They have a few restaurants and we chose Aqua Belle, which does a western style lunch buffet. It has a well-lit, spacious setting and we got a window seat to have a good view of the sea.

For my first visit to the food counters I went for soup and salad. I poured a Clam Chowder from a machine and accompanied it with a baguette and Hokkaido butter. The soup did tasted like a it was from the sachet though. From the salad counter I picked a variety consisting of a green salad with vinegar dressing; potato salad and pasta salad, which was a better starter.

From top: Salad and Soup

I moved onto main dishes on my next visit and picked Chicken, Risotto and Pork Belly. The pork was actually served from someone standing at a carvery, which I thought was roast beef. However, the pork was nice and tender with salt and chilli tomato sauce to accompany it. The risotto was a little bit too sticky and lumpy but OK to taste and the chicken pieces were well grilled with some kind of spicy, tikka-style marinade. You will also see at the top of the picture below an iced milk tea, which was available from the counters to make for yourself.

Clockwise from 11 o'clock: Chicken, Risotto and Pork

The grilled chicken was that nice that it made another appearance on my third plate of food, which also consisted of pasta, chicken cooked another way and salmon. The pasta had beans mixed in and a cheese type sauce, which overall was a little bland. The fried chicken had a tomato based sauce and was fine. The pan fried salmon steaks were good though.

Clockwise from 11 o'clock: Two types of Chicken, Salmon and Pasta

On my last visit to the counters I chose sweet items. I took a plate of Cookies, Bread and Butter Pudding and Cake, along with a bowl of Watermelon and Dragonfruit. The cookies were crunchy, the bread and butter pudding was sweet and moist but could have done with some custard, the cake was a nice chocolate sponge type but not too sweet and the fruit was refreshing. What is not in shot is a purple coloured, Sweet Potato flavoured ice cream, Mr Whippy style. That was the last item I ate, which filled me up sufficiently.

From Left: Dessert and Fruit

So Aqua Belle does some good and some average Western type dishes. The waiters are friendly and efficient when clearing our plates and topping up our glasses with water and it offers fair value for money, compared to other hotel restaurants in Japan.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 13 /20

Total bill: Free, it was my wife's treat!

I ate: All of the above.

I drank: A self made iced milk tea, water.

I wore: The smile of a birthday boy.

Dragonair, Somewhere over the East China Sea

Hot on the heels of LQ Editor in Chief's lunch on board Turkish Airlines, I am on a Dragonair flight to Okinawa for a short holiday with my wife.

My flight departed at noon so lunch was served soon after take off. There was a choice of fish or pork and I chose the latter.

As I removed the foil lid from the main course I revealed three slices of pork belly, carrot, turnip and Chinese leaf. It was also accompanied with rice. The pork had a decent balance of meat and fat and was nice. I finished off the vegetables but left some of my rice as I had sufficient.

My in flight meal

There was a fruit side dish consisting of watermelon, melon and papaya slices, which brought a good end to my meal.

A bread roll with Lurpak butter was also included in the meal but I could not finish it off.

Apart from the foil lid everything else was in plastic, including the cutlery. However, that did not affect the taste as the lunch was fine enough fare to be served on a 2.5 hour journey. My economy seat was spacious enough and tray table was functional for the class I was in and the service was amiable from the air stewardesses.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 11/20

Total bill: Included in the flight price, which was about £350.

I ate: Pork belly with rice and vegetables, fruit slices and some bread.

I drank: Schweppes ginger ale and a cup of Chinese tea afterwards.

I wore: Jeans and t-shirt holiday wear.

Torigushi, Happy Valley, Hong Kong

We popped into this local Japanese restaurant, on a Sunday afternoon. Not sure if it was because we were having a late lunch but we were the only customers, so it was not hard finding a seat.
We sat down and ordered quickly and I chose from one of their set menus that consisted of several courses, of which the main course was cod.

After ordering we were presented with our Salad starter. Whilst the speed of delivery meant it was pre-prepared, the ingredients of different leaves and cherry tomatoes was fresh and came with a tasty dressing.

Salad and Table Setting

Next came a Miso Soup and a bowl of Steamed Egg. The egg was nice and light with some Shitake mushrooms added in. However, I could not finish the soup as there was too much Miso flavouring that gave it a powdery taste.

Miso Soup left, Steamed Egg right

I was then given two fried dumplings as shown below. They were freshly cooked and piping hot when served, along with a soy sauce -vinegar dip. The pastry exterior was golden and had a slight crunch with the inside was a tasty pork based filling.

Fried Dumpling

My main dish grilled cod arrived as the last course. I was given two slices that were on bed of lettuce, with some mayonnaise for a dip which was all  accompanied with a bowl of plain white rice. The fish was nicely grilled and seasoned so tasted good. The bowl of rice was too much and I could not finish it all off, however.

Grilled Cod Main Course

Whilst the food was decent enough, towards the end of the meal my wife noticed something not quite right. There was a cockroach near her on the floor. We alerted the staff and they did catch and dispose of it but questions must be raised about the restaurant's hygeine, considering it is not a local cafe nor has an open face exposed to the exterior. Therefore overall, Torigushi has good enough food and is of decent value, but cleanliness will be an issue if we think about coming here again.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 2/5

Overall: 11/20

Total bill: $208, so about £9 a head

I ate: All of the above, leaving some rice and miso soup behind.

I drank: Ice lemon tea, which was part of the meal.

I wore: Polo shirt and cargo shorts.