Culinary Adventures...The Water Restaurant

This week, we decided to venture out to the "Water Restaurant" that Julia recommended. She was even so kind as to include driving directions on her Facebook. Sort of.


This is the prize we were in search of...but on Okinawa, directions can sometimes be difficult, with very few English signs and narrow, twisting, meandering roads. Directions are usually passed along like this: "When you see the giant, orange, pig statue on the right, count two blocks and turn left in front of the yellow building." It's always an adventure.

Well, Julia's instructions mentioned, among other things, a building with a "school sized clock" on it. Would you know what a school sized clock is? I hadn't the faintest. Anyway, search as I might, I found no clock building, and ended up down by the water, knowing I'd gone too far. When I took another pass at it, I just had a hunch that this was what she was talking about:



(Clock, marqee...same difference, right?) Anyway, I made the turn and sure enough...



Here was the comedy club on the right, and the restaurant was just a little further up the road, by the 100 Yen store.



I was grateful we found it, nonetheless...and it wasn't too crowded. We were instructed to place our shoes in little cubbies, and climbed up to our cubicle to enjoy our meal.



Here's the little hall you have to walk down, and each of those doors is a dining room.



Cleaning up with a cool, frozen washcloth. Refreshing!



(Trivia: It's not typical to be given more than one menu per table. You have to share.) Coree loses her patience waiting for her turn for the English menu and tries to decipher the Kanji menu.



Here's an under-the-table shot.



Since Jake's the smallest, we threw him in to test the water. Just kidding. The floor is glass.



Patrick, chillaxin' while observing the people in the lower chambers.



Just had to include some of this for your reading enjoyment. I can't say that I've never been served "grilled chicken skin" before, but I know for a fact I've never had anyone be so honest about it!



I would think sashimi-style beef would be raw...but at least it's harf-cooked.



Here's some of my yummy avocado salad



Troy's sashimi...



And a side order of ray-fin. Like jerky, only sweeter. I'll take his word for it.



Occasionally, there are ordering snafu's...like this one. Patrick wanted 8 sticks of Yakitori chicken. What he got was 8 sticks of wonder...including chicken gizzard, chicken skin...



And quail eggs wrapped in undercooked bacon.



It's always a sweet surprise when something we order involves an open flame at the table. Jake's salmon roll comes seared.



Coree got her usual gyoza...and couldn't resist these fries after she spotted them on the menu and realized it's been 6 months since she's had any.



We decided to go for dessert. 3 of us ordered this cake and ice-cream beauty. Who knew corn flakes and Hershey's syrup could class up a dish so much?



Troy got "chewy icecream"...at first, I didn't want to know...but it turns out it's icecream wrapped in mochi (a chewy, bouncy, pounded-out rice dish that is not for those (like me) with texture issues).




Patrick went for the honey toast



All in all...a successful evening. It was unanimous...we need to take Cliff here when he comes home.


We were in rare form on the ride home...just crackin' each other up.




Troy said, "Look mom, it's like 'The Great Gatsby', only in Japan." Then he called me an uncultured slob for not knowing what he was talking about.