7mo ago

Today we ate Yakiniku in Okinawa

The couple in front of us has been told to come back at 7pm. But - I guess - because my wife speaks Japanese they let us in and just told us that we only have 1.5 hours at the table because it's reserved after that.

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At the risk of sounding like an uncultured swine, is all this raw?
Also, they let you in sooner than someone else because your wife speaks the language?
- Yes it's raw. It's like Korean BBQ where you grill stuff at your table
  
  Ah cool. Thanks.
- To your latter question: yes especially in Japan. There are quite a few restaurants where they don’t allow foreigners (or anyone foreign looking) even if you’ve lived there for decades and speak fluently.
  
  Is racism common there?
  
  What's your source? I'm living in Japan as a foreigner and never had this issue despite going to restaurants frequently as food is cheaper here.
- Does this really surprise you? Japan is one of the most racist countries in the world.
  You could be born there and live there your entire life, but if you don't look Japanese, people will ask you when you're going home for the rest of your life.
Oh snap, that looks lovely. I'm in Okinawa for the holidays myself, this might give me some ideas.
- Any food tips related to Okinawa e should try? We had the doughnuts today too, but they weren't really impressive. We also had sobą noodles which were lovely.
  
  Everything pork belly is good, of course (although nothing beats my inlaws' homemade pork belly). Okinawa cuisine is inspired largely by Chinese cuisine, so that sets it apart from the main island-- pork being the big thing. There's also US military influence so you get some interesting hybrids like Taco Rice, or Spam and Bittermelon (Okinawa has it's own type that's different than the Chinese kind).
  Sweets, hard to say. Purple yam is their specialty crop but it's more novel then anything. I'm more partial to the milk flavor, which the small town of Nanjo is known for (although I wouldn't go just for that). I have found very rich brown sugar and fresh pineapple to be very good, too, I think grown locally.
  Hope that helps, as always quality varies place to place and usually the best places are off the usual tourist areas.
  Edit: oh I also just remembered a place that has a deep fryer in the middle of the table and it's like Korean BBQ but with a deep fryer. Now that was a unique experience, lol.
  
  Since you are there you might as well try some Chanpuru. It is a stir fry dish with Goya but it can be a bit strange for first timers. Not sure on what’s there anymore, been 15 years. Yoshihatchi is probably still there, pretty good sushi joint.
  I also recommend that you hit up Peace Memorial Park if you can make it down to the south side of the island. Can’t remember if the tunnels are near that but those are interesting as well.
  
  I hesitate to recommend you visit a CoCo Ichibanya lest you become hopelessly addicted for the rest of your life like me. But Japanese curry is just so damn good I don’t care if they put crack in to to keep you coming back.

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