Food Guide in Okinawa
Part of the Okinawa travel guide — see every topic in All Okinawa Guides.
Okinawan food is different from the rest of Japan, with more pork, bitter melon, sweet potato and tropical fruit. It is filling and usually good value.
Okinawa soba and champuru
Okinawa soba is thick wheat noodles in pork broth, topped with stewed pork belly or pork ribs; a bowl costs about ¥700–1,200. Goya champuru is stir-fried bitter melon with tofu, egg and pork. Rafute is pork belly slowly cooked in soy sauce and awamori, the local rice spirit.
Taco rice and snacks
Taco rice, taco meat, cheese and salad on rice, was created in the town of Kin in the 1980s; a plate costs about ¥600–900. Try umi-budo (sea grapes), a seaweed that pops in your mouth, and Blue Seal ice cream in flavours such as beni-imo (purple sweet potato) and salt cookie.
Markets and streets
Makishi Public Market, near Kokusai-dori, reopened in a new building in 2023: buy fish on the ground floor and pay a small fee to have it cooked upstairs. Kokusai-dori, about 1.6 km long, has souvenir shops and restaurants, and the covered market lanes beside it are more local. Sakaemachi Market, near Asato Station, has small izakaya that stay open late.
Drinks and sweets
Orion is the local beer, and awamori is a strong rice spirit, usually served with water and ice. Sata andagi are round fried doughnuts, about ¥100 each, and beni-imo tarts make easy gifts.
Food Guide at a glance
| Okinawa soba | About ¥700–1,200 |
|---|---|
| Taco rice | About ¥600–900 |
| Makishi Public Market | Near Kokusai-dori; small cooking fee upstairs |
| Kokusai-dori | About 1.6 km; Kenchomae or Makishi stations |
| Try | Umi-budo, rafute, beni-imo tarts, sata andagi |
| Drinks | Orion beer, awamori |