Forget Kobe Beef These Are the Cult Steaks Everybody Wants Right Now

While driving in Japan can be an important topic to cover, eating in Japan is maybe even more so.  Because you have to do it in order to survive!!  So this isn't every place we ate at, but it is a majority of them, a long read but feel free to scroll through to find something that catches your eye, or belly.  We broke them up by areas of Japan and we begin with;

OKINAWA

Naha

Arin Krin AKA The Garlic House : Arin Karin, also known as the Garlic House, is a restaurant in Urasoe which is in the vicinity of Naha. To start the food is incredible if you love, not like, LOVE garlic. They put garlic in just about everything you eat and you won't find much on the menu that your mouth doesn't pool up with saliva over. We settled in and tried to guess what the kids would want to eat, but that only lasted 10 seconds before we decided to order half of the menu for our first round. To name a few items: White pizza, garlic and parmesan fried potato wedges, garlic mashed potato balls stuffed with cheese, a seafood pasta in a light cream sauce, garlic and bacon pasta in extra virgin olive oil, sweet, spicy and sour dark meat chicken tenders and a tomato salad on a bed of lettuce with sesame dressing (the only thing we ordered without garlic). The restaurant itself isn't that big, but some of the tables are large community tables and other can seat six people comfortably. The place is situated right across the street from Camp Kinser, a U.S. Marine Corps base so if you don't speak English, not to worry, the majority of the staff does as does most of the mid-section of Okinawa around military bases. The food was absolutely incredible and very affordable. As they say, once is good, but twice is nice (I don't know who says that, but it felt right). Read more about it through Yelp at the hyperlink.

Yakiniku Goen : I've waited 6+ years to come back to Japan, Okinawa specifically, for Yakiniku Goen. When we passed by it on the way to base I immediately let everyone know I was going there for dinner the following day with or without them. I barely slept because I was THAT excited to get there and ladies and gentlemen, as always, they didn't disappoint. Yakiniku houses are very fun atmospheres where the customers order the raw meats and vegetables and cook them on a gas grill in the center of the table. Many Japanese people thoroughly enjoy these types of restaurants so I would recommend getting there close to their opening time because it becomes a mad house in the evenings. You're hit with the aroma of barbequed meat and cooked off marinades from the parking lot. Once you walk in through the doorway, you are greeted and shown the menu. The menu is broken into Ala carte or all you can eat (AYCE), which the AYCE is set into (3) courses where you can select type of meats, vegetables and sides which would be the cheapest. In my opinion everybody should get the most expensive one, around 3000 yen, because it includes everything on the menu with a 90 minute time limit, but everyone has to be in on it. One person can't get the AYCE and others the Ala Carte so think about it before you decide. Non-alcoholic drinks are included in the courses and are also self-serve, along with soft serve ice cream. It's not just all meat though. They offer soups and side dishes such as potato salad, kimchee, cucumber salads and even a few vegetarian picks so that everyone can enjoy. The best part about it is you choose how much or how little you eat, BUT make sure you eat whatever you pick out because they will charge you extra if you don't finish what you order. It is easy to order as well; in most places technology has taken over and there are small touch screen computers at each table to order more food or to have the staff come by and collect empty plates or change out the grill. I could easily make this a 3 page post on Yakiniku, but I won't. In the states, people will call it a Korean BBQ and it is similar, but only in the style of cooking over an open flame. The meats, marinades and sides are different, as well as the experience. If you want the best Yakiniku experience, save up your pennies and head to Japan. I promise you won't be disappointed. For more thorough info check out the hyperlink above. I miss it already….

Shuri Andon Izakaya : Starting up a 45 degree hill while the sun was setting made us all rethink our dinner plans. I assured everyone that this was a shortcut that would save us time. Holy shit! What a hill it was and once we reached the top we were rewarded with Shuri Andons very small Izakaya. An Izakaya is a Japanese bar and grill, also called a Gastropub in Europe or tavern in America, or bar and grill…in…America… Anyway or anyhow you spell it or name it, it's definition means eat and drink here  because the food will be amazing and beer ice cold. Obviously not the real definition, but I linked Izakaya here, so check it out. Anyway, this treasure is located in Naha, a 7 minute walk from the Shurijo Castle and 15 minute walk from the monorail station. You wouldn't notice the restaurant if you were walking by because of dim lighting, but once inside, you are well taken care of. What you can expect is authentic Okinawan cuisine cooked by one man, one dish at a time, in what looks to be his home. Quick tip, have an idea what you want to eat before you venture out to somewhere new. I did no research on this restaurant and when we arrived the menu was in Japanese, inscribed on wooden planks. Luckily the chef and owner had photos on his I Pad. We ordered what we thought we would like and with the broken Japanese I know, tried to question what each one was with no success. Not knowing what he was saying was the best thing that could have happened because we had a phenomenal menu of 6 or 7 dishes that filled the three of us up very quickly. On that and a few beers. I still couldn't tell you exactly what we ate, but I can for certain tell you it was worth every penny. Please check out the link above to see more photos of the food as well as info about this hidden gem.

Zootons (AKA Pancake Party House): I only called this the pancake party house because that's what I thought it said in a review. I read that there were pancakes and sandwiches and that a tortious lived out front of the restaurant. It was tucked away on the 3rd floor of a building across from the Doubletree Hotel we were staying at and what an amazing find this was. They are only open from 10 or 11 until 430 each day and are dishing out some incredible plates, but also very simple. So keeping it simple Nikki and her dad ordered cheeseburgers and potato wedges and I went with the chili dog pancakes. Yes, (2) chili dogs on top of (3) pancakes and it was everything I thought it would be. The chili was made in house, but had an almost Hormel taste to it which I loved. Another awesome treat was that the hotdogs were actually mini Polish Kielbasa sausages which was an amazing surprise, but I'm easy to please when it comes to food (you'll see when I talk about free samples at a fish market). Adding syrup and diving right in, I crushed them as well as everyone did, just shy of licking the plates clean. They have daily specials, but get there first thing because they cook until they run out of food. Fairly priced and having a 1970's California beach vibe (or so I'm guessing because I'm an 80's kid) I would highly recommend this place for a late breakfast or lunch if visiting the Shurijo Castle area since it's only a 15 minute walk from the castle.

Mihama

Tonkyohote Shabu Shabu House : Oh Shabu Shabu how I love you oh so much. I was first introduced to Shabu Shabu in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles by Nikki and it had a super tight grip on me since. Shabu Shabu is similar to the Yakiniku style of cooking only in regards to everything being raw, but the meat is cut very thin. You cook your food in boiling pots of water, miso broth or soy broth (GET THE SOY BROTH). You can also add all your vegetables and sauces to add to the quality of your broth changing the flavor of your meats. Shabu Shabu is amazing and I still can't believe that I lived in Okinawa for 4 1/2 years and never went to one. So at this point the bar was set by the Shabu Shabu House in LA and even though the bar still stands, we're tapping our heads on it because the Shabu out in Japan comes very, very close to what I was introduced to. The good news is that the one in Little Tokyo is ran by Japanese people so you still get that foreign food feeling back at home. While I'm at it, if you're ever in California and want to check out a Shabu Shabu, go to the Shabu Shabu House in LA, in Little Tokyo. Still, I recommend that you try it in Japan because it's just one more reason to get you to travel for something well worth it.

Hamazushi : I was first introduced to the "sushi carousel" or "sushi go-round" my first time visiting Japan and I've been craving it since 2010 (I know it seems like my world stopped as far as food goes in 2010, but I missed Japan that much).  The sushi carousels; most times also called conveyor belt sushi because that's what the plates sit on while you eagerly await your favorite dish, are majority nigiri, but there are some rolls and sashimi that are offered as well. If you're not in the mood for sushi or need a change of pace they offer chicken tenders, tempura style fried foods, fruits and beef. Hamazushi even offers a mini cheeseburger nigiri plate! These of course are specialty items and the cost is different, but to order you can use the electronic tablet provided at each table. Simply order what you want and it gets delivered straight to you using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology making the plate stop with a little bell ringing upon arrival. Great food, good times and best of all cheap. They charge you by the color of the plates and most plates start out at 100 yen. Most carousels are the same, but be aware that the cost is different from place to place as well as the quality of the fish.

Kadena Marina : Kadena Marina is an off base establishment that overlooks the water outside of Kadena Air Force Base right on the beach. They offer a wide variety of food, but mainly focus on Western styles of cooking. You can get most things from Steaks to sandwiches, to pizzas and pasta. The prices aren't bad either, but it is a great place to go for a great view and a few cocktails while the sun sets. A family friendly environment that allows beach goers to relax in a shaded and calm atmosphere. Bringing kids? No problem, distract them with a couple pieces of bread to feed the many fish that hang out underneath the outside patio.

Coco Ichibanya Curry House: I don't like curry and rice. I don't like the smell, it isn't nice. I don't like the taste, it goes down like paste. I don't like the people who serve it, yeah they deserve this. I just don't like curry. Not on my rice, not even a slice, not once or twice, I will not and do not like curry and rice. But Coco's is pretty damn good. This was the first time I tried it since 2008 and I got sick from it and spent some quality time with a porcelain God. Needless to say I was hesitant about trying it again, but as I told Nikki once this trip started, GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!! Taking my own advice, I jumped back into the water. Coco's has 3 different types of curry you can get, but many more spice levels and 3 portion sizes as well. There are make your own bowl options, set menu options, salads and side dishes. Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day it's still centered around curry, but it's a hearty meal and very affordable as well. The link I attached to the restaurant name will take you to their menu.

American Village

Captains Inn  Captains Inn is a hibachi restaurant where the cooking is done by a chef on a stainless steel griddle in front of it's customers using only kitchen knives. If the name doesn't clue you in, it's a fisherman themed atmosphere and they even have a 3 foot helm (ship steering wheel) mounted by the main entrance. Just across from the helm is a massive guest book where you sign your name and say where you're from. Once seated, the chefs put on a show flipping shakers, popping food into peoples' mouths and prepare the food with some elaborate slicing techniques. Show aside though, the portions are good in the 3-4 course meal and the beef cooked melts in your mouth. It is on the more expensive side though, but you do get what you pay for. Definitely a tourist attraction, but by no means is it a trap. It's a great family restaurant and besides the photos you take you can get a souvenir Shisa statuesque style glass when you order a certain mixed cocktail.

Jun Juns  All you can eat, all you can drink, unlimited amount of time and smokers, you can smoke inside the restaurant. Jun Juns is an amazing gem in American Village a few doors down from Captains Inn that is fairly priced if you have nothing, but time to relax and kick it with a friend or group of people. Ok so first, lets talk about the buffet line. The food doesn't sit for too long because it's put out in smaller portions and once it gets finished, a new platter shows up. There isn't much time for the food to get cold, unless you moved to the salad and sushi/sashimi bar. The variety of food is awesome for everyone to enjoy, ranging from pastas, to western style pot roast, Japanese dishes, local Okinawan dishes, soups, yakatori (meat on wooden sticks) and the list goes on. They also offer pizza, but the style changes everytime one is finished and the combos can be a little strange at times, but all are delicious. I haven't even mentioned the all you can drink portion. They have 9 beer taps featuring 8 Japanese beers and Budweiser. Behind the taps is a liquor bar for cocktails, now they're not top shelf bottles of booze, but it's all you can drink so just plan for the next day to be a wash. If you're a sake fiend, they have the right poison for you with plum, regular cold and hot sake. This is just a great time at a great price if you drink and eat your monies worth. Sounds too good to be true right? So now here's the catch about Jun Juns. It's not on Yelp and you won't find it by Googling it, but here's how you get there if you're in Okinawa. Map out Captains Inn in American Village and steer there. When you go up the steps it's in the far left corner. You'll see a sign in all Japanese, but some pricing in English. Some people won't know what you're talking about when you ask where it is, but I can assure you we have photographic evidence of Nikki and I traveling to blackout island that night at the restaurant. So if you find it, KOMPAI (cheers) to the memories you'll never remember!!!

Jetta Burger Market Tucked away on the second floor above a fashion store, this burger, tex-mex, western style restaurant is just an awesome little getaway from the hustle of American village. The have a great size menu with food ranging from taco rice and cheese, to a goliath of a cheeseburger to milkshakes and cheese fries and the list goes on. It's perfect for couples or groups of 4-8 with regular seating at tables or a seating area that is setup like a living room in a small house with couches and coffee tables. The vibe when you walk in the door is carefree from the get go and even though some menu items may be a bit pricey, the food is well worth every dime you drop on this blast from the past style eatery. On an American note, if you need a quick fix of burger and fries in a room filled with décor from the good ol' U.S. of A. (which is all probably still made in China or some other foreign country), then grab a seat and kick it. You'll be glad you did, I sure as shit was.

All and all the food was hands down amazing everywhere we went during our stay in Okinawa. However, there are vast differences in the restaurants depending on where you go on the island. When you're closer to a U.S. Military base, you can expect more western style eateries and chain restaurants like McDonalds, Starbucks, even a goddamn Tony Romas. The farther away you get from a base and the deeper you go into towns and cities, the less you will see an American face for miles or kilometers in any direction. Keep in mind, the further you go, the less English menus or English speaking people you'll find. A good idea is to touch on some key phrases from books like Lonely Planet to get the some of the language you'll need to order what you want or think you want. It's all about the experience so go wild and try something new! You might get sick, but hey, at least you went for it.

So now moving on to Mainland Japan

Dontoburi Street; Osaka, Japan

Kinryu Ramen : It couldn't have been more obvious where we should go. A giant dragon head on the corner of the building calls out to the pedestrians screaming "COME GET CHEAP AMAZING PORK FILLED BOWLS OF RAMEN AND BEER!!!!!!!". With zero hesitation I grabbed Nikki's hand and pulled her inside before she could even begin to think if this place was sketchy, dirty or even had good food. You pass by a group of men shaving a giant piece of seasoned pork, hollering numbers and Japanese at customers walking in, on your way to the vending machine to pick your food. Easy enough (and in English as well), I picked the bowl with extra pork and grabbed a large Asahi beer from the vending machine near the back of the tent. It was hot and humid, but smelled incredible while you sat sipping on beers, water and listening to people bullshit about the night they've had.

Just a short time later my number was called and off I went to pick up my bowl of greatness. I added some green onion and garlic to the broth, picked up a few bowls of what turned out to be very spicy kimchee and a few bowls of rice. I was in the zone, slurping, sweating and burning up while neither of us said a word while devouring our bowl. This was just awesome and the perfect end to a great day. I would and most certainly could continue to explain how delicious this bowl of simple ingredients, which were pork, ramen noodles, a few vegetables and possibly an oxtail broth, was, but I couldn't even begin to do it the justice it deserves. With that, pack your bags and go on the search for some quality cuisine and a fun filled night when you land in Osaka. The only regret you'll have is that you didn't stay longer.

One more note to mention and it's just a small detail. If you stay there into the later hours of the night, around 11pm-ish, the stores close and other types of bars open up. The types of bars that welcome gentlemen in with open arms. Talking about whore houses and strip clubs. It's mentioned that this is where you'll find many business men wondering around corners waiting until it's time to play. Just thought I'd add that.

We loaded up the rental racer and headed towards Kobe in search of Nunobiki Falls and the greatest piece of beef any man or woman has ever eaten. The legendary Kobe beef, which is found in Kobe, Japan, was worth every single penny (or yen) that we put into our bellies. You may hear about restaurants boasting they have Kobe and this and that, but there is a very high probability they're lying or just mistaken. Read more about it HERE. So to find this Rolls Royce of beef, we ventured out to Kobe finding a seat at Wakkoqu Restaurant for a lunch we wouldn't soon forget.

Kobe, Japan

Wakkoqu Restaurant : A long drive, a jaunt through an herb garden and a few laps around the mall finally led us to the doors of Wakkoqu Restaurant. We were both incredibly excited for our first experience of trying 100% genuine Kobe beef. When walking through the doorway towards the counter, you're greeted not only by polite staff, but with the mouth-watering aroma of lightly seasoned and slightly charred beef. For us the first thing that caught our attention was a large wooden wine rack holding international wines that if the prices were tallied together, they could buy Nikki and I a house.

We were led towards our seats and sat in front of a pristine, stainless steel griddle that you could see your reflection in. This would be the battleground for our meal. The chef came out and was given our order of (2) 250 gram cuts of Kobe that came in a set menu with vegetables, Miso soup, house salad and dessert. The meal wouldn't be cheap and we both knew this, so we put prices aside (well Nikki did, I started sweating a little bit) and opened our taste buds up wide to what we were about to indulge in.

The meal, as mentioned, started with a Miso soup and was followed by a house salad with a sesame dressing. The chef began to prepare the meal, slicing and caring thin slices of garlic he placed on the grill top and quartering the fat from each piece of the beef to be used later on. He started with a larger piece of fat to help grease the grill and used that to cook the garlic slices to a perfect crisp. He then started on the jelly fish, tofu, peppers and carrot slices. As soon as each piece was starting to cook he then placed slices of the Kobe he had prepared earlier onto the grill. The meat was lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, while he would pay so much attention to each piece of meat, ensuring that each one was cooked evenly to his choice (because you should always go with how the chef thinks the beef should be cooked). With a grill covered in amazing food, he began to position each piece onto our plates.

We were given instruction on how to sample each piece as well. First, we would try the meat with only sea salt and cracked pepper, then adding slices of crisply cooked garlic, then a mustard/soy sauce mixture followed by our choice of favorite topping. Each side item we were given had a specific sauce or seasoning style to use to exude the most flavor. We were absolutely in beef heaven and savored every single piece. I even waited to see if Nikki was going to eat her fat so I could chow down some more, but she was almost elbows up guarding her plate so my chances were slim to NIL.

The meal was over faster than we would have liked, but the flavor of the meat stayed with us all day. We were given green tea ice cream for dessert, but I wasn't interested since I wanted that taste to stay with me as long as possible. Our dining out was incredible and even though the meal was expensive for just a lunch, in our minds, the chance to try Kobe beef in Kobe, Japan was priceless.

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