Sea Change Okinawa: Yomitan Monogatari

Yomitan Monogatari is one of the best restaurants in Okinawa for traditional Okinawan food in a classy setting. Everything here is delicious, including their cocktails! It's a must visit when in Okinawa

The entrance to this izakaya is so mysterious

Last weekend our friends Laura and Jill were visiting from Australia. They were kind enough to pay us a visit in Okinawa at the end of their Japan trip! Now that we have a wonderful babysitter, we could take the girls out for some dinner and drinks. I originally wanted to take them to Sakae Ryoriten for a taste of some Okinawan food and drinks, but it was fully booked. After some quick thinking, I remembered my lovely blogging buddy Katie had recommended Yomitan Monogatari so I decided to give it a try.

I'm going to make the call and say that Yomitan Monogatari is now my favourite out of the two and it if definitely a great place to take guests if you want to impress them with some quality Okinawan food in a really lovely setting. The only thing that doesn't really work to it's advantage is that it's not very child friendly, whereas Sakae Ryoriten you can definitely do with kids.

The drinks here are wonderful! We started with some of their awamori cocktails. We all chose a different one and all were delicious! All the drinks came in really lovely hand-blown glassware or pottery, which we couldn't stop raving about.

Food-wise, we loved everything. The menu seemed to have quite a few vegetarian-friendly options, and it was all delicious. Again, all the food was served on Okinawan pottery, which was a lovely touch.

The only issue we had that night was when we got the restaurant to call for a daiko to take us home. First, I should explain the awesomeness of a daiko service. A daiko is like a taxi service, but you use it when you have driven to your destination and want to get yourself and your car home. A taxi with two drivers comes and meets you, and one of the drivers drives your car and you home, while the taxi follows to pick up the driver. It is also cheaper than a taxi! I love this service!

Anyway, back to our almost dilemma. The restaurant called for a Daiko and came back to tell us that there were none available, nor taxis because of some event happening in Kadena. I was furiously searching for bus time tables, or the walking distance (a few hours), when eventually the waiter came back to tell us that there was one coming for us! Phew! One of the downfalls of Okinawa, is the fact that everything is far away and there is no reliable public transport....

I will definitely be going back to Yomitan Monogatari when we have another child-free night. It was fantastic. You can find a map and phone number here. It's not the easiest place to find as it's in a nondescript residential street in Yomitan, but it's worth the search.