Rose Garden Tea Room

After another long interlude, I've finally gone out and had another awesome food adventure! Today I went to check mail with my friends Lindsey and Christina. After that, we decided that we didn't want to go home yet, and they were both hungry for lunch. On a whim, I suggested we try the cute little garden cafe just outside of Courtney's commissary side, which we learned later is called the Rose Garden Tea Room.



The building has a large tower with the word Coffee painted across the side, and a few conical spires reminiscent of a Disney castle. The beautiful garden the restaurant is named for has a wide array of flowers and marble statues that lend it an almost Victorian feel.



When you walk inside, you will be greeted with a vast array of whimsical statues, fascinating trinkets, artificial flowers and porcelain dolls. The decor feels like a fancy British tea room- the perfect atmosphere to have a high tea party with gloves and hats. There are sunny window tables with lounge chairs in the front, secluded areas with couches and tables, and cute little tables with windows facing the beautiful garden.



We expected a selection of teas and coffees and a few teatime snacks, but were pleasantly surprised when we saw the amount of options on the menu. They offered soup, salad, a few sandwiches, cake, cinnamon toast, and more than four full meal options.

Lindsey chose the ginger chicken meal, which cost ¥800, and mango juice (¥420) to drink. Her meal started off with a bacon corn chowder and a small side salad with a sweet Japanese dressing. The main course was a mix of sauteed onions, green peppers, and chicken in a ginger sauce.





Christina was brave and tried an egg sandwich that I couldn't quite read the kanji for. It turned out to be a fried egg sandwich with lettuce and tomato and mayonnaise. It cost ¥600, and included two sandwiches. She said the bread was very light and fluffy, and the sandwich was amazing. There was even a cherry in the middle of her sandwiches as a garnish! She also tried the mango juice, since mango is one of her favorite fruits.





I had already eaten lunch, so I chose the cinnamon toast and an iced caramel cappuccino for ¥1,020 total. The toast was a large piece of lightly toasted fluffy white bread with butter, whipped cream, cinnamon, and a cherry on top. The cappuccino was creamy and sweet with a large amount of whipped cream and caramel on top as well.





The Rose Garden Tea Room is open from 11:00 am until 11:00 pm, and they only accept yen.

To get there from Courtney commissary side, go out the gate, and turn left at the stop light. Take the first left, and you'll see the tall building labeled "Coffee" on your right.

From McTureous, turn right out the gate. Take a left onto 75, and continue just past the commissary intersection. Take the next left.


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Cafe Pipi Neo

Cafe Pipi Neo is hidden away from the main roads, near the bird watching park in Tengan. Given that their logo is a flying bird, and "Pipi" is the Japanese onomatopoeia equivalent to "Cheep-cheep," I think it's actually named for the park. Whatever it's named for, they are a very cute little cafe with a good selection of food, and some very delicious-looking baked goods. If you're looking for a peaceful place to relax and read over lunch or tea, this is a great spot!


I love the calm, quiet atmosphere here. Each of the tables here seems like it's in its own little private nook. There is even a selection of magazines available on the shelf this seat is backed up against, though most of them are in Japanese.



I loved how they break up the sterile white walls with plants. It makes the space feel clean but comfortable. Every time I come here I have to comment that if I didn't think my puppy would eat it, I would love to have a tree like this one in my house. I love the way a house plant can liven up a room.



As you can see, this cafe is set up for more intimate groups. I would recommend this cafe for adult-only outings, but older children would do fine if they aren't picky eaters.



The menu is extremely limited; there are two menu items offered all the time; Squid Ink Curry, Okinawn style pork in wasabi sauce, and a daily special--usually fish. All lunches cost ¥850 and include a choice of bread or rice and a drink. You also have the option to include dessert for ¥150, for a total of ¥1,000.

I chose the special this time- white fish in cream sauce with a Caesar salad. The fish was perfectly cooked, and while the cream sauce was a little thicker than I'm used to, it tasted good. I especially liked the little bit of mashed potatoes- I wished there had been more! Overall, I thought the meal was a perfect portion, but when my husband had a similar dish the last time we visited, he said he could've eaten two orders. (Marines. Sigh.)


My friend Christina tried the Okinawan pork with wasabi sauce. She raved about it, and I believe she is in the process of trying to find a recipe for the sauce so she can try it on pasta. (I'll definitely update if she'll share what she finds!) This particular dish includes sauteed cabbage, scallions, and the fatty Okinawan pork that is famously popular in these parts.

If any of you are brave enough to try the Squid Ink Curry, please let me know how it is! I have been wary of trying it, but I think it would probably be really good. I've had squid ink before on a pasta dish, and I really liked it.


There are usually two dessert options, and they vary from time to time. Christina and I both chose the cheesecake over the Soy Custard. This cheesecake was delicious! Even though it's such a small piece, it was so rich and dense that it was the perfect serving size. It's easier (I have tried the custard before, it tastes like vanilla pudding with a hint of soy, with a texture just a little more gelatinous than creamy like pudding normally is. Very good.)

Cafe Pipi Neo also has a small selection of bakery items available for purchase. They had a few fruit tarts and muffins and scones, and some absolutely gorgeous cinnamon rolls. They were huge and ooey gooey and if I hadn't just stuffed myself at lunch, I would've bought four. The Cinnamon Rolls cost ¥300, and I didn't see prices for anything else.

Directions:

A thousand apologies to those of you who get a little lost on the way, but I promise this place is worth hunting for! To be perfectly honest, I found this place just by following the signs. They are all brown and white, like the one in the picture above, and I would highly recommend that you keep an eye out for them as landmarks so you know you're taking the right direction. Or, if you have an iPhone, use the map function to help navigate!

From McTureous, turn right on Route 8, then continue until the Lawson intersection. Take a left onto Route 75. Continue through two stoplights (the second one is between Essence Salon and Family Mart), then turn right at the third stoplight, which is just past the Mos Burger. Continue straight until you see the sign for Cafe Pipi Neo pictured above. It will be on the left hand side across the road from you. (From here, skip the next paragraph and then continue reading the directions.)

From Courtney housing gate, just turn right onto Route 224. Follow this around the bend, until you go under a very short tunnel. After this, you'll come to a bridge. Turn left immediately after you cross this bridge. The sign pictured above is on that street corner.

From there, continue straight as the road bends slightly to the left. You will end up driving parallel to the Tengan river alongside a small dam. (You will also be able to see the "bird cage" overlook from the bird park I mentioned earlier.) This road will soon turn into a T intersection. There will be a bridge to the left, but you'll turn right here. From there, pass the first left turn (a dead end) and take the second left. There will be another sign for the cafe.

Whew. For those of you still following, congrats! This next part is easy. Just keep to the left, and continue straight for a block or two, and look for Cafe Pipi Neo on the right. There is parking inside the wooden retaining wall pictured above.


Hours and Information:

Cafe Pipi Neo is open from 11:30 am until 5:00 pm. Lunch ends fairly early, I believe at 2:00 pm, but they are open later for tea. Their phone number is 098-974-1727, but be aware the staff does speak mainly Japanese. They can speak a little English, and they'll help you as best they can, though.


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On a completely unrelated note, while I was out taking photos of the front of the building, Christina and I found these sleeping ferns. If you touch them, they fold up to protect their leaves! We both remembered playing with these as kids, so we were really excited to find them! They grow in random places around Okinawa, and they are a huge hit with kids, so keep your eye out for them if you have little ones.

Cafe Ukulele

My husband and I had seen this building before on an excursion to the "Kaichu Doraibu," or the "Sea Road" that leads you across the ocean to Henza Island, Miyagi Island, and Ikei Island to the East of Okinawa, but we didn't realize that there was a restaurant inside until my husband rode past it again on a bicycle ride. We had been too enthralled with the ocean view directly across from the building. But if you're looking for it, you can't miss it- it's a huge tan and burgundy building with a large parking lot and several "Cafe" banners outside.



We had been headed to White Beach for lunch, but decided last minute to try Cafe Ukulele. There were also signs for the "Tree of Bread" Bakery, which we later discovered supplies all the bread for the sandwiches at the Cafe upstairs.



We noticed this cute little sign outside that listed the full menu along with prices. It was written in Japanese, but between the pictures and the little Japanese I know, we decided it looked like a really good place to try! Plus, the highest price we saw on the smaller menu was only ¥1,000 for a full meal set.

Once we made our way upstairs, we walked up to the counter, where they handed us an English menu to look at. There were a few items with interesting translations, and the staff didn't speak especially good English, but we were able to order without any problems. There were three categories of meals: light meals, which cost between ¥300 and ¥400 or so for a small lunch set; "~ Don" or bowl lunches that seemed to be around ¥1,000 with a few ¥850 Japanese style curry options; and Soup sets for ¥1,000 or so.




We ordered at the counter, then sat down and they brought our food out to us. We chose to sit at a bar on the window, so we could admire the ocean view pictured above, but there were also tables, and even some lounge chairs that looked like a perfect place to sit down with a good book and a cup of coffee.

The lighter lunches looked like the perfect size for my smaller appetite. My husband ate through an entire bowl lunch and a small set, but he'd been cycling that morning. I barely made it through half of my bowl set, but wanted to keep eating since it was so delicious!

There was a very nice free drink bar, which offered iced tea, water, grape juice, and orange juice, along with some hot drinks (coffee and tea). They also sell sodas for ¥350, and Orion beer, though I didn't see the price.




My husband ordered the Loco-Moco meal. It was a hamburger steak with garnish over rice, and it also came with a Japanese salad and an egg over easy. He got a small bowl of soup with it as well. The soup was a cross between a typical egg drop soup and a Japanese seaweed soup. It was different than he expected, but he said it tasted good.




I ordered a Tonkatsu Don, or pork cutlet bowl. The pork cutlet is deep fried in a special batter, and served piping hot over steamed rice and sauteed onions, with an egg cracked over top. The food is hot enough to cook the egg to an over-medium consistency. It was on par for a Tonkatsu Don- there isn't really too much a restaurant can do to make this dish uniquely their own, since the pork cutlets have such a distinctive taste, but I really enjoyed it. I got a bowl of soup as well.




This was my husband's second lunch- a ham sandwich from the light meal menu. It was small, but with the side salad and potatoes, it makes a decent sized lunch if you have a smaller appetite. The bread was very good, but my husband said there wasn't much meat to the sandwich. The salad had a nice sesame dressing.

I would love to go back and try their curry, or some of their light lunches, like the pizza bread. Luckily, it's cheap (We got out for ¥3,000 exactly for 3 meal sets and 2 sodas) and only a short 10-15 minute drive from Courtney!


Directions:

From Courtney Housing gate, turn right onto Route 224. Continue around the curve and over the bridge. You'll make a left on Route 8. Follow Route 8 until you come to a Y intersection. Keep left onto Route 37. Continue along this road until you see a tan and burgundy building on the right.

From McTureous, turn right out the gate onto Route 8. Stay on Route 8 across Route 75 and across Route 224. At the Y intersection, keep left onto Route 37. You'll see Cafe Ukulele on the right.


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Hours and Contact Information:

Cafe Ukulele is open from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm, last order at 5:30 pm. Lunch is served between 11:00 and 3:00 pm. Their phone number is (098)983-0160. Payment is yen only, I believe.

Cafe Kelp

Cafe Kelp is the restaurant that sparked my interest in finding more great restaurants around the Courtney/McTureous area. When you live stateside, it's easy to judge a restaurant by how it looks on the outside. Westerners tend to put a lot of emphasis on their store front, and it's a lot easier to find restaurant reviews of a place that looks questionable when you speak the local language.



Like most places on Okinawa, Cafe Kelp really doesn't look like much from the outside, but it has a lot to offer. The beautiful garden outside, the calming music, and excellent lunch fare all add up to a great experience.

The food is traditionally Japanese, but is palatable even to those who aren't very bold about trying new foods. The staff speaks some English, and they are quite friendly. Their menu does come in English, and has four options, including chicken, pork, fish, and beef. Each meal comes with a plate of Japanese appetizers, soup, your entree with a side of rice, and a choice of dessert and drinks after the meal. Prices range from ¥1,000 for chicken and pork to ¥1,300 for the beef entree.

The appetizer plate varies depending on what day you go in, but typically includes a small slice of omelette, a few Okinawan style pickled vegetables, some vinegrated seaweed noodles with cucumber and shiquasha flavors, and a small slice of cooked carrot, purple sweet potato, and a Japanese miso gelatin square.



The soup they serve here is very delicious! The first few times I tried it, I assumed it was either broccoli or cream of spinach, because of its creamy lime green color. This last time, I finally gathered up the courage to ask our waitress. She explained that it is a cream of potato soup, and that the green color comes from a traditional Okinawan leafy green vegetable. I couldn't remember the Japanese name of it, but I believe it's a sort of spinach. They also serve home made grissini cracker sticks with their soup. They also sell several flavors of grissini (including vegetable, curry, and a few others) for between ¥180 and ¥300 for different sized packages.



The chicken set consisted of a grilled chicken breast cooked in traditional Japanese seasonings underneath a lettuce and apple salad with a Japanese onion vinaigrette. It's light but filling, and I love the tangy flavors in it. The pork meal is essentially the same, but with pork instead of chicken. They are both excellent.



My husband's favorite meal at Cafe Kelp is the beef stew. It's a little heartier than the other meals on the menu, and perfect for a cooler day. When I tasted this dish, it reminded me of Hayashi rice, which used to be my dad's favorite. The stew comes with several vegetables, usually a slice of acorn squash, onion, broccoli, and mushrooms.



The dessert menu varies from time to time. Every time we have been, there has been the option of a cheesecake and sherbet. The cheesecake is rich and delicious, and comes with a mint garnish. The last time we went, the sherbet selection was fantastic! They offered a shiquasha/yuzu (okinawan lime) sherbet, a goya sherbet that I was nervous to try, and a carrot sherbet. As you can see from the picture, I chose the carrot sherbet. It was surprisingly good! I loved it, and my husband thought it was good too.



You will also be served an after-lunch drink with your dessert. They offer hot and iced tea, hot and iced coffee, and an herbal tea that includes lemon, mint, and hibiscus flavors. My husband prefers the iced tea, but I always get the hibiscus tea! They bring it out in a clear teapot so you can see all the herbs used, and the tea takes on a bright fuchsia color from the whole hibiscus flower they steep in the tea. It's very pretty, and tastes amazing as well.


Directions:

Cafe Kelp is located just outside the Commissary gate of Camp Courtney. Simply turn onto the road that leads to that gate, then take the first right hand turn. You'll see a cute little brown sign that says Cafe Kelp in katakana. Cafe Kelp will be the second building on the right.



If you have a car that sits lower to the ground, like my husband's MR-2, you may want to take the longer way around, as there is a pretty steep hill with a dropoff. To get around, simply continue north on 75 past the road to the commissary. Take the next left. You'll see a small brown sign for Cafe Kelp in katakana. You'll want to take the first left that leads to an actual road. You'll see the English sign pictured above. From there, continue a short ways down the road to get to the parking lot, which will be on the left.


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Hours and Contact Information:

Cafe Kelp is open for lunch only from 11:30 am until 3:00 pm on Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays. Their phone number is (098)979-9452. Their business card mentions that they will serve dinner with a reservation, but I am unclear on the details- they may require a certain number of people. They do take reservations here, and there have been times where we have arrived to find all the tables reserved, so if you are comfortable calling, you may wish to make a reservation.

Payment is cash only. I believe they take dollars, but I have only ever paid in yen, so I'm not 100% sure.

Cafe Holoholo

My first encounter with Cafe Holoholo was on a girls' lunch excursion. Our first choice had been closed, and Jenny suggested we try it. I vetoed it immediately, because I thought it was a Coffee house. The next time I drove by, I noticed a banner hanging on the retaining wall that said "Lunch" in katakana letters. I just had to try it! I'm so glad I did, because it is now one of my favorites.



The lounge-like space is roomy and filled with neat Hawaiian touches, like these cute pillows, and even hand sewn napkin holders. The patio outside has an assortment of beautiful flowers (even my favorite, amaryllis!), and overall there is a very relaxed, quiet feel to the place.

The food is absolutely amazing! There is a mix of very healthy traditional Japanese lunches, and some Italian-inspired pastas and casseroles. Prices hover around ¥1,050, and your meal includes a free drink bar with water and hot and cold coffee and tea, usually a small side salad with tasty Japanese onion dressing, and dessert.



My husband ordered Pasta Carbonara, for ¥1,000, and his meal came with two dinner rolls. The daily pasta selections vary, and are displayed in katakana on a chalkboard that lists the day's specials. When we went, there were 3 pasta options, including a Pepperocini pasta, and another that I couldn't make out. (My Japanese was sufficient, but I couldn't interpret what it was in Italian!)



I ordered a dish called Doria, also for ¥1,000. I had never heard of it before, but it was delicious! They give you a choice of white or brown rice. (I chose white rice, but I have been back, and Jenny said she enjoyed the brown rice!) Basically, it is a casserole with rice on the bottom layer, pasta, mushrooms, and onion in a mushroom sauce in the middle, and a very delicious cheese topping. It was very filling! I barely made it through half of it before I was full!

I have since gone back and tried the healthy lunch, and it was delicious! They offer a traditional Japanese meal with an array of traditional small dishes, including a buckwheat soba soup with seaweed and chives, a daikon radish salad, your main course, some pickled veggies, a key lime pie for dessert, and even a small portion of tempura! Regrettably, I was too hungry to think of taking pictures that day, and the food was demolished before I could capture it. But I can vouch for it being very healthy and very filling!

The staff speaks some English, and are very friendly. The food is a little grown-up for most kids' taste, but it's perfect for a girl's day out. My husband found the portions to be small for his appetite- he ended up eating half of my food (and mentioned ice cream after we were done!)- but if you're in the mood for a lighter lunch it hits the spot.

The only payment accepted is Japanese Yen (¥), no dollars or credit cards, but you shouldn't need more than ¥1,500 per meal. Their hours are from 1100-1500 for lunch, and for dinner until 1700. They are closed on Sundays and Japanese Holidays. Their phone number is 098-989-1381. They have a small parking lot for about 5 cars, but it is roomy enough that you could maneuver a bigger car if you must.


Directions:

Cafe Holoholo is located on Route 8, halfway between Camp McTureous and Route 75. If you are traveling from 75, it will be on the right hand side. It is the first building past the big light blue building labeled "Zukeyama Furniture," (the road that's the "shortcut to McT"). It is surrounded by a white wall, but it's still fairly easy to find.

From Courtney's Housing gate, turn left onto 224 out the gate. Continue straight through the light across 75, and take the forced left at the stop sign where the construction begins. You'll come to another T-intersection, and take a right. Continue on until you reach Route 8 (another T), and turn right at Zukeyama Furniture. Cafe Holoholo will be on the right. You will see a taller one story white building. One side of it is Cafe Holoholo, and the other is an Esthe salon which may be easier to see from this direction.

If you like sticking to main roads, take a left on 75 from either Courtney gate. Continue down for a few stoplights, then turn right on Route 8. Follow around the curve past the first 2 stoplights, and look for the Cafe on the right just past Zukeyama Furniture.

From McTureous, simply turn right out of the gate, and look for Cafe Holoholo on the right a few blocks down. You will cross through one stop light before you get there.


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