Nigiri Uminai Sushi: aka the ¥105 Sushi Go Round

When I lived in Okinawa as a kid, I thought that Sushi-go-Round restaurants were the coolest thing in the world. What an inventive idea! I love being able to see my food before I choose it, and sushi is already one of my favorite foods. Coming back to Okinawa as an adult slightly changed my perspective. I visited an old favorite "Kaitenzushi" (the Japanese word for Sushi-go-round) restaurant in American Village, and it was a lot more expensive than it used to be (when my parents were paying!). Plus, it takes about 40 minutes to get there from my house, and I tend to forget I'm hungry until I'm ravenous.

I thought we would never go to a Kaitenzushi restaurant again, until my husband and I heard about the ¥105 Sushi Go Round. Not only is it less than 10 minutes from Courtney AND McT, but it's cheap, and has really good sushi!



The full name of this restaurant is Nigiri Uminai. The first word, Nigiri, is the name of the style sushi that has a piece of sashimi sitting on a little ball of sushi rice. The second word, Umi, means ocean. To be completely honest, I have no idea what the last part of it means. If anyone speaks more Japanese than I do, please feel free to let me know! To keep it simple, I just call this place Nigiri Sushi, for short.



Like any sushi-go-round, Nigiri Sushi has both a bar area and booth tables organized around a moving track full of individual plates of sushi. You are free to grab whichever plate catches your eye, and at the end of your meal, your price will be calculated by tallying the number and type of plates on your table. There is also ice water and hot green tea available at your table, via tea packets and a hot water spigot at the table.



If you sit in the bar area, a sushi chef in the middle of the tracks can take special requests for you, and make them right in front of you. If you sit at the booths, however, there is a really neat touch screen computer system that will allow you to special order sushi, drinks, desserts, and even some assorted side items. Everything is written in both Japanese and English, and its really intuitive. Even better, when your order is ready, it wheels out to your table on a little race car!

This is a great family friendly restaurant to go to. It's better if everyone going likes sushi, but there are a few other things available as side items. They usually have small bowls of soba, fried chicken pieces, potato wedges, and some assorted dessert items. There are a few things on their menu that are a little more than ¥105, but they are still fairly cheap. We usually leave completely stuffed for under ¥2,000 for two adults, including a few sodas.


Directions:

From Camp Courtney, simply take a left onto Route 75. You'll cross through 3 stop lights before seeing Nigiri Sushi and the Tsutaya movie/music store on the right.

From McTureous, take a right out the gate onto Route 8. From there, continue straight for a while. Take a left onto Route 75 just past the KFC and Lawson. Drive one block north, then turn into the Tsutaya parking lot on the left, and Nigiri Sushi will be at the far end of the parking lot.


View Nigiri Kaitenzushi in a larger map

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.


View Cafe Kelp in a larger map


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.