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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Gushikawa Soba

If you are in the mood for some really good soki soba, Gushikawa soba is a great option. I noticed this restaurant the first week my husband and I were on Okinawa, while we were still driving between the Foster Plaza Housing area and Camp Courtney nearly every day on Route 330/75. None of the signs are in English, but I had learned just enough Japanese to read that it was a "Family Restaurant" called Gushikawa Soba.

After we moved on post and learned that 330/75 is the SLOWEST way to get to Kadena or Foster from Courtney, I all but forgot about this place. I would've never remembered it existed if I hadn't been invited to go sightseeing at the castle ruins with my friend J and another friend's visiting relative, who we affectionately called "Mama K". They mentioned that they would like to try some soba for lunch, and it clicked. This place wasn't too far out of the way, since we were going to take the Expressway, so I took them here. We all really enjoyed it!

The staff here was very friendly, but only spoke a little English. Unfortunately, they do NOT have an English menu. However, they do have a very nice wax display of the food they serve outside the restaurant, and since we all wanted soba anyways, it was fairly simple to order. And since everything was fairly cheap, and really tasty, I would still recommend it, even if you only know how to say "konnichiwa," "gushikawa/tempura soba, kudasai" and "arigatou."


Mama K chose to order one of the "Set Meals." From the little Japanese I can read, we figured out that her meal included soki soba, rice, a salad, and some fried chicken. I was unclear on the difference between the sets, but I believe they just include different side dishes in place of the chicken. The waitress helped us decide. Mama K said the dressing on the salad was a thousand island, and that it was very filling. She couldn't finish all the soba and left a few pieces of the chicken.



J chose to order the Gushikawa Soba. It was a traditional soki soba with Okinawan style pork on top. She said the pork was very tender, but a little fatty. (Just how the Okinawans like it!) Her soba came with a side of fried egg to put on the soba, and a piece of inari, which is sushi rice inside an envelope of deep fried tofu. She really enjoyed her meal! Her only complaint was that it was hard to get used to eating noodles with chopsticks instead of a fork. Luckily, the shopkeeper was nice enough to give us one for her to use- though she did side eye us! I guess it would be funny to Japanese people that Americans struggle with chopsticks.



I ordered the Tempura Soba, which I spotted in the wax display outside before we even walked into the restaurant. I am a huge fan of tempura, and in fact it's my favorite Japanese food. I was really surprised that anyone would ever think to combine it with soba, another one of my favorites. I was in heaven!

My meal was a huge bowl of pork soba with scallions, and as you can see in the picture, they replaced the pork meat with a feast of assorted tempura goodies. There was a shrimp or two, a huge slice of acorn squash, onion, green beans, and I believe there was even a mushroom in there. The huge portion would have satisfied three or four of me, but it was so delicious that you can bet your life that I ate pretty darn close to the whole bowl. I highly recommend it!

I chose to just have some water that was available at the drink table set out for customers, but they do sell soft drinks (sodas) and Orion beer. They were reasonably priced, but it's been almost three months since I've visited, so I can't remember exactly how much it cost.

I do know that all three of us got out for under ¥3,000. It was actually closer (but a smidge over) ¥2,500! I'd say that's really good for the amount of (delicious) food we ate. The set was the most expensive, at just over ¥1,000, but there were several options available for between ¥500 and ¥1,000 as well.


Hours:

Gushikawa Soba is open from 11:00 am until 9:00 pm.


Directions:

Gushikawa Soba is located along Route 75, just a short drive south of Courtney and McTureous. From Courtney, you'll just take a left onto 75 (or a double left from the housing gate). From McTureous, you can simply take a right on Route 8, then continue past 2 stoplights until you see 75, and take a right. Once you're headed south on Route 75, just continue straight until you see it on the right. It is about a block past the big intersection of Routes 36 and 75.

If you are heading to Gushikawa Soba from Kadena or Foster, the easiest way is to simply travel north on Route 330, accessible from Foster's PX gate, or Kadena's Gate 2. If you continue straight long enough, Route 330 turns into Route 75. From this direction, the restaurant will be on the left. Once you pass the San-A store, you are getting close.

There is plenty of parking along both sides of the building (North side, and facing the street). If that's full, or if you have a slightly bigger vehicle like me, you can drive just past the building to the parking lot on the south side. There are plenty of spots there, I just hadn't noticed them because I was hungry and food-centric at that particular moment in time.


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