Approximately 53 minutes by car from Naha Airport. It is an old private house café located in the southern part of Okinawa City. The lunch, limited to five servings, is healthy with wild plants, island ingredients, brown rice, and miso soup made from dried bonito shavings shaved on the spot! This is a cafe where you can experience the feeling of being deep in Yanbaru in Okinawa City. What kind of place is it?
Point 1: What kind of place is “Yasou Cafe yamacha”?
The name “Yasou Cafe yamacha” suggests that it is a natural-oriented cafe. The name “Yasou Cafe Yamacha” suggests that it is a natural-oriented café.
This café was opened in 2011 with the idea of “having a café where people with small children can relax,” and it is a mother- and child-friendly café with all seats on the tatami floor, with shoes removed, and a kids’ space.
The exterior of the café is a typical Okinawan old house, and it feels cozy and safe as if you are at your grandmother’s house. It is just like that feeling you get when you sit still in your living room and before you know it, your grandma has made you dinner and snacks.
If you are expecting an Americanized café, you will be surprised to find a café in a typical Okinawan house. I was a bit surprised to find a place like this in Okinawa City.
Yasou Cafe yamacha serves mainly Western-style food using wild grasses and local ingredients.
The dashi soup is made by shaving dried bonito flakes on the spot, and the pizzas are carefully made from dough.
Although there are not many varieties, there are also drinks such as wild herb tea and organic coffee, and desserts such as homemade coffee jelly, making it a place where you can relax not only with a meal but also with a cup of tea.
Point 2: What is the “limited 5-course lunch” at “Yasou Cafe yamacha”?
The menu at “Yasou Cafe yamacha” mainly consists of Western-style dishes such as curry, pizza, and gratin. All of them are delicious! The signature item on the menu, however, is the “limited five-course lunch” served during the day.
The side dishes are beautifully arranged on a beautiful Okinawan yachimun-like plate, and the rice is brown. The rice is brown. The miso soup is made with dried bonito flakes shaved on the spot.
The menu changes daily, but the words “fermented” and “shio koji” are often used, such as “Chicken with shio koji nan banzuke” and “Fermented carrot chickpea salad with marinade.
The gratin is a glutinous millet gratin without butter or flour.
Just as in Okinawa, where eating fermented foods is a part of everyday life, people have been eating foods that are good for their bodies for generations.
Coming to this restaurant, I feel as if I am being taught what is truly good for the human body.
Point 3: Drinks at “Yasou Cafe yamacha” are also delicious!
Yasou Cafe yamacha also offers original drinks such as wild herb tea and organic coffee.
One of them is “homemade enzyme juice” (500 yen), a health-friendly fermented drink made from about 20 to 30 kinds of wild plants, vegetables, and fruits from the Yasou Cafe’s fields.
In Okinawa, there are many kinds of fermented beverages, and some of them are sold in supermarkets, which I have never seen in mainland Japan.
The special fermented juices made with 20 to 30 kinds of wild plants, vegetables, and fruits from our fields are gentle to the body, and it feels like they are made with the customer’s body in mind.
Of course, they are caffeine-free, so even children can drink them.
