About 1 hour and 40 minutes by car from Naha Airport. A rustic one-story café in Nakijin Village. All seats are non-smoking. The cafe has a very nice atmosphere serving macrobiotic plates of local vegetables. It is inconvenient to visit without a car, but it is worth a visit from afar.
Point 1: What is the overview of the natural cafe “Cafe Kokou”?
Cafe Kokou” opened in April 2020. Located in Nakijin Village, the cafe serves macrobiotic plates made with local vegetables.
First of all, its appearance is lovely, a one-story Okinawan house with a red roof. Open the wooden door to enter, and you will find the warmth of the wood-filled restaurant with small seats (Zashiki) and tables where you can feel the breeze and look out over the ocean.
The menu is largely divided into “meals,” soft drinks, and alcohol.
The café is run by a husband who moved from outside the prefecture and used to do Japanese cuisine and his wife who studied macrobiotics, and the meals use only vegetables, with no meat, fish, sugar, or dairy products.
The dishes served are served on colorful Okinawan Yachimun (pottery). This matches the warmth of the wooden café and creates a very nice scene.
I didn’t think there would be that many people when I arrived, but I was told that there are times when people line up in front of the cafe before it opens! Reservations can be made, so I recommend making one.
And next door is that bright white Insta-view hotel “EMIL NAKIJIN” where people staying there also come to eat.
Point 2: What kind of food menu does “Cafe Kokou” offer?
Café Kokuu offers three types of plates as part of its meal menu: Kokuu A, Kokuu B, and Kokuu C.
A is 9 side dishes + rice + miso soup (1,300 yen), B is 9 side dishes + rice + miso soup + drink (1,700 yen), and C is 6 side dishes + rice + miso soup + drink (1,500 yen).
If you choose enzyme brown rice or a cordial or alcoholic drink, the price increases by 100 yen.
The dishes are carefully prepared without using extra seasonings, and are perfect for resting your stomach after a long trip.
Point 3: What is “Seihei Cordial,” the local drink of “Cafe Kokuu”?
The menu at “Cafe Kokou” includes a drink called “Seihei Cordial” (550 yen).
This is made by mixing the prefecture’s lemons, fruits, ginger, berries, and spices into a syrup with millet sugar, and then mixing it with soda or water.
It is like ginger ale with added fruits, so to speak.
The syrup is made at atlier cafe bar Seihei, also in Nakijin, and no preservatives or other additives are used.
What kind of flavor? If you ask me, it is complicated and unexplainable, so if you are curious, please try it!
It contains ginger and spices, so it will warm up your body!
