Nirai Kanai (Liang Court)–Fabulous Okinawan Food

Okinawan food is fantastic and a must try for anyone. Due to the history of the Okinawan islands and their proximity to Taiwan, Okinawan food will have a familiar – yet different – taste to those of us used to southern Chinese cuisine.

The restaurant has a very rustic feel – and it does remind me of Okinawa:

There are several must-tries for Okinawan cuisine. One of them is champuru, a kind of stir-fry. Popular ones are tofu champuru and goya champuru. Japanese bittergourd – or goya – is only slightly bitter and has a crunchy texture. It’s the only kind of bittergourd that I’ll eat.

We ordered the goya champuru – champuru in Okinawa is often fried with luncheon meat (tasty!) and is drier. Ours had a fair bit of sauce but was still very delicious, as it tasted as if it had been cooked with bacon when in fact there was none – just egg, tofu and pork:

Another signature dish in Okinawa is Okinawan soba. Okinawan soba is more like noodles as we know it, and looks quite like mee pok. We tried Souki Soba, which you will find everywhere on the islands. The broth was thick and delicious but less salty than ramen broth, and the stewed pork was full of flavour:

As one can probably tell, Okinawan food is very heavy on pork – and many of their signature dishes are pork dishes. I’m not sure whether the pork knuckles we had were authentic Okinawan food, but oh man – it was AMAZINGLY GOOD. Unlike German pork knuckles, the meat came right off the bone with just a prick of the fork, and the knuckles had less fat and contained more flavour than Chinese pork knuckles. Honestly, the skin was extremely tasty:

There was nothing left after we were done with the pork knuckles:

Finally, here’s a dish which one absolutely cannot miss when in Okinawa/in an Okinawan restaurant – stewed pork belly, or Rafute. The fat melted in your mouth and the meat had just the right amount of bite, and every inch of the meat had been adequately infused with the aromatic sauce:

The servings are pretty sizable and we were stuffed by the end – all for just $52. The service is average – one server was attentive, but another wasn’t at all – and they forgot the tuna carpaccio that we’d ordered (just as well though!). That said, the food was awesome – and I’m quite partial to Okinawan food – so I’d recommend everyone to try this place!