pasta – ono okinawa

Cafe Station

Cafe Station is located in Urasoe, fairly convenient from Rt.38. It shares a building with HottoMotto (fast food chain bento store), and there is plenty of parking.

When you enter, you order and pay on the first floor, then go to the second floor where the eating area is. Pick a nice comfy chair and relax; they will bring your order up to you when it is ready. There are about 6-7 lunch set choices… I usually choose a pasta. The menu is all in Japanese, no English, but they have pictures and it is mostly katakana since it is more “western-style.”

In addition to lunch sets, you can get dessert sets. The desserts come from a really fancy bakery, Piednue (which has a store front elsewhere if you want to try just it). The baked cheesecake and the chiffon cakes are divine. Overall, it is a really nice cafe to check out while in Okinawa.

address for Cafe Station: https://goo.gl/maps/TiFTjavgYKK2

address for Piednue: https://goo.gl/maps/PQ341kaLNa52

Restaurants

Trattoria Shobu トラットリアショーブー

Today’s lunch brought me near to Camp Foster, a little Italian joint called Trattoria Shobu トラットリアショーブー. It is a nice place, and all lunch sets were 1000yen. They also serve dinner (so the prices change up a bit).

You could choose from many types of pizza and pasta, I am pretty sure there was something for everyone. The sets come with salad, soup, and soft drink. I got the pepperocino pasta, so it also came with bread. For an additional 200yen you can add dessert, but I am trying to be good so I decided to pass for today. They had tiramisu which was really tempting.

Inside was a little quirky, but comfy. There are some tables as well as bar seating. The menu comes in both Japanese and English, probably since it is so close to the military base. Parking was a little tight (lucky I have a kei car), but they have 5 parking spaces for the restaurant.

Anyway, the food was really pretty good and I was pleasantly surprised with my experience; I would definitely recommend trying this gem if you happen to be in the area. As a bonus, they also do takeout pizzas (both tomato base and cream base), all only 980yen.

Restaurants

Italian Tomato Cafe Jr.

Let me start with: this is by no means a fancy, Italian restaurant. It is a reasonably priced sort of fast-food chain restaurant with “Italian” pastas. There are also some fancy little cakes, too, for cafe time. I would not choose here over a real Italian cafe or restaurant, but if you are feeling lazy and want something easy… this works. If you want “real” Italian, check out one of these other places in my previous post.

I go here sometimes since it is decent for a quick lunch. It is consistent, and a decent value. It is easy and does not take too long. The menu usually has some English on it, and there are pictures. You can order a smaller size pasta or a larger size. So if you are looking for something easy to order and “western-ized” in Japan, this is a nice place to try.

Typically I order the smaller pasta with the salad/drink set, coming to 900yen. This is the perfect amount of food for me, but perhaps if you have a bigger appetite you will choose the larger size.

There are a few of these in Okinawa (mostly Naha), usually situated in strip mall type areas where there is plenty of parking. I usually go to the one in BarClay’s Court, Urasoe: https://goo.gl/maps/eiDKWvRS4n22

Here is a link to find Italian Tomato Cafe Jr in all of Japan: https://www.italiantomato.co.jp/search/