Okinawa has been on my bucket list of places to go visit in Japan. I remember watching so many Youtubers go to Japan last year, and it made me even look up places to go eat around where I live for some Okinawa food. Izakaya Habuya showed up on Yelp, and I was surprised how close it was, so I immediately bookmarked the restaurant.

Last Friday

Tom and I finally decided to go Izakaya Habuya, and I was surprised how small the restaurant was. It probably could only fit about 20 people. We put ourselves on the Yelp waitlist while driving there, and by the time we arrived, we only waited for about 10 more minutes before a lady from the restaurant called out my name. We were seated at the counter, which is pretty appropriate as if we were in a real bar in Japan.

The lady gave us the food and drinks menu, and Tom immediately knew what to order from the drinks menu, and it was Okinawan Lime Chu Hi. Since Tom usually likes lemonade, the drink was very appropriate to what he would get. I ordered shikwasa juice since shikwasa is not a common fruit in the states as it is a citrus fruit originating from Japan and Taiwan. It was very sweet and not tart at all. I was happy I ordered it since it was super refreshing.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, so Tom and I had a hard time deciding what to eat. We tried to find food that are both equally something we would eat and something we do not normally get from Japanese food.

As usual, we ordered too much

• The Okinawan Mozuku Avocado Salad sounded light and interesting as mozuku is a seaweed from Okinawa, and it was so slimy and noodle-y. It did not taste anything weird. I really liked the ponzu vinegar dressing they used for the salad.
• Ceviche Umami Hamachi was super delicious. The hamachi was super fresh, and the olive oil lime sauce that it came with was a great compliment with the fish.
• Ton Ton Ton consists of stewed pork rib, pork feet, and pork belly. All three pork parts were so tender, and we loved the pork rib as it has a nice balance of fat and meat to it. The pork feet made me think of the Taiwanese pork feet noodle soup my mom makes, so it had a very home-y taste to it. You have to add the mustard on the side, though, as it has more complexity in the flavors.
• Karrage is Tom’s favorite, so we had to order this. Apparently, it seems like they used rice flour to fry the chicken, and the chicken was juicy.
• I have been looking for a shio (salt) ramen for so long, so I was very excited getting this. The broth was a fish broth, and it was so flavorful and light at the same time. The amount of yuzu peel they added definitely gave a nice flavor, although the peel does get a little bitter towards the end. The chashu was soft and tender. We were glad that we both shared the ramen since there was a lot.
• I had to get the Matcha Green Tea Tiramisu because I love matcha. I love how it was not a huge amount of food since Tom and I already ate a lot before this came out. The sugar syrup on the side was a nice contrast with the bitterness of the matcha, and overall, everything was not too sweet.

We would definitely come back here again

Tom and I could only eat so much. Everything we ordered was delicious. We would definitely come back here again and try different things on the menu.