Nakamura Soba, a restaurant for Okinawa soba.
She told me this was somewhere Japanese visitors felt they had to go when visiting Okinawa. I wondered just how special a bowl of soba could be, but the long queue and the prospect of waiting tens of minutes made me curious. When we arrived, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese visitors were all taking numbers and waiting together. As the photos show, the ocean view was a lovely little bonus.
Here, the Okinawan sea is more than scenery. You can also sense the island through the aroma of seaweed in the broth. Nakamura Soba in Onna village expresses that flavor of Okinawa through its asa soba.
Asa is a green seaweed enjoyed in Okinawa. At this restaurant it is not simply scattered over the soup: it is also incorporated into the homemade noodles and kamaboko fish cake. Several elements of the bowl carry that seaweed flavor.
The foundation is a clear broth made with plenty of bonito flakes, paired with noodles made in-house. After sufficient resting, the noodles are worked by hand to help them combine well with the soup. Sweet and savory simmered pork provides a contrast to the lighter broth.
For more meat, consider the Nakamura soba topped with chopped pork belly. For pork ribs simmered in a special seasoning, look to the soki soba. Even with the same noodles and broth, the choice of topping changes the character of the meal.
Across the road from the restaurant stretches the sea off Onna. It is a place to consider stopping for a bowl of Okinawa soba while traveling along the west coast.
Price impression: Easy on the wallet.
