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By Austin Marie Serven

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Writer's pictureAustin Marie Serven

Ufuya: The Okinawan Restaurant the Size of a Small Village

Updated: Mar 15, 2021

Ufuya is an Okinawan soba restaurant located in Nago, Okinawa. It is so large that there is a map at the entrance to show the layout of the grounds. There are small shrines (so of course plenty of torii gates), multiple mini cafes, a main restaurant, bridges, koi ponds, and multiple parking lots. I'm sure that I didn't get to see all of it so I will have to go back!


You might be asking: what is soba? Soba is a type of Japanese noodle, and the Japanese word for buckwheat. This has been eaten in Japan longer than udon and ramen and plays an important role in Japanese food culture. It's so important that in 1978 the Japanese Fair Trade Commission has deemed October 17th as the official Soba Day!


But wait... there's actually a huge difference between soba in mainland Japan and the soba in Okinawa, Japan. The difference was so huge that the Fair Trade Commission originally argued that soba in Okinawa did not deserve to be called soba because they viewed it as an entirely different food. Unlike the soba in mainland, the soba in Okinawa is made with 100% wheat flour, not buckwheat. Local Okinawa soba noodle makers fought this claim and it was eventually accepted as "soba".


Ufuya's menu consists mostly of soba, so this was my first time trying it, and I loved it! Typically when I go to a new restaurant or cafe I will take a photo of the menu so I can recall what I ordered, but in this case I forgot. While you will go to Ufuya for the food, we all know that you will also be going for the photos. You'll first want to park at the top of the hill, and enter through the entrance near the map. The entrance will take you through a beautiful covered walkway down to the garden with the koi ponds, the gift shop, a small cafe, and then finally the main restaurant. If you're wondering about the torii gates - I recommend visiting those after your meal. When you exit the restaurant and go to the left, there will be steps that take you up to the torii gates and a small shrine.


Ufuya Photo Reel




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