Address -Setagaya-ku, Daizawa 5-32-7 Agawa Bldg 2FL Opening hours - Dunno Map - Yes. Telephone - 3413-4489 Menu - In Japanese CC -OK

About three hundred meters downhill from Shimo Kitazawa Station's south exit and next to Café Bar Pierrot, there is a three-story building completely devoted to Okinawan food.

I had already bought the excellent Blue Ribbon ice cream from the soba shop on the ground floor, which sells usual Okinawan stuff like Soki Soba and the like, but I wanted to try the Izakaya at the second called Champuru*. The other day me and my old lady went and found it quite tasty and interesting. The menu is exclusively in Japanese, so who cannot read must find him- or herself a companion who does. The food is good, familiar in some ways and yet exotic. For example, if you order Tempura, you will get never-seen-before vegetables battered in the usual way but to be dipped in salt, rather than the usual sauce. The surprise of my life was the last dish we got called Taco Rice. Rice with squid? No. Here the word taco comes from Mexico. Apparently, this dish made of rice with El Paso taco mix on top was introduced by the American troops of Kadena and other US bases, and is now as local as anything. Live and learn. Don't forget to taste their ice cream. Blue Ribbon is an Okinawan brand not normally available in Tokyo, and I personally like it a lot. One last note: The place is not very cheap. We spent 5000 yen apiece including drinks.
Another last note: On the third floor there is an Okinawan Bar.

* By the way, the word champuru, which in Okinawa is a type of dish, apparently comes from the Indonesian word meaning (I think, but don't quote me on that) "mix". Those who have visited Indonesia will know the dish called Nasi Campur.