Dining at Suimui in Okinawa
When I first went to Japan, I never bothered to eat inside a restaurant. I was scared of ordering. I was scared of dealing with cigarette smoke. I was scared of eating wrong, etiquette-wise. I was also scared that whatever I ordered would be non vegan, let alone vegetarian friendly. So, I never bothered to dine in Japan.
In Okinawa, I decided to dine in. While Okinawa is a part of Japan’s Kyushu, the majority (if not all) of Japanese don’t consider Okinawans as Japanese. (Originally, Okinawa wasn’t a part of Japan, thus this mentality exists.) There’s a saying that Okinawans are a lot more laidback than the Japanese. And with Okinawans being more laidback, I figured I’d rather commit a dining etiquette error here in Okinawa than on “mainland” Japan.
Despite this, I continued to be rather wary of dining in but eventually just had to dine in because I was hungry and in need of non-convenient store food for once!
So, where do I eat after “hiking” around Shuri Castle? I decided on the lovely Suimui.
Suimui was the greatest decision ever. No cigarette smoking patrons. At least 2 vegan options available and the ambiance was somewhat nice. (Sometimes creepy because I could see people from the inside and I couldn’t help but to think they were looking at me, too.)
My meal options were goya or mapo tofu. I was leaning towards goya simply because I felt I should try Okinawa’s bittermelon yet at the same time, I wasn’t in the mood for bittermelon. (Never been a fan of bittermelon.) So, I opted for mapo tofu but didn’t really want mapo tofu either since mapo tofu can be bought and made in the states. (Like, why would I want to eat what I can eat back in the states?)
The mapo tofu arrives. Did the “itadakimasu” thing for the F of it. Felt self-conscious throughout the meal because I had to eat with “thin” chopsticks. On second thought, they probably weren’t that thin, but I honestly have never eaten with such thin chopsticks. Oh, and it didn’t help much either that I don’t usually eat with chopsticks which means my skill with this particular utensil is subpar. Tackling rice with chopsticks has always been a no for me but it had to be done and was done at Suimui.
I cannot tell you how tempted I was to just use the serving spoon to consume my mapo tofu and rice in succinct harmony. However, for the purpose of experience, I decided to just endure my struggle with the chopsticks. It was exhausting and I hope no one noticed. Lol
My struggle aside, the mapo tofu was amazing! My tastebuds were happy. I had zero regrets ordering mapo tofu. It was delicious. The sauce in that mapo tofu was so scrumptious. If possible, I could eat a gallon of Suimui’s mapo tofu! That’s how good it was and it wasn’t because I was hungry. It was seriously good.
Didn’t care much for the soup and I think I was supposed to eat the soup first but ended up not trying it until a lot later. I also couldn’t finish the rice because I’ve never been a rice person. And honestly, I kind of felt bad about not being able to finish the rice and soup simply because I heard in Japan, there’s a so called expectation for you to finish your food when you dine in because left over food can be interpreted as the food not being good. At least with me finishing the mapo tofu, I hope they realize the mapo tofu was good, then? I don’t know. I hate the fact that people in Japan need to overthink things. And I hated having to worry about nonsense things like that. It was to the point that I forced myself to eat a little more rice than necessary just so that less offense would be made, even though there was no intent to leave any offense. The food was good; I just can’t eat a lot of rice.
As mentioned above, the soup was alright. Nothing to brag about honestly. It was pretty watery and tasted like kelp. Since I’m used to processed seaweed, I didn’t find the soup’s taste to my liking. It was fresh, though. Oh, and I had a moment with how I should consume the soup. I know you’re thinking that’s so dumb but I googled it anyway and learned that it was acceptable or normal to just consume soup straight from the soup’s bowl. So, that’s what I did. (Remember that the only spoon I had was a serving spoon for my mapo tofu.)
The female employees were very pleasant. One was very attractive and actually looked like a younger version of my mom. While it was a bit of a Twilight zone moment for me to see someone looking like family, it was kind of cool nonetheless. I definitely liked how she was always smiling and seemed to exhibit an aura of warmth. As for the male employee, he might have picked up that I was a little odd in how I ate, but whatevs.
My experience at Suimui was good. If you’re interested in giving Suimui a try, just find this hottie of a mascot, face him, then make a left and another left and you’ll be in the front of SuiMui. I don’t remember if their restaurant had English on it, so I figure such directions could come in handy if you can’t read Kanji.
For being located in a touristy location, prices were reasonable and portions were good. I left Suimui happy and stuffed.
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