Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner:
Café Halcyon:
Serves: All vegan crepes (sweet and savory), coffee, smoothies
Hours: 9am-2pm, closed Monday and Tuesday
Payment: USD, Yen, and Card
Special Features: close to Kadena AB, right on the seawall, low waste initiative, offers take out
Downsides: parking is an issue
Esparza’s Tacos and Coffee:
Serves: vegan and non-vegan tacos, nachos, enchiladas, and other Mexican inspired cuisine as well as dessert, homemade ginger ale, coffee, and more
Hours: 11am-9pm M-F, 10am-9pm Sat-Sun
Payment: USD, Yen, and Card
Special Features: highlights unique and local artists every two weeks or so, sometimes hosts music artists, sells their cheese and desserts to take home, offers take out, ginger ale and cheese are homemade and DELICIOUS. Also features breakfast on the weekends
Downsides: honestly, I don't have any!
Malibu House:
Serves: curry, pasta, ramen, dessert
Hours: 10am-8pm everyday
Payment: Yen (might take card, I don’t remember)
Special Features: organic, all vegan, sugar-free, and I think it is also oil-free. Most dishes are also gluten-free. Right by the water and Malibu Beach
Downsides: minor, but the sugarless cake just tastes like bread. Everything else is scrumptious!
Daikon no Hana:
Serves: buffet with many vegetable options. I recommend asking what is vegan/contains milk and eggs. Salad, ramen, udon, tempura, etc
Hours: 11:30am-4pm and 6pm-10pm M-F/11:30pm-4pm and 5:30pm-10:30pm Sat-Sun
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: a great chance to get to try a wide variety of Japanese cuisine. Great for vegans and non-vegans. Also sell local coffee and a few other local specialties at the front.
Downsides: hard to determine what is and is not vegan
Stripe Noodles:
Serves: two vegan ramens (as well as non-vegan)
Hours: 11am-3pm and 5pm-10pm M-F/11am-10pm Saturday/11am-3pm Sunday
Payment: Yen only (vending machine style)
Special Mentions: both vegan options are delicious, one is soy sauce, one is tomato base
Downsides: only two vegan options
Rocker Café:
Serves: American cuisine like wraps, sandwiches, salads, fries
Hours: 11:30am-9pm Sun-Tue and Thu-F/11:30am-12am Saturday/Closed Wednesday
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: quite a few vegan options, unique vegan tofu “meat” substitute
Downsides: honestly, I don't have any!
Bollywood Dreams and Bollywood Jewel:
Serves: Indian food (curries, etc)
Hours: 11am-10pm M-Tu and Th-F/11am-10:30pm Sat-Sun/Closed Wednesday
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: have a vegan menu, just have to ask. Two restaurant locations…it is the same restaurant, just each location has a different name. Easy access for military and tourists
Downsides: not my personal favorite curry
Guacamole Burrito Truck:
Serves: burritos
Hours: not listed on Google
Payment: Yen (maybe card, I can’t remember)
Special Mentions: easy to veganize, unique as it is a truck
Downsides: moves around so it is hard to pinpoint where he is located
Coco’s curry:
Serves: Japanese style fast-food curry
Hours: Most are open 24/7
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: new to coco’s is their vegan curry. It is a vegetable base with veggies in it. They also have seasonal options like ramen or curry soup
Downside: honestly, I don't have any!
Vongo & Anchor:
Serves: American-style cuisine such as sandwiches, smoothie bowls, wraps, salads, etc
Hours: 9am-10pm everyday
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: unique atmosphere, on the sea wall, easy access, quite a few options
Downsides: can be a little uncomfortable as some seating is very lounge-like
Hamazushi
(though this is the sushi restaurant I am featuring, any sushi place can do some type of avocado roll, cucumber roll, etc.)
Serves: mostly sushi but also ramen/udon and desserts
Hours: 11am-11pm everyday
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: conveyor belt sushi, unique Japanese experience, quite a few vegan options, lots of sauces to try, cheap
Downsides: ingredients are not listed anywhere though you can probably ask about ingredients on any item
Nepal Spice Kitchen (also called: Kastamandappu):
Serves: Indian/Nepalese food like curries, etc.
Hours: 11:30am-12am every day
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: has several vegetable curries
Downsides: naan most likely is not vegan, but you can get rice as a side
Sunabe Gyros:
Serves: gyros and sandwiches
Hours: 11am-9pm every day, closes 8pm Sundays, closed Tuesdays
Payment: Yen only
Special Mentions: quite a few veggie options, can mix and match and kinda build your own sandwich or gyro, close to the seawall and lovely view from the roof. Falafel is vegan. Be sure to ask for no TatzikI! There are other sauces.
Downsides: you have to park away from the restaurant, don’t park on the street!
Cactus Eatrip:
Serves: Bagels, coffee, smoothies
Hours: 9am-5pm every day, closed Wednesdays
Payment: Yen and Card
Special Mentions: quite a few vegan options, can easily substitute soy milk in coffees and smoothies
Downsides: no vegan cream cheese
Desserts:
South and North:
Serves: Okinawan Gelato
Hours: 11:30am-7pm Thurs-Sun
Payment: Yen only
Special Mentions: organic, all ingredients are sourced from Okinawa Prefecture, uses fresh fruits
Downsides: not all flavors are vegan. So far I have discovered orange (tankan), shikuwasa, and hibiscus are vegan
Those are all the designated vegan/vegan-friendly restaurants I have been to. A lot of restaurants can omit cheese, meat, egg, etc to accommodate. The next list is a list of recommendations I have received and plan on going to once this “quarantine” ends:
Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner:
Taka’s Vegan Ramen Restaurant
Ploughman’s Bakery (sandwiches)
Dechibica
Jetta Burger (vegan tofu bowl)
Nukumi Kitchen
Imacoco
Danbo Ramen Mihara
Green Leaf
Café Kokuu
Ken’s Burrito Truck
Oka Donburi Nantoya
Little Greek Kitchen
Kouwa Sushi
Le Orange
Canaan
Kintsubo Skokudo
Jai Thai
Istanbul Kebab House
Desserts:
H&B Gelato
Vivre
Citta
Yambaru Gelato
Churros Chilin-no-Suzu
Bakery Suien
Kafuu
As a worst-case scenario, you can download the Happy Cow App. It only costs $3-4 and has saved me numerous times in Okinawa, Mainland, Thailand, and everywhere else we have been. If you don’t want to pay, a little hack is to access their website via Chrome, Safari, or another browser. You can use their site for free.
Lastly, here are some links to Google Maps documents that have pins upon pins of lovely vegan restaurants on the island.
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