Nov 25, 2013 - 2 min read

Udon Bowl Donya

Noodles galore inside the San A Main City Uruma City

By Michael Flemming

Community writer

The menu is also on the wall; pictured here are Udon and Soba varieties

There's a sign-in sheet outside the restaurant; sign in and wait for your name to be called

The beautiful glass case reminded me of my many travels through Narita and Kansai airports looking for a suitable place to dine

Had it not been for my wife's native Japanese speaking ability I would have had to order by pointing at the entirely Japanese picture menu

I had previously not enjoyed cold soba nor necessarily looked forward to variety sets like this; the tuna rice and seaweed bowl with wasabi poured over it was extremely delicious

The cold soba is dipped into the accompanying sauce one chopstick full at a time

The Nihon soba set made with traditional buckwheat vice the wheat-based Okinawa soba

Many of the larger shopping malls in Okinawa are heavily anchored by one tenant but still have traditional mall amenities such as the coveted food court. The San-A Main City Gushikawa shopping plaza in Uruma City has a McDonalds and an express version of the Joyfull restaurant, but my favorite place to eat there by far is the Udon Bowl Donya restaurant. The noodle house is located near the northern entrances to the mall next to many shoe concession shops. Look for the window display of food samples next to a watch repair stand. I've always thought that the menu items shown on the wall on hand written vertical banners are appealing accents to Japanese restaurants; at Donya this is especially true as the menu items are shown on large wooden planks hung along the walls, not that I'm sure what each one describes. My favorite dish is the soba served on a bamboo mat which is paired with raw tuna and rice. Mix the sauce and wasabi together then pour it over the tuna and enjoy a bowl version of tuna sashimi; dip the soba into the other sauce on your plate one chopstick full at a time. Donya also serves curry rice, cutlets, stir fried meat and vegetable dishes, and soba. Most items at Donya are about 1,000 yen or less. The restaurant is open daily during mall hours from 11:00 ~ 23:00.