Let the food porn begin!

For my first foodlove blog entry, it makes sense to start with one of my favorite eating experiences in Japan-- the Izakaya! These bar type restaurants feature tapas portioned savory dishes such as sushi, pizza, creative salads and noodles among many other things. Sean and I tried an Izakaya nearby us in Okinawa city. It was jungle themed-- hence the stuffed tigers adorning the tables.  

We tried an array of dishes including a bacon salad, traditional chicken yakitori, fried udon in a skillet, but the real standouts were the bacon wrapped cheese yakitori and the tuna and avocado tower!

Instead of udon in a soup bowl, the noodles are stir-fried and served in a flat ironed skillet. The dish tasted very chinese, like maybe it was made with oyster sauce.

Tuna and avocado tower

This sushi tower was completely unexpected, which is sort of how food goes in Japan. The descriptions in English on the menus are so deceiving in their simplicity and as Americans, maybe we've learned not to expect to much when there's no language adorning the food. I really just thought we'd be getting the typical boring sushi roll. We were sitting at the bar and saw them preparing this. Imagine how thrilled we were to receive it at our table. 

Finally, the heavenly bacon and cheese yakitori. I don't even need to explain it-- the picture says it all! One little surprise about this one was that inside wrapped around the cheese was a Japanese basil leaf. Perfect! 

What's your favorite savory tapas or bar food?