A rare Brit in Oki

So I've kinda felt like an outsider since arriving in Okinawa since a) I'm leagues taller than most the men and women out here and b) I can't understand a single sign or spoken phrase. But every once in a while you come across some random foreigner who's made it this island their home and you kinda have to shake their hand. Take this little spot we took a dinner party to the other night:
My sister had heard about this spot a couple months ago so we decided to check it out. The British Wine and Tea Shop is this little restaurant run out of this British fellow's home stuck way up in the hills in Nago. Once again, you follow the obscure directions past the Pineapple Park...make a left on the windy road...follow a couple brown signs and then find your way up the one lane road...and voila!


And here's our host, John!

He wears this quirky clown hat for a chef cap, walks around in flip flops, and is about 5'3" tall. Kinda reminded me of a leprechaun except that he's British haha -- and his dry, sarcastic sense of humor kept us laughing most the night. Either his humor or the free-flowing champagne, that is.
But anywayyy, in his younger days, he was a professional photographer in the advertising world. Then he switched to the culinary scene and opened up his own restaurant outside of London. His wife, Maki, trained at Cordon Bleu London and then they both decided to return to her home country and open up a restaurant and tea shop in Okinawa. He does the cooking and she does the pastries, so they form an excellent and unique partnership.

It had me wondering though -- how successful can a tiny place stuck up in the hills really be? It sounds idyllic and nice, but he was quick to respond with the problems they were facing: it's tough to get high quality foods on the island so they have to get the necessary goods flown in weekly from the mainland, their location makes it hard to receive frequent visitors, and they don't have regular hours. Tough situation, but they did a beautiful job and they made us quite the spread! We had grilled ratatouille, boeuf bourguignon, chicken breasts wrapped in proscuitto, an amazing bouchées aux crevettes (these pastry puff shells with shrimp covered in béchamel sauce), and an array of desserts that topped it all off. Ah! Makes me hungry again just thinking about it - and I just finished breakfast. I'll be back here again before I leave for sure.







Doesn't this look good??