BonVivant

Mother of guest house's owner makes all the meals. Want to eat real Okinawan home cooking then stay at a family run guest house. Up until this point I have been to the capital Naha, farthest west of Japan Yonaguni island, Taketomi island and now Kuroshima island. Stewed trotter is one of the most popular dishes in Okinawa. Tiny portion of stir-fried bitter melon. They even deep fry seaweed here. My own dinner at home. Buckwheat dumplings with Comté.

My guest house on Taketomi island makes simple meals. At least they have marlin sashimi, which is king on Yonaguni island. This reminds me of "3 cup chicken", a typical meal in Taiwan. That is not surprising given the proximity to Taiwan and culinary influences from when the Ryukyu kingdom used to trade with various nations in the region. Most common seaweed in Okinawa.

Last lunch on Yonaguni island. Citrus depressa Taketomi island. There are only a couple of places on the island to eat lunch and they are closed at 5pm. Dinner is served at one's lodging. Yaeyama soba broth is made from skipjack tuna, pork bones and kombu. Meat is almost always braised pork. Condiment is rice liquor infused chillies. Even when you eat something with rice this noodle soup is served in a tiny bowl alongside. Yaeyama islands are a group of islands in the Ryukyu archipelago. They were incorporated into Japan only in the 70's.

The "national dish" of Okinawa. Japan's highest pork consumption is in Okinawa. My beer being tapped.

Okinawans are some of the world's biggest Spam eaters. There's only one little convenience shop at a rest stop on the way to the aquarium (2 hours by bus from the capital). I got my Okinawan packed lunch there. I have an irrational reaction to the texture of sticky paste. The purple sweet potato filling is nice, though. Okinawan sticky paste is near impossible to break. Easiest way is using a knife, yes, it's that hard.

The highest quality of dried bonito is from Okinawa, where it is also most consumed. Japanese philosophy: Let little seem like much, so long as it's fresh and natural. I shall add "and beautifully presented". Later somewhere else, the only place that's open on a sunday.

My guesthouse's home-cooking on Yonaguni island. Okinawans eat a bit of everything and there's always seaweed and tofu in some form. The cuisine of Okinawa is a mix of other countries' with whom the former Ryukyu kingdom used to trade.

First thing I saw when leaving Naha airport. Didn't know what it was until I went to the supermarket a few hours later. Very much my thing! Portion for one person. Looks like Chinese version but tastes better (to me). Not really salty, a lot like cheese drenched in Okinawan distilled rice liquor. Very nice!

Okinawan soba soups. Can't escape rice, even when you eat noodles. (At home I eat rice maybe once a week.) It's OK. Much prefer goma/sesame "tofu" I had in Koyasan.

At my guest house. In a village on the other side of the island later. Boneless trotter, with toes. So far the best Yonagunian soba soups I've had. The tiny noodle shop has 3 kinds and I pointed at these 2. Very pleased with what I got. You can use any noodle but if the broth is worthless then there's really no point. There's a prawn farm in the village just down the road.

I stayed at a traditional guest house on Yonaguni island where home-style meals are included in the price. Seaweed of some kind is served with almost every meal, no matter how small the amount. Japan already holds the record for longevity but the highest concentration of centenarians is found in the Ryukyu archipelago. (Look up the well documented Blue Zone study) Impossible to photograph this seaweed soup. Mahi and marlin are some of the most common fish around here (but marlin is king). Only tasted the sauce and I stopped there. Sauce had Japanese mayo and hard-boiled egg. I would have made it with miso (butter). Squid and celery tasted buttery to me. Went to a restaurant a few doors down the road for beer and more sashimi. Locally made booze is 60%. The men drink both beer and booze at the same time.

First lunch in Yonaguni. Braised belly pork hidden under a pile of green onions. Tonkatsu also came with a small bowl of Yonaguni soba noodle soup (besides rice).

Dinner in Okinawan capital Naha. Temaki was unrolled for a photo. Ate the "caviar" seaweed every day in Naha. The difference between lean and fatty tuna. I devote my sashimi-eating life to Japan. My ship has come in.

Last 2 lunches in Kaohsiung. Pork rind and firm rolled smoked tofu. ----- The cook.

Photos from last 2 days in Kaohsiung. (At another goose restaurant)

The pride of Taiwan (this soup). Most people add these extras to their meals. Mine. I call this Taiwanese salteña. Shaved ice with 2 kinds of seaweed jelly.

Already a week of eating and drinking 3 times my capacity. People waiting to get in when I was leaving.

KennethT, thanks! Taiwan is quite popular with regional tourists but it's often overlooked by tourists from the West. They all go to Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam etc. And this is one of the reasons I am here: Roast goose and duck are common in HK, in Taiwan it's boiled goose. This is my second plate. The restaurant gets busy fast, they probably have a good reputation despite being in an unassuming location.

Clams whenever possible. A local restaurant at a night market. Much respect for their immense patience and kindness for us tourists. Filling out a form to order is the usual procedure but they let me do it another way.

Pork dumplings. From a distance I thought it was pickled cabbage... Sweet-looking little soup dumplings.

Love eating in Taiwan. Everything looks and tastes good to me. Clams with basil, one of the most common dishes in this country. Veg with curly tendrils. Steamed fish. You pick what you want to eat, they cook how you want it. Your things get weighed and you know the (total) price straight away. Transparency is a good policy.

After a late and quite big lunch I could only manage a bowl of noodle soup, but what a good soup it was. Saw a queue so I poked my head through to see. A tray of offal was the first thing I saw, and boiled duck being sliced. Using a translation app to ask if it was duck or chicken, the answer was duck. One employee could speak enough English and communication quickly escalated and much much more interesting. Now I know why there was a queue. Will probably return tonight for other dishes. Night market food stall.

It's so hot here in Taiwan. I made sure I could eat my 2 favourite Taiwanese dishes as soon as possible. Fortunately this restaurant is within walking distance from my lodging. This zombie couldn't walk far today without collapsing from exhaustion and jet lag. Boiled goose and clams with basil. Crunchy slender greens called something like "whitewater snowflake" according to the translation.

I pulse Sichuan heaven-facing chillies in the FP then add other things to it (without further processing). I use olive oil, crisp-fried shallots, pounded Sichuan peppercorns, snipped dried boletus, a pinch of sugar, some salt. You could even add msg or chicken powder if you like. Experiment with ingredients until you find the taste you like. I avoid using pulverised ingredients in this as they tend to cloud the oil. And I also omit garlic for safety reasons. You can always add it when you are ready to eat. Take a look at this recipe for ideas. I warm some annatto seeds in the oil to get this colour. It's optional, of course. My standard Turkish Çilbir. The stunning colour comes from warm butter and paprika powder.

Ma(a)tjes are raw herrings preserved in a brine. If you have never seen how ma(a)tjes are cleaned have a look here: