The royal cuisine of the Ryukyu Kingdom, cooked a few streets from Shuri Castle by a man who spent seventeen years learning it — and booked with one phone call.
By SHOKU NOREN TeamFacts last verified September 2026How we check
In shortRyukyu court cuisine in three set courses, by a chef trained seventeen years at Mie. Reservations run in Japanese and are hard to place from abroad, so our Tokyo desk requests the table for you, by phone and in Japanese.
Price
Courses of 7, 10 or 12 dishes at ¥5,500, ¥7,500 and ¥10,000, tax included; drinks extra
Hours
Dinner only, Monday–Saturday 18:00–22:30
Closed
Sundays
Seats
18 — a four-seat counter, tables for ten, and a small tatami platform for four
Payment
Cash only
Getting there
Shuri (Yui Rail), 6–7 minutes on foot; a residential street on the south side of the castle
Most of what visitors eat as “Okinawan food” — rafute, jushi, the
offal soup — began, Ken Shiroma will tell you, as the cuisine of the
Ryukyu court: dishes cooked in Shuri Castle and its guesthouse for
Chinese envoys, slow and laborious, and nothing like a market stall.
Shiroma was born in Shuri in 1948, entered the kitchen at 28, and
spent seventeen years cooking at Mie, the Naha house renowned for
Ryukyu court cuisine. At 45 he opened Akatafu in a quiet
residential street on the south side of the castle, a few minutes’
walk from Shuri station, and he and his wife have run it since. The
Ryukyu cuisine certification scheme lists the house;
CREA and the Okinawa tourism bureau have both written it up. It is
not a tourist restaurant, and that is the point of going.
What you eat
The menu is three courses and nothing else, and you choose when
you book: seven dishes at ¥5,500, ten at ¥7,500, twelve at ¥10,000,
all tax included. A ten‑dish evening in the house’s own order runs
from popo — thin wraps with miso — through nakami no suimono, the
clear soup of pork offal on bonito stock that is the test of any
Ryukyu kitchen; umukuji andagi, fritters of purple sweet‑potato
starch; minudaru, pork steamed under black sesame; kubu‑irichi,
kelp braised with pork; duruwakashi, the taro purée; mimigaa, sliced
pig’s ear; rafute, the braised belly; jushi, the seasoned rice; and a
sweet. Awamori is poured to match. The room is eighteen seats — a
short counter, tables, a raised tatami corner — and children are
welcome.
The booking reality
The house asks for a reservation in advance and takes no same‑day
bookings, because each course is prepared for the guests expected
that night; it adds that some dates fill early. There is no release
calendar and no booking platform. You telephone, in Japanese,
098‑884‑5543 — the house’s contact form exists, but it is a form, not
a booking engine — and you are asked to name your course when you
book. Bring cash; cards are not taken. Dinner runs Monday to
Saturday from 18:00, Sundays are closed, and there is parking if you
are driving. Our desk makes the call in Japanese and settles the
course and the head count with the house at the same time.
Anyone spending a day at Shuri Castle who wants the evening to
continue the lesson — and travelers who have eaten enough izakaya
goya champuru to wonder what the kingdom’s cooks actually served.
Book the twelve‑dish course if you have the appetite; the difference
is the number of court dishes you get to meet.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Akatafu: common questions
Can you book Akatafu from abroad?
Yes, through our Tokyo desk. Phone in Japanese; advance reservation required, no same-day bookings — name your course when you call. We call the restaurant for you, in Japanese, and the ¥6,000-per-seat fee is charged only if we confirm your table — no seat, no fee.
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