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For a more robust restaurant dining experience, the options are endless in Tokyo. Melinda Joe, author of food and drink blog Tokyo through the Drinking Glass and the Japan Times’ drink column “Kanpai Culture, " suggests checking out one of the many Okinawan restaurants that have opened over the past few years.

“The food is a lot closer to Chinese or Southeast Asian cuisines,” she says. “Even Japanese people have a hard time navigating all of the dishes. But they tend to be fun places with sometimes music and live performances.”

Start out easy and typical with dishes like goya champuru (bitter gourd with pork and eggs) or rafuti (simmered, tender pork belly in a soy-based sauce). For something more fun, order the umi budo . Their name means sea grapes, and they come with a ponzu sauce.

“They’re firm, turgid beads, but when you eat them, they pop in your mouth and release this briny, unctuous liquid,” Joe says.

Source: CNN International