En-Raku Sushi

Sushi delivered by train to your table? What more could you want!

Take your pick of the slew of sushi-go-round restaurants in Okinawa, and you’re bound to see a familiar scene: customers surrounding a long wrap around bar with built-in conveyer belt, snatching up moving color coded plates of food . But if you think all sushi-go-rounds are the same, you haven’t tried En-Raku, on the upper level of Uruma City Plaza.

Though they do have a huge bar, you’ll want to sit at one of their 16 or so tables to the right of the restaurant. There, the kimono dressed waitresses will direct you to a touch screen, chock-full of photos of sushi, appetizers, drinks, and desserts. If you want something not on the adjacent sushi-go-round, simply find the photo on the screen (matching it to the English menu helps), tap it, and then tap the huge orange button with pointing cartoon finger that pops up–you can’t miss it. The best part is, for many orders, a little Japanese train will deliver the food right to your table.

After you’ve picked up your plate, you press the red button next to the screen to send the little shinkansen (and accompanying rubber ducky, at our table) back on its merry way. Expect to pay a little more for the novelty, and for the food selection and quality. Prices range from ¥100 to ¥580 a plate, with most dishes around ¥180. If you’re watching your rice intake, several sashimi plates of raw fish are available, from ¥480 to ¥780. When we went, the salmon (both cooked and raw) was melt-in-your-mouth soft, and the unagi (roasted eel) drizzled in sweet sauce was tender, yet crispy on the edges.

If raw fish doesn’t appeal to you, En-Raku also offers soups, including different kinds of soba (¥260 to ¥360) and miso (¥120 to ¥180), fried appetizers (¥120 to ¥480), and surprisingly, several desserts. We recommend the crispy fried chicken “nuggets” (¥180), made with real chicken pieces and served with ketchup. The vegetable tempura (¥360) is also savory, and the server will deliver it piping hot–we liked it better than the kisu white fish tempura, which was bland, even with dipping sauce.

Depending on how many morsels you’ve sampled, there’s a dessert at En-Raku to complete your meal, from sweet grapefruit or gelatin for the nearly stuffed, to ice cream (¥150) and slices of cake (¥360) and cheesecake (¥260) for the almost satisfied. We snagged some cream puff balls (¥180) from the conveyer belt, and were pleasantly surprised–inside each little bread was a different flavor of sweet cream–one each of chocolate, strawberry, green tea, and vanilla. The fried sweet potato (¥180) topped with syrup and sesame seeds was both delicious and rich. In fact, there was very little that we didn’t like at En-Raku, although to be fair, we weren’t trying the fermented natto or sea urchin. Uruma City Plaza Open 11:00 am – 10:00 pm Yen, Credit Card OK English Menu