Location: Chatan, from 58 turn at Hamagawa and go past the fishing port. Turn left just after the port and then take the first right. The restaurant is in the second block on the left side. On the gnavi link, click the 3rd tab from the left to see the map.
Hours: 12-2400, lunch last order 1530, closed Monday. English menu and English-speaking staff.
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/f276100/
http://www.okinawahai.com/my_weblog/2008/09/orange-diner-co.html
This restaurant is a pleasant surprise. The space has great natural light and comfortable orange chairs. The lunch clientele appears to be primarily Japanese women. For lunch, there is a 2000Y multicourse set, and a variety of less expensive sets with a choice of entree determining the price (beef sets 1200-1800, pasta or rice sets <1000Y). We had the pasta with seafood and tomato sauce, and the rice with seafood and white wine sauce. Each came with a cabbage salad and choice of iced/cold tea/coffee. The pasta sauce had a nice depth and the tomato flavour was not overpowering. There were large and small mussels, a couple shrimp, and a couple piece of fish, each appropriately cooked. The seafood white wine sauce was lightly creamy and very tasty with the similar, quite generous, array of fish and shellfish. It appeared from these dishes that a real chef was responsible for the creation of the menu and for monitoring ongoing food quality. The coffee was also better than average, and did not require cream and sugar for balance of bitterness.
A couple weeks later we went to dinner at Orange Diner, and were likewise impressed. They dim the lights and play piano mood music. They have an enormous cocktail menu, all 500Y. Our gimlet was shaken in front of us and served in a frosty maritini glass. We ordered a variety of small dishes. The Caesar salad rolls were fresh and yummy, although difficult to eat. The 5 different bruchettas dish was also lovely, although I like a larger slice of slightly less toasted bread. We got a Gorgonzola pizza to soak up the juices of the mussels in tomato wine sauce, which we highly recommend. The splurge for the evening was beef cheek in red wine, which was two beautiful morsels of tender fall-apart meat. For dessert we had the vanilla pudding in strawberry sauce, light and not oversweet. The total bill for 2 drinks, a ton of food, and a shared dessert was 5000Y. Appetizers, risottos, mini-pizzas, and pastas 500Y and mains around 1200Y.
