Tim Kilkenny, Supervisory Education Specialist at the DoDDS Director's Office at Torii Station, is not a man given to casual hyperbole. When he declares that he has found the best bagel he has ever eaten, including any in New York City, the statement must be given serious consideration. It’s no mystery that anyone who has tasted a fresh New York deli bagel knows that the Big Apple knows bagels, by George.
The fact that bagels can even be found in Okinawa is not particularly remarkable. The tire-shaped bread can be eaten in a number of variations and with many different names from Finland to China. However, the most familiar type to Americans was introduced to the U.S. by immigrant Jews long ago.
What is unusual is that the bagels made by a small café in Okinawa were able to elicit an exclamation of delight from a normally understated, if not taciturn, gentleman. That is what made the search for the source practically imperative.
The Cactus Eatrip (sic) Café is not easy to spot. It is set back from Highway 58 in a non-descript building with only a small sign marking its presence. Parking is limited and cars back up to each other, which means people must sometimes leave their plates to move out of somebody’s way. This seems to add to rather than diminish the informal experience of the place.
Entering is like stepping into a Venice Beach or Greenwich Village coffee house of the past. Mellow jazz flows out of the big speakers, mismatched furniture creates an ambiance of relaxation, an invitation to be at ease, loosen the tie. Bring your laptop, if you must, since the place is wired and costs you not a yen to troll the internet. This is the 21st century, after all.
A large blackboard above the display of goodies offers a dazzling array of choices. That may be the only anxiety associated with the establishment – what to have? Prosciutto and cheese? Avocado and tomato? Roast Chicken? And what about the flavor of cream cheese? Blueberry, maple, rum raisin, or maybe caramel? And those are just some of the items to ponder.
Try the traditional, smoked salmon, also known as lox, and cream cheese with capers. Take lots of napkins, because the piled high cream cheese and lox ooze out as you bite into the warm, perfectly done bagel.
You can top it off with a special ‘drink of the day’. The mango shake is thick and exotic, but you might prefer to savor the caramel banana drink. All told the tab should run about ¥1000 for the all homemade lunch. Coffees, teas and alcoholic libations are also available.
Owner Ryuta Katsumi learned how to bake from his parents in Kamakura where they operated a cooking school. He came to Okinawa because of the weather eight years ago after spending time in his youth in London absorbing the scene and learning proper English. Three years ago he opened the little restaurant with his wife, Makiko, now expecting their first child in February.
Making the delicious circles of bread is an art unto itself. After forming, the dough is proofed, or let to stand in a cool place for about twelve hours. After that it is boiled in water, sometimes with flavoring ingredients added then baked until the cook deems it ready.
Katsumi and his assistant, Yochan, pretty much run the place by themselves. While they specialize in bagels of all kinds, they also offer focaccia, an Italian bread. Katsumi will cater for special events by request.
You will agree after a visit that Kilkenny was right, and if not the best to be found anywhere, surely you will find none better.
Café Cactus Eatrip is a block and a half south of the intersection of Highway 58 and Highway 81, at the end of the NEC building (Okinawa Denshi Company). You can check them out at www.cactus-eatrip.jp, or call them at (098)890-6601.
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