On my last day in Okinawa I had hoped to eat some more ice cream but my stomach put it’s foot down on any more sugar so I decided to just wander around in the hopes I’d feel better enough to eat lunch. This led me to checking out the Calbee + shop.
Calbee is a Japanese snack maker that’s been around since 1949. I was introduced to it when I visited a friend in Kyoto and she met me with a ton of snacks to try. I fell in love with their cups of potato sticks since in Korea almost every snack has an undercurrent of sweet and these didn’t have that. It reminded me of potato chips back home and so every time I went to Japan I’d buy a couple cups of potato sticks.
Like a lot of things in Okinawa there were Okinawan exclusive flavors in relation to Calbee. Special things you could try in the store or take with you. Some of these flavors could be found at various convenience stores as well like the shiiquasa chips I had bought.
I loved these chips. They were salty with that citrus punch from the shiiquasa. If I could’ve filled my bag with these I would’ve. Sadly I was out of room. These also serve various hot and cold snacks in the store from fresh potato sticks, churros, to various flavors of ice cream. If my stomach hadn’t been revolting against me I would’ve loved to have tried something.
While Calbee snacks can be found worldwide (they even popped up occasionally in Korea) the Calbee + shops can be found throughout Japan. The one I went to in Okinawa is located in Naha on Kokusaidori Street near the tourist information. They are open from 10am until 9pm daily. Their freshly fried snacks are available from 10am until last order at 8:30pm. If you want to check out their menu (for the one in Naha) you can view the pdf here.
I love this shop!
Please come to OKINAWA again someday.
It is such a fun shop! I hope I can return to Okinawa again, there’s still so much to see and do and eat :D.