CONTRIBUTED BY AVIVA

My family of three went to Bambohe for lunch today on Kokusai. (Apparently there’s a Bambohe over near Futenma too.) Their deal is that they have a buffet – it’s all you can eat for 1 1/2 hours from when you arrive. Lunch is 1300 yen per adult, 370 yen for the little one (ours is 6). Dinner is 1860 yen per adult and 550 for the little one. I read on that Japan Update site that they have specials on certain days, but we just walked by and tried it before doing any research.

You’re given a booth, and told to go for it. There’s a big round grill in the middle of the table. Maybe I’m a novice, but I haven’t been to any restaurants like that yet and it was super cool. Then you walk to the buffet line and get a set of tongs to cook with, a tray and some plates, there are smaller plastic ones for the kids too.

The array of raw marinated beef, pork and chicken was fantastic (and the meat was all so tender and tasty), and they also had some squid to cook. There were onions, mushrooms, cabbage, squash, hot dogs, some kind of small burger patties (I think they might’ve been veggie burgers) and at the end of that line some soy, horseradish and hot sauce. There were a few kinds of soup (Okinawa soba, miso and squid ink something-or-other), fried rice, some kind of fried chicken, kim chi, tempura, steamed rice, mixed veggies, and a full salad bar with 3 kinds of dressing. Also there was jell-o, nice cold fruit, and azuki beans with those little white rice cake ball thingies. There was soft serve ice cream, plain yogurt, and a soda/juice bar with which to fill your cups as often as you liked.

On the table there was a delicious miso-based dipping sauce, so after you grilled your meat you could dip it in there and eat it over your rice to make it all so tasty. We ate like royalty, very very reasonably. Great find.

See the PICTURES for food shots, menu prices (if you can read them) and the outside. Enjoy!

Kokusai Street Location

Phone: 098-861-4129
Address: 
1 Chome-3-47 Makishi, Naha
Google Maps Coordinates: 26.2165427, 127.68763920000004

Directions:

The one off Kokusai is across the side street from the Starbucks (Southbound Kokusai Street, make a left at Starbucks and Bambohe will be on your left side).

If you’re going to the one near Futenma: It is NOT on the 330 — but take the 330 south until the Nagata intersection which is also the 32. Turn left there and it will be up a block or 2 on your left – you’ll see the big yellow sign. . Plenty of parking out front.

18 COMMENTS

  1. Ate here once, will not be going back. For 2500 yen the quality of the food should be better. Not to mention you have to cook most of it yourself… So yeah I think I’d just rather taken a trip to the commissary.

  2. My husband and I just ate here tonight for dinner, and we were very happy with it! Everything was fresh and they even had some ‘normal’ things that I enjoyed! They had Chinese Fried Rice already prepared, they had French Fries, and Fried Chicken (a little too fatty for me, but still good). They even had a Cotton Candy Machine! Also the desserts were great! Also I know it says it’s only for 90 minutes but they were not kicking people out, there were quite a few people that were there before us and were still eating when we left. We stayed pretty much the whole 90 minutes.
    Also last seating is at 10:30pm and they close at 11pm.

  3. I was just down at Kokusai Street last weekend and Bambohe was open. I didn’t eat there, but I saw that it WAS cheaper during the week – 1080Y for lunch as opposed to 1300Y for lunch on the weekend. I am going back to Kokusai tomorrow (Fri) and might stop in for the cheaper price. The cooking CAN be a bit of work, but they gove you 90 minutes instead of 60. Will post my thoughts if I check it out!

  4. Bambohe is still open on 58 near Pizza house garlic Jr. We just ate there this afternoon for lunch. During the weekday it’s 1080Y for lunch and the menu has drastically improved. Their cream puffs were good and I don’t even like cream puffs! Still 90 minutes, though.

  5. I totally have to agree with Joelle on this one. We went to the one across from gate one too and we actually ended up leaving half way through (after paying of course:)! It was super busy with locals so I was kind of surprised that it wasn’t good. We ended up hitting Buger King. That’s how little we like that place. I haven’t been to Bambohe but we thought the viking place was good. Another place that was REALLY good was the Korean Barbeque (I think that’s even the name?) which is a blue building off of 58 behind the Sega shop. I got excited when we first arrived to the island b/c I thought is was a giant IHOP! Coming from gate one you take a right at the Tohantan (sp?) Chinese Restaraunt/puppy luv shop street and it’s right there next to a pizza place on the left. It was really, really good but a lot more expensive than the other places. If I remember right, it was not all you can eat but the quality was so much better than the other “grill your own stuff” joints. And, they had some really spicy kim chee(sp?). Well, spicy to me anyway:)

  6. Have to say we tried Ryu-Gyu-Oh right across from Kadena Gate 1 last night (between Yaezamon & Pizza In). It was late and we were hungry and it was pretty …. not good. My husband’s comment said with a funny accent was, “Man, we really got TOOK.” The staff was very nice, but the only vegetable possible to order was corn and everything else was just so-so. DEFINITELY will try out the ones you all suggested above next time.

  7. FINALLY got there today. I think we maxed out our 1.5 hours — and the kids loved it. My 2 year old kept saying, “Momma, I cook! I cook!” There was so much to eat, I actually got tired of getting up to get more food! 🙂

    BTW, the directions on the Japan Update got me lost, so here are mine if you’re going to the one near Futenma:

    It is NOT on the 330 — but take the 330 south until the Nagata intersection which is also the 32. Turn left there and it will be up a block or 2 on your left. Plenty of parking out front.

  8. Mishka,

    Thanks for the heads up on Yakiniku Paradise. I remembered going to a restaurant with a gorilla in the parking lot the first time we were here in Oki but that was 7 years ago and we couldn’t remember where it was exactly. Will have to head out there again! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!

    Julia

  9. We used to go to Gan Ju Tei outside of Foster’s commissary gate but I heard a nasty rumor that it wasn’t there anymore (haven’t been by to check). It was great and you handpicked your food yourself. Then we also discovered Paradise Yakiniku or Yakiniku Paradise. It is down the 20 almost all the way to the water. There is a big gorilla in the parking lot. They even have sushi available during the dinner hours. I don’t remember there being a time limit at either place but those are the two that we go to the most and enjoy them both immensely.

  10. We went to the Yakiniku Viking 2 weekends ago, I thought it would be fun and different. While I didn’t mind it too much, the husband wasn’t at all impressed. While the marinated meat was flavorful, it was all very fatty, and then on top of paying for an all you can eat in an hour buffet, you had to cook all the food yourself, which took time off of your hour. We probably won’t go back, but that’s just us. Personally, I thought it was kind of fun to grill my own food, but I could do that at home.

  11. We haven’t been to one of these restaurants in a long time as the kids are a little too interested in the grill and the accompanying fire. However, there are two other similar places that are closer to the Kadena area. One is called Yakiniku Goen…it is actually a chain with the closest one located on the left side of Route 23 going from 58 towards Gate 5. There is no time limit here however you cannot handpick your food. Instead you have to request the food from the wait staff.

    There is another one called Viking located on the right hand side of 58 just South of the San-A near Araha Beach. At this place you can choose the food by yourself.