CONTRIBUTED BY WALTER MEIER

Dokadoka

As a stop on the way to the Onna resort area or as a means to survey your domain, Café Do Ka Do Ka is an excellent place to appreciate some of the best things about Okinawa — namely the food and countryside.

Nestled on earth and pillars, Café Do Ka Do Ka offers a place to sip your favorite beverage, ruin your diet with a dessert, and take in the views of rain-forest greenery and the China Sea.

We arrived early for check-in at the Rizzan Resort and as usual decided to explore the side roads. Soon, we were informally touring the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) at the top of the highest hill. On our descent back toward Onna, we noticed a few small, short, hand-made signs for the café. We took a little frontage road that paralleled the 58 bypass and we were there.

It turned out to be as much of a pottery and art studio as a Café and gallery. Once seated outside on the balcony, our friendly host gave us choices of coffees, teas, juices, and cakes. We chose one each hot tea, hot coffee, and mango juice to drink. All were delicious. The tea leaves were steeped in the proper utensil—not in a bag. The coffee was made in an espresso maker not dripped, and the mango juice tasted pretty fresh. The host who is the owner spoke enough English to get by just fine.

In order to select the sweets, we asked to see samples. There were three of us so she brought out three offerings: cheese cake, pound cake, and tofu cake topped with raspberry syrup. We ordered one of each. Once they were served, we passed them around sampling and critiquing them one after the other—which lasted only a few minutes because they were all so good.

Before we paid and left (2100yen for the three of us each to have a drink & dessert), we learned that the Café had only opened the day before, May 29, 2010.


Cafe Do Ka Do Ka

Hours:  Open daily from 10:00am to 8:00pm

Payment: Only Yen was accepted.

Telephone: 098-965-1666

Address: 858 Maeganeku, Onna

Google Maps Coordinates: 26.4507519, 127.805296

Directions:  Do Ka Do Ka is located between the Onna-son resorts and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology less than a mile from the intersection of Route 73 and the Route 58 bypass. Traveling on the expressway, exit on 6, follow Route 73 toward Onna-son. At the intersection of Route 58 and the 58 Bypass, turn right onto the 58 Bypass, travel less than a mile and watch for the short, brown sign pointing to the café. There are several. The frontage road will be on the right. If you miss it, go a bit further and turn right there. It is the same road.

Website: dokadoka.ti-da.net (English translation here)

8 COMMENTS

  1. I have been here several times and the pizza is delicious!!! BUT, be prepared for the pizza to already be sold out about two hours after they have opened!!! I find this frustrating and ridiculous considering this is the main menu item they are known for. My children and I went today and waited for over an hour to get pizza toast since the pizza was already sold out after two hours of being open. My children got their pizza toast after an hour and mine never came. We also never got the coffee we ordered. Speaking of ordering, I had to go inside to order the food myself because the server never returned to us after giving us our water; which ended up being our only drink the entire time we were there. I ended up leaving the restaurant without ever getting my entire order. Very disappointed.

  2. Yes, excellent place. Nice descriptions.

    Let me add corrections to the directions. The turn from the 58 bypass (heading north) into the cafe’s frontage road is to the left, not right. After reading the directions above, I was on lookout for a right turn, so we missed it the first time. Definitely go left.

    If you miss the turn, just make a U-turn and go back on the bypass. The frontage road is tiny. You wouldn’t want to come nose-to-nose with an oncoming car, especially at night.

    Also, the directions say the cafe is “less than a mile” from the junction of 58 and the 58 bypass. True, but don’t relax. It’s more like less than 300 yards/meters up the road. The turn comes quickly, so be ready.

    There are two small signs, one in English on top of another in Japanese, right at the corner of the 58-58 bypass junction pointing up the bypass to the cafe.

    When parking spaces are full, customers park along the frontage road. I guess that’s OK, in case you need to do that.

  3. Great view and atmosphere. Nice place to chill if you need some quiet time. I hung out there for a few hours and enjoyed it. I have to say though that a laugh escaped me when I went to the bathroom. The sink had what looked like pot leaf patterns swirling down into the drain (I think the Okinawans mix them up with maple leaves…).

  4. This cafe has the best pizza on island in our opinion. They have recently added more items to their menu. They have curry rice and salad now too. The owner is very very friendly and the view is great. We have been going since the day they opened.

  5. Loved the view and the cheesecake is pretty darn good too. But oh my goodness this is soooo not child friendly. Look at the photo. See the wires for the edging of the deck? They are not toddler friendly!!! I took my 2.5 year old & 15 month old with us and I was a nervous wreck the whole time. I would not let the little one down at all and went into panic mode every time the older one went near the edge. It would be super easy for a child to fall through. It definitely does not conform to all the stateside regulations for child safety! So if you have little ones and you want to actually enjoy your time there, get a sitter! It’s so not worth the risk of having one fall over the edge or being so distracted with watching them that you miss out on enjoying the experience. 😉