Lierre Blanc

CONTRIBUTED BY: BETHANY BRONSON

It was my 30^th birthday. I told my husband that I wanted him to surprise me with where we went to dinner because for my birthday I didn’t want to have to be decisive. After talking to friends at work, he chose a fancy French restaurant with an amazing view that we hadn’t visited before: Lierre Blanc.

I have to warn you, the road going up to the restaurant is scary terrifying. Like going up a really steep rollercoaster without the knowledge that your seat is securely attached to the frame. That being said, it was worth the fright.

We arrived and just stood for a moment in the parking lot admiring the view. When we finally went up to the restaurant, we were greeted and seated immediately. The waitress took us back to a secluded area with the same amazing view we had been appreciating in the parking lot. The décor was lovely; nice but not so fancy that my husband felt out of place in his nice jeans and polo shirt.

 

We were brought water and the waitress explained the menu to us. The menu on the table has English, but it doesn’t explain any of the main courses you can choose from. You can choose a five course meal with one main dish or two main dishes. I don’t know how often the main dishes change (they were written on a chalk board in Japanese) but we had five options: duck, beef, quail pie, steak and fish. My husband always goes for steak, but I wanted to be adventurous and ordered the quail pie.

The first course came out – a cold plum carrot soup with some bread with a slice of cold meat on top. It was delicious! The second course was a vegetable turkey dish; another cold dish which was perfect on that warm day. There was cooked cauliflower, tomatoes, heart of palm, cucumbers and clams topped with sliced turkey and served in a vegetable type of broth/paste. It tasted just as good as it looked. Next came a corn chowder for my husband and a creamy risotto for me. We were so excited when it came to the table that I forgot to get a picture! My husband didn’t think the corn chowder was anything particularly special, but my creamy risotto was perfect. Then it was time for our main dishes. They didn’t ask how my husband wanted his steak cooked, so it was cooked a little more than he prefers but was still good.  My quail pie looked like a little quail wrapped up in pastry. I don’t know that I would order it again, but it was good and a fun experience.  Dessert came as a little medley of 4 different treats. A rich, thick chocolate cake, cheesecake, green ice cream (we couldn’t decide what flavor it was) and a strawberry fluff. Everything tasted wonderful and was fun to mix up and eat together.

The whole time, our waitress would nonchalantly check on our progress and quickly bring out our next course as soon as we finished the current one.  Although her English was limited, everything went very smoothly and the evening was relaxing and enjoyable.  My husband and I hadn’t been out on a date with just the two of us for quite a long time, and this was perfect for us.  It is a great place for adults to go to dinner, but I would not recommend bringing small children.

 

I’m not sure if reservations are needed, but we made one and I believe they are at least highly advised.  It wasn’t busy there on a Wednesday evening when we went, but they asked if we had a reservation when we arrived.

The total price for my husband and myself ended up being right around 5000 yen without any alcohol.

 

Hours: Lunch 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Dinner 6:00 p.m. – 9:30p.m.

Phone:  098-926-0174

Payment:  Credit cards, yen

Address: 315-1 Yoshihara, Chatan, Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture 904-0105, Japan

Directions:

• From Kadena gate 2:  Turn right after the little bridge onto 23.
• Turn left at the stoplight with the red and white 100 yen store on your right, continue until you see a Coco de Bake on your left.
• Turn left at the stoplight after Coco de Bake.
• Continue past the mausoleums, and follow the road around a big curve to the right.  It will then curve to the left and you will see a park on your left.
• Turn left onto the second street on the left.  (If you get to the stoplight by the Japanese elementary school, you have gone too far.  You can still turn here, then take your first left and it will be the road the restaurant is on.) 
• Take your first left. (This is the super scary crazy uphill road.)  You will see the restaurant on your right, by a big container that looks like a water reservoir.  The restaurant looks like a white apartment building with the parking underneath.  Look for the sign on the front.

 

Coordinates: 26.3161, 127.77453609999998

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