Climax Coffee: Step aside Starbucks!

This morning I was on a quest. . . . a quest for pancakes. Usually this quest points me in the direction of the nearest konbini or grocery store to pick up a package of pancakes mix but today it led me to a part of Okinawa often refereed to as Hamby Town. What drew me to Hamby Town was a not so little chain known as Climax Coffee.



The best way to describe Climax Coffee is a spin off gone right. This coffee shop/restaurant/cafe has the feel of a Starbucks or Tully's with slash of originality and a light dusting of Japanese flare.

 

The Coffee: 

As one might expect from a coffee shop Climax Coffee has an assortment of coffee drinks as well as non coffee drinks which we have come to expect ¥500 a cup places to carry. Options include classic espresso, espresso based coffees, chocolate drinks, espresso tea, espresso tea lattes, tea lattes, milk, tropical fruit juices, tropical fruit soda and shakes.

Most of the coffee drinks are served either cold or hot and come in regular or medium. Other options such as tropical fruit juice only come in regular size and the Italian Fruit Soda is only available in medium.



Today I went for one of my favorite types of lattes in Japan, the Green Tea Latte. The latte was very good although I wouldn't recommend running out and ordering it unless you know that a strong green tea flavor is right for you.



The Food: 

Surprisingly there is quite the extensive menu of food options offered at Climax Coffee. Options include spaghetti, curry rice, hamburgers, panini sandwiches soups, fries and salad. The menu also includes various plates which feature chicken with various sides. Of course not all food items are available at all times of day. Lunch menu, for example, starts at around 11:30 if I remember correctly.

Seeing as we were at Climax Coffee bright and early it was all about the pancakes. After all I was on a quest! The number of pancake options at this place is absolutely unbelievable. Those who are undeceive beware because you've got to choose between milky macadamia, mixed berry, banana chocolate, mango, green tea with kuromitsu syrup or plane. . . . . and that's just the regular menu. Once you've picked the type of pancake you want it's time to choose the size. Most styles of pancakes come with three options (regular, medium and small) and are served with just the right amount of toppings and whipped cream.



Keeping with the Japanese theme I chose the Green Tea Pancake with Kuromitsu Syrup. Russ went for the more American style Cinnamon Apple Pancakes also in size medium.



 

The pancakes themselves were absolutely delicious made fresh and drizzled with just enough syrup. The whipped cream was also actually heavy cream not the whipped topping that you might expect.

 

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: 

Overall the experience was a great one but for those of you who still may be unsure let's go through the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good is that this place not only has good coffee and a wide selection (including seasonal flavors) but also a pretty great menu. It's also earning some more "Good" points for it's wide selection of breakfast options. There aren't many pancake houses here on the island which offer such a wide selection and at such a great price. That brings us to our next "Good" . . . pricing. Although the coffee is just as pricy at any other coffee shop around you can't beat pancakes for under ¥500 yen.

Now for The Bad I really don't have anything to say about the food, at least the breakfast options. The biggest "bad" that I can can honestly say (and I realize that this is a stretch) is the location. This is not one of those places you'll drive by unless you happen to be going down this particular road. Another unfortunate "bad" is that there is seemingly not any parking. In actuality the parking is on the next road over which you might not see if you're visiting in the middle of the day when other parking lots are full.

The Ugly is the parking lot itself. The lot, located on the street behind the entrance to Climax Coffee, is a dirt lot. Sure it might not be a big deal for some but you might want to consider this once rainy season rolls around or if you (like me) are particular about your vehicle.

 

Everything Else You Need To Know: 

Climax Coffee in Hamby Town opens at 0800 although different locations have different operating hours so check out their website for detailed information. They take dollars, yen and credit card as well. The staff is incredibly friendly and are happy to work with English speaking customers. There is also an English menu available! There are some options for kids and with the various sizes your kiddles shouldn't have a problem enjoying themselves. I did not, however, see any booster seats so this might be something to consider.

Over all I say go over to Climax Coffee and give them a shot!

We want to hear from you! 

Have you been to Climax Coffee? Let us know what you think below.

Healthy Options: Ocean Expo Park

 

 

There are some people out there who feel as though Okinawa is a place that people come and gain a lot of weight because there is nothing to do but eat. Obviously as you can tell from my over 700 videos and various blog posts there are a few things to do OTHER than eat but I digress. Anyway, even the best of us find ourselves in a position that splurging is not an option and so we need to make a choice whether we want to make a change or not. Don't get me wrong, this is not a "let's be healthy" type of post. There are already enough people out there shoving those types of ideas down your throat on the internet. (How ironic.) My intent is to share some options that I found for myself while trying to eat on the healthier side with those who are looking for what healthy options will be available to them. If you want to splurge. . . do it!



 

Today we headed to the Ocean Expo Park and since I have been on a strict diet in an attempt to lose a few pounds I was very cautious of what I ate. With today's trip focusing on the aquarium in particular I headed over to see what the food options were there online. Unfortunately there were not too many listed so I made sure to have a healthy breakfast that would hold me over at least until lunch time.



 

There was only one food option within the aquarium itself. The small cafe style restaurant is located near the large tank. There is limited seating and so depending on the time of day you visit this may not be an option but they had a few different picks to choose from. The menu changes but one of the things that we found consistent were the teas available.



 

As we arrived at the aquarium early in the morning we were out of the main building and headed towards the dolphin show well before lunch time. There was a slight rumble in our tummies and so we headed over to the Okichan Shop where we found some different food options. The options here were pretty standard: Taco Rice, Pizza Bread, Shrimp Burger, Hamburger, Hotdog and other options. Unfortunately this did not leave us with many options and so we found ourselves making the decision to split something just to hold us over for a short time. For ¥300 we grabbed a Shrimp burger. Of course it was a tough call but based on our other options the lightly breaded and fried burger seemed reasonable to split between the two of us at least until we could walk our way back to the car. (NOTE: Yes I realize the inappropriate nature of eating a shrimp burger outside an aquarium.)



 

After this it was time to head back to the car and make a choice of what it was that we were going to eat for lunch. Of course it was still early and we were obviously in need of an actual meal so we made the call to jump into the car and head down the road. After a bit of discussion we decided that we were going to stop at a convenience store on our way home. It seemed like the safest option.

Now before you get those images of hot dogs and slush machines in your head it's important to remember that convenience stores here in Japan are just like going to a miniature grocery store. When searching through the merchandise you can use words such as "fresh", "healthy" and "delicious". When was the last time you used those words when at a Cumberland Farms?



 

Our lunch choice for today included a sandwich and some tea. This is our "go to" meal while on the run during our travels here in Okinawa. There are different types of sandwiches available at each convenience store and although they are all pretty much the same people like my husband could distinctly tell you what sandwich came from where. The tea is something that we also enjoy. Other options at the FamilyMart that we happened to visit were salads with and without toppings.

The best part. . . . This lunch costed us a total of 340 yen. That's it! You can't beat affordable. Although you could argue this is not the best meal when you're trying to be health cautious it's much better than curry rice.

So next time you're looking for a healthy option and find yourself at a tourist attraction coming up short why not try grabbing something from a local convenience store.