bodai — Restaurant in Nachikatsuura

Just wonderful. Great value, as most food is in Japan. What goes beyond that is the service, atmosphere and culinary experience that accompanies it. While the flavours are subtle, they are delicious and complimentary. The fresh tuna katsu was delicious and perfectly balanced with the accompaniments. The agedashi tofu was delicious, and the ume soda was lovely. I cannot recommend the dessert enough, the kinako buckwheat tiramisu cannot be commended enough, with the flavour of coffee perfectly balanced with the uniquely Japanese flavours. It was one of the best tiramisus I have had, even including those in Venice.

Regarding service, the two ladies who served us were lovely! Both very friendly, and the food came out really quick. There was also frequent tea top ups, with both oolong and green tea. Just when we thought we needed more tea, the kind waitresses would deliver to us! Really nice and friendly. One of the ladies complimented my Japanese, which made the experience all the more personal. I really appreciated it! They even gave us an omiyage at the end of the meal, truly lovely.

Lastly, in terms of atmosphere, this place is truly wonderful. The bar area had a lovely air to it that meant that Japanese, Chinese and English speaking patrons were all able to communicate, albeit with the help of translation apps! We had a toast together and it was a lovely feel.

In totality, can’t recommend enough. Please visit this place if...

Very rude service to foreigners - we were a group of 7. I asked if there was a table, a polite Japanese old woman answered to say no and apologised. I asked further questions on (1) whether there will be any table for us at a later time; and (2) how many seats are available now (in case my group would like to split up and eat).

The old lady politely answered my first question. She was going to respond to my second question, when a rude younger Japanese guy appeared and interrupted and said ‘full!’ (in English) and literally shut the sliding door on me right infront of my face.

Absolutely unacceptable service (and I was conversing with the old lady in Japanese as much as I can) - another non-foreigner friendly restaurant in Japan.

No matter how busy they were (and they were not since there were a few empty tables and seats at the counter), that was a terrible way to treat customers - it ruins their day / holiday and I wish some of these non-foreigner friendly Japanese restaurants could be abit more respectful towards foreigners (or at the very least show some...

Bodai is located in close proximity to the JR Kii-Katsuura train station and bus terminal, we went there for lunch time around an hour before closing. Despite being quite busy, we managed to get seated towards the back of the restaurant on bar stools. The cuisine is mainly based around local seafood catches, and the price is reasonable for the quantity of food that you get in the meal sets. Would recommend trying the Medium Fatty Cutlet set meal - it’s similar to a breaded chicken dish common in Western countries, but instead uses the local raw tuna, which was a great...