Muslim-friendly restaurants in Okayama-city - my impressions

Preface

I'm a normal Japanese otaku. While I'm not a Muslim, I thought that my impressions still may be useful for Muslims who visit Okayama. So, I decided to write down this here. I'm happy if you find it useful.

I went to some of the places in this page with a Muslim friend. I'll write down the details of the visit too.

Map

I converted a Muslim-friendly restaurant list by Okayama City, Okayama, Japan into Google My Maps.

Google My Maps - Restaurants in Okayama-city for Muslims

I also updated the code that scrapes the page to Github Gist. Converted map has a fewer restaurants because some were no longer available as of now (October 20, 2023) Scraper of the list of Muslim-friendly restaurants on Okayama Health Tourism / Okayama City

Restaurants I've visited

I introduce the restaurants with my personal recommendation score from 1 star to 3 stars.

Taj-namaste

Recommendation score: ⭐⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: タージナマステ

Reservation: not necessary

Visited with Muslim: yes

There are three branches:

Okayama Daiichi Central Bldg B1, 6-36 Honmachi, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture

Misawa Bldg1F, 30-10 Ekimotomachi, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture

Nishiki Bldg.1F, 3-12-23 Gakunancho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture

Taj-namaste is a so-called "Indian curry (indokare-)" style restaurant. Indokare- is a style of curry that is based on the one from India as the name suggests. It is optimized to Japanese tongue, so anybody including those who have ever had Indian meal will find it interesting. And here's a fun fact: so many Nepali people work for indokare- restaurants.

Taj-namaste's food quality is favorable so I often go to Taj-namaste. The atmosphere feels like a common indokare- restaurants. They use halal meet 100% according to the chef in the Okayama Daiichi Central Bldg branch.

Spicy Spice

Recommendation score: ⭐⭐⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: パイシーパイス

Reservation: not necessary

Visited with Muslim: no

Official site: https://spicyspice.shop/

A real Indian guy works for Spicy Spice. Not only the food is a real Indian food, the atmosphere is so great; combination of exotic foods and an old Japanese building floored with tatami (2F) gives us chill vibes.

There are some green marks by the foods' name. It indicates that the food is alcohol-free, vegetarian/vegan, and no ingredients made from animals.

They don't use ingredients that contain alcohol, according to a staff. Chicken is sometimes halal and sometimes not. They welcome any questions about foods so you can ask them if the meat is halal or not.

https://scrapbox.io/files/6531f9d1da236a001cac3b00.jpg

https://scrapbox.io/files/6531f9d9a6b282001cb54ba5.jpg

https://scrapbox.io/files/6531f9e4eca3a3001bd00d56.jpg

Ali Baba

Recommendation score: ⭐⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: Ali Baba Restaurant & Shisha Bar

Reservation: ? (I hope it's not necessary since it's a Turkish restaurant)

Visited with Muslim: no

Turkish restaurants are rare in Okayama, and here is the one of them. The owner is a guy from Turkey and he serves tasty and interesting foods.

Okinoshima Ramen

Recommendation score: ⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: 隠岐の島ラーメン

Reservation: not necessary

Official site: https://ramen-restaurant-okinoshima.business.site/

Visited with Muslim: yes

It is very rare that ramen shops have muslim-friendly ramens. It usually contain incompatible ingredients like soy sauce (contains alcohol due to fermentation). So Okinoshima Ramen is a precious choice to go. The flavor is fairly good.

You'll find some buttons with English text on the right side of the vending machine (shown below). These ramens have halal chicken instead of pork.

They also provide a ramen making experience that you can reserve it by a phone call. My Muslim friend and I enjoyed preparing our ramens.

https://scrapbox.io/files/6531f73fabd266001c33fa69.jpg

Milenga

Recommendation score: ⭐⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: ミレンガ

Reservation: not necessary

Visited with Muslim: no

This is another real Indian restaurant. The entire lunch plate looks like as if it's imported directly from India. While I've never been to India, it really looks like it. You can enjoy tasty combination of spices and the Indian atmosphere.

Mensake Isshoan

Recommendation score: ⭐⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: 麺酒一照庵

Official site: https://www.mensake-issyoan.com/english.html

Reservation: ? (please call)

Visited with Muslim: no

Another ramen restaurant to go. The taste is pretty good. I've never asked a staff for Muslim-friendly foods, though, I hope that they are ready to serve it since Isshoan has English locale in their website.

Pal Pasta

Recommendation score: ⭐⭐⭐

Keyword to Google this restaurant: パルパスタ

Official account: https://www.instagram.com/okayama.palpasta/

Reservation: not necessary

Visited with Muslim: yes

Very kind Italian restaurant. The taste is great. They serve muslim-friendly foods by removing incompatible ingredients from available menu. Please ask a staff for muslim-friendly foods on order.

Restaurants that are listed on the page but questionable

Gyukatsu Uemura

I had a phone call once, but nobody in the restaurant knows if there are Muslim-friendly foods.

I've never visited or WIP

"Oshokuji Dokoro Okabe"

"SALT – Ishikawa Shokudo"

"Tempura Sen no Tane"

"Chungking Chinese Szechuan Restaurant"

"QUIET VILLAGE CURRY SHOP"

"Docheche"

"Peru GRILL"

"Dining & Bar Applause"

"Ciel Blue"

"Rich Fruits (in Oumi no Sato)"

"farine.de.riz"

"Otake Manju"

"Friendly sweets Terecoco"

"Yakiniku J’s en"

"Freedom Tacos"

"Seafood Specialities Okaya"

"Niku no Hosoda"

"Acheche"

"Cafe Seed of Life"

"Shah Arena"

"Aozora Ail"

"Sushi Youkan (Saidaiji Shop)"

"Shikisai Korakuen"

"Cafe Antenna"

"Malasada Donuts"

"Ryoutei Tamachi Branch"

"Hitori Nabe Megu"

"Cafe Moni"

"Ryoutei Houkancho Honten"