A comparison of the three breakfast restaurants at The Busena Terrace Resort in Okinawa: La Tida, Mahae, and Sugar Cane.
In my previous posts, I shared my review of the rooms and facilities at The Busena Terrace, a resort in Okinawa, Japan. Today, I’m focusing on the resort’sbreakfast restaurants.
The Busena Terrace Okinawa Review: Deluxe Ocean Front Room — this was the first hotel we stayed at during our 6-night, 7-day Okinawa trip with a baby.
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The Busena Terrace Okinawa hotel facilities — pool, coin laundry, and gym — from our trip to Okinawa with our 10-month-old baby…
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At The Busena Terrace, there are three breakfast restaurantsin total. On the second floor, you’ll find La Tidaand Mahae,and on the first floor, Sugar Cane. That’s the full breakfast lineup at the resort.
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La Tida: a standard buffet restaurant that’s open daily. 07:00–10:30
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Mahae: a Japanese set breakfast restaurant, but it’s closed on quite a few days. 07:00–10:00
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Sugar Cane: a buffet with both Western and Japanese dishes, open only a few days each month. 07:00–09:30
The check-in guide sheet includes the operating schedule for each breakfast restaurant, so make sure to check which days they’re open before you go. We got lucky and were able to try all three during our stay.
La Tida
2nd floor, 07:00–10:30
La Tida is The Busena Terrace breakfast spot most people will probably use first, and it’s the classic hotel buffet option.
It’s not just for breakfast either — they also serve lunch and dinner buffets.
I’d heard the breakfast was good, so I booked breakfast for all four nights of our stay, and it ended up being a great decision.
The dining room is beautiful and has that breezy resort feel. After checking in late the night before, walking in for breakfast the next morning instantly made the trip feel real.
The ocean-view terrace is especially gorgeous. We went a little later in the morning, so there were plenty of terrace seats, but I heard those tables can fill up during peak breakfast hours.
The view down to the resort walking path from the terrace is so pretty.
Our baby was still just 10 months old, so we kept her in the stroller during breakfast that day. She was happy sitting there, so we didn’t ask for a high chair, but the restaurant does have them.
Since this is the resort’s main restaurant, the selection is wide and the overall quality is solid.
We’re not huge breakfast eaters, so I only did a quick lap around the buffet, but there was a good mix of Japanese and Western food, with plenty for both adults and kids.
The staff were all kind and welcoming, and I was happy to see they even had ice cream.
At the egg station, you can order an omelet or fried eggs, and I went with the omelet.
They make it fresh right in front of you with whatever ingredients you choose from the day’s selection. The omelet portion is pretty generous, too.
This is all I kept it to that morning. If you order coffee, they bring it right to your table.
Our baby was still eating baby food at the time, so we didn’t give her anything from the breakfast buffet, but there was rice and bread, so I think there would be plenty of baby-friendly options once your child is a little older.
Mahae
2nd floor, 07:00–10:00
For our second breakfast, we went to Mahae, the Japanese restaurant. If you step outside from La Tida and cross the little stone bridge, Mahae is right there.
Mahae doesn’t serve lunch, and dinner is available on most days except for a few specific ones.
Mahae was also surprisingly spacious inside, and the staff guided us in so kindly.
This time, we used a high chair for the baby. She was wearing a traditional Japanese outfit, and one of the older staff members absolutely adored her.
Breakfast at Mahae is a fixed Japanese home-style set meal, and the only thing you choose is your rice: white rice, multigrain rice, or plain rice porridge.
The menu changes daily, and on this day the main dish was salmon steak. Everything came out beautifully arranged and very neat.
We tried the multigrain rice and the porridge, and both were good. That said, Japanese home-style side dishes aren’t always my personal favorite, so I wouldn’t say every banchan-style dish felt amazing to me.
The miso soup was delicious, though, and I really enjoyed it with the rice and fish.
I felt something similar when I had kaiseki at a ryokan before — dishes I expected to be savory were sweet, and things I thought would be sweet tasted mild instead. There’s sometimes a kind of imbalance to Japanese flavors for me personally, so while it’s not my absolute favorite cuisine, I still really love this style of Japanese set meal.
One thing I noticed after eating at Mahae twice during our four-night stay: umi-budo, or sea grapes, showed up both times. Since it’s an Okinawa specialty, maybe they serve it every day?
They also serve tea at the end of the meal, and you can order coffee too.
This was the second breakfast we had at Mahae. The fish dish was different, and a few of the side dishes changed as well.
Sugar Cane
1st floor, 07:00–09:30
Last up was Sugar Cane. It’s directly below La Tida on the first floor. It only opens about two or three days a month, and the dates change every month, so you really do need to check the information sheet.
In the month we visited, it was open for only two days total, and luckily one of those days fell during our stay, so we gave it a try.
Compared with La Tida, the selection was smaller and the restaurant itself was more compact, but honestly, I couldn’t tell a huge difference in the food quality. Both were good.
There were definitely fewer dishes than at La Tida, but since we’re not big breakfast eaters, it still felt like more than enough. To be honest, I couldn’t even clearly tell what was missing compared with La Tida.
Sugar Cane also had both Japanese and Western breakfast options.
The atmosphere at La Tida is nicer, so if both La Tida and Sugar Cane were open every day, I’d probably choose La Tida. But because Sugar Cane only opens a couple of times a month, I can totally see why people would want to go just for the novelty.
Here too, I kept it simple with a little miso soup and rice, plus some bread and fruit.
My daughter cried because she wasn’t used to traveling with her grandparents, but looking at this photo now, I realized Sugar Cane had high chairs too.
So that’s my quick review of all three breakfast restaurants at The Busena Terrace Resort in Okinawa, Japan.
If you’re staying for two nights or more, I’d definitely recommend trying both La Tida and Mahae at least once each.