Soul food from a tropical island, made fresh in the capital. 

Whenever we find ourselves in the vicinity of Tokyo Station, there’s one place we always visit, and its name is Potama. A cute amalgamation of the words “Pork” and “Tamago” (“Egg”), this specialty rice ball store has 11 branches throughout Japan, and only one in the entire Kansai region in and around Tokyo, located in Tokyo Midtown Yaesu.

This branch of the hugely popular Okinawa-born chain opened in 2022, bringing its unusual brand of rice balls to curious Tokyoites hungry for a taste of something new.

▼ The store is located in the underground mall area directly connected to JR East Tokyo Station, making it a convenient stop for travellers.

While everything in the underground mall might look new and shiny to overseas visitors, it takes a lot to turn the heads of a local traveller. Potama, however, does exactly that, as the pork tamago onigiri is a hard-to-get local specialty of Okinawa, an island so far from the mainland it can only be accessed by plane.

▼ While pork and egg is at the heart of the rice balls sold here, they come with extra toppings, like shrimp and tartar sauce, which we ordered.

Once you try an onigiri from Potama you’ll be hooked on the delicious taste of fluffy egg…and thick pork luncheon meat. Okinawa is famous for its love of Spam, and this rice ball embraces that love wholeheartedly, serving it up in a way that’ll remind you how good luncheon meat truly is.

▼ We’ve tried a lot of the items on the menu, but the one we keep going back to time and time again is the Shrimp Tartar, which costs 680 yen (US$4.36).

The crunch of the fried shrimp provides a gorgeous contrast to the smoothness of the pork and egg , while the tartar sauce adds a fantastic tang that leaves you with a delightfully refreshing aftertaste. According to the official website, this tartar sauce is a Potama original that contains the juice of shikwasa, a citrus fruit representative of Okinawa.

Wrapping your mouth around the delicious onigiri is like biting into an extravagant feast of flavours, leaving you  perfectly satisfied afterwards and making it great value for money. Although the store has an eat-in space, you can also order it to take home with you, and surprisingly, it tastes just as good cold as it does hot, which is a testament to its greatness.

The only thing you have to be careful about when stopping by Potama is the time, as orders are made fresh so you might have to wait around 15 minutes. The wait is worth it, though, as you’ll be able to get a taste of Okinawa’s famous soul food without having to fly to the island…although if you do make it there, you’ll find many other things to tempt you aside from the rice balls.

Shop information
Potama (Tokyo Midtown Yaesu branch) / ポーたま（東京ミッドタウン八重洲店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Yaesu 2-2-1, Tokyo Midtown Yaesu basement level 1
住所　東京都中央区八重洲2丁目2番1号 東京ミッドタウン八重洲 地下1階
Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Website

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