Ishigaki has a genuinely good food scene for an island of its size. Yaeyama soba — a local variant of Okinawan noodle soup, made with round pork-bone broth noodles and topped with slow-braised pork, fishcake, and green onions — is the dish to prioritise. It's served at simple soba shops across the island for well under 1,000 yen. Ishigaki beef (Ishigaki-gyu), a wagyu bred on the island, appears on menus at mid-range restaurants in town as steak or in donburi bowls.
The evening izakaya scene around Ishigaki town is lively and unpretentious. Awamori, the local spirit distilled from long-grain rice and aged in clay pots, is the drink of the islands. Order it on the rocks (mizuwari) to start.