Sushi Night in Fukuoka

We spent most of our time in Fukuoka exploring the casual food scene but we did have a more serious sushi meal one evening at a restaurant called Sushi Kuma. 

Post-COVID Getaway

It was a wise choice in retrospect to have picked Kyushu as our first vacation destination post-COVID. The short flight from Hong Kong to Fukuoka and the proximity between the airport and downtown meant we could fully spend more time on the ground during our 5-day holiday, and so we booked our air ticket as soon as the news broke about the lifting of travel restrictions, then there’s a long 3 months wait before we actually took off at the end of November.  

Ando x Fukuoka

A lucky few us were given a sneak peak of Chef Agustin's special collaboration menu with Fukuoka Prefecture government. The area on the northern shore of Kyushu Japan has no lack of fine food ingredients and many of those made it to our table with this limited-time tasting menu. 

Lunch with Fukuoka Ingredients

Recently I was at Whisk at The Mira for a Friday lunch featuring a special menu with ingredients coming from Fukuoka, working in conjunction with a guest chef from the region. There’s no lack of fresh ingredients from Kyushu and the nearby waters, especially the area surrounding Fukuoka in the north being the center of this southern-most main island of Japan, so I think Chef Oliver from Whisk and guest chef Yasuhiro Yamada from Fukuoka’s Hakata House restaurant has the easiest task of turning all these wonderful produce, meat and seafood into a fabulous tasting menu available at the restaurant for a limited time in March.

Chicken Two Ways

If Ramen and Motsunabe were the Top 2 dishes best representative of Fukuoka, Yakitori is perhaps a close third. There’s no lack of choices for top Yakitori, or chicken skewers, restaurant in the city, my only problem was the lack of time to try them all. This time I happened to stumble across one near to my ryokan specializing in grilled chicken skin.

Slurp-Worthy: Fukuoka Edition

Of course whilst in Kyushu one has to stick in a ramen meal or two, as that is the very dish the region is perhaps most famous for. At home we are lucky to have a few famous Kyushu-based ramen shops setting up branches overseas over the last few years, but still, one never beat the bowls served in Kyushu, particularly Fukuoka which was considered to be the epicenter of ramen cuisine. And I was glad to have a couple that has not yet made their way to Hong Kong.

Retail Therapy

I was surprised that it snowed and sleeted, at times heavily, during my stay in Kyushu, especially during my first stop in Fukuoka. That means I ended up spending more time indoors, shopping and chilling in a much slower pace, which was not bad an alternative, given I didn't have anything particular in mind to go or do anyway.

Quick Sushi Lunch in Fukuoka

I was more into casual street food whilst in Kyushu for my recent trip but I did go for one simple sushi lunch in Fukuoka nonetheless. Sushi Kawasho is an old sushi restaurant opened in 1947 now with 2 branches, one in Nishi-nakasu district and another, one that I went, inside Hotel Nikko near Hakata train station.

Motsunabe for One

I have been craving for motsunabe since I planned for the Kyushu trip a few months ago. This Kyushu specialty hotpot with beef or pork tripes and intestines was the perfect comfort food in the cold winter, combining the rich and fatty offals with an equally rich and steaming broth served in the traditional nabe pot. We had a great one during our last outing to Fukuoka a couple of years ago, and I intended to do the same this time with the weather more suitable for this kind of food.

Staying in a Cozy Ryokan

I didn’t expect Kyushu would be this cold when I made the trip there a couple of weeks ago to kick off the year 2018, with a nasty mixture of rain and sleet coming down hard just as I cleared immigration and custom at Fukuoka and tried to make my way to the ryokan I was staying in. This time I was staying two nights at this lovely place called Zen Oyado Nishitei (いつも膳・お宿　西亭旅館), a bit off the beaten track (about a 10 minute walk from the nearest metro station).

Motsunabe Treat in Fukuoka

During our brief stay in Fukuoka, we tried Motsunabe for the first time at a place called Motsunabe Yamanaka, one of the better known restaurants in town specialized in this local delicacy dish.

It may sound a bit too stereotypical, but generally speaking traditional Kyushu cuisine was more rustic and down-to-earth - just think Tonkotsu Ramen, probably the most famous Kyushu export, or food served at yatai, street-side stalls common in Fukuoka in the evenings. I suppose same can be said about Motsunabe, which literally means offal hotpot (specifically, cow intestines) cooked in broth at the table with vegetables, a traditional dish said to be originated in Fukuoka.