Eat all over Kyushu, steamed seafood in Jigoku and horsemeat in the land of Kumamoto Bears!

type

status

date

slug

summary

🤗 Fukuoka: Victory of the common people

Fukuoka City is the largest city in Kyushu and the center of the Kitakyushu-Fukuoka Metropolitan Area. Although Fukuoka is not rich in tourist resources, Hakata, the center of Fukuoka, is a famous place in the gourmet world: Hakata Ramen, Beef Intestine Nabe, Chicken Mizutaki, Grilled Chicken Skewers, and Mentaiko Dons are some of the most famous “B-grade” foods, which are good and inexpensive foods. Good and cheap food.

sausage pot

Chicken casserole

Grilled Chicken Skin Skewers

Fukuoka is a big city in the center of the region, but the average cost is low, the pace of life is not fast, and it is known for its inexpensive and flavorful gourmet food for the common people.

The flagship of Hakata cuisine is none other than ramen. Depending on the soup base, Japanese ramen can be broadly categorized into Tokyo ramen with soy sauce soup base, Sapporo ramen with salt or miso soup base, etc., and Hakata ramen, which is the most familiar and favorite tonkotsu soup base, is the leader. As the capital of ramen, Hakata is home to famous brands such as Ichiran Ramen, Ippudo, and Hakata Ichikosha, and each restaurant has its own unique specialty! Each restaurant has its own specialty -- but be prepared to wait in line for a table.

Ramen, the flagship of Hakata cuisine

Recommended Restaurant: Ichiran Ramen (Main)

The famous “Ichiran Ramen” has been opened all over Japan, and the main restaurant is located in Hakata, which is a popular tourist spot with long lines all year round because you can experience the original ramen and unique service style. “The ordering process at Ichiran is very interesting, as one fills out customized requests for soup, body, and side dishes while waiting in line, and then pays for the order at the machine. After being seated, everyone is in a separate compartment, and there is no way to talk to your neighbor or the staff, so you can only communicate your request for service through a slip of paper or a wooden sign.

Another specialty of Fukuoka is mentaiko, or marinated cod roe, which is usually salty and spicy, and is said to have been imported from Korea during the Meiji era. Mentaiko is almost ubiquitous in Fukuoka, and is commonly eaten raw, grilled, over rice, on a bed of chawanmushi, dipped in noodles, tossed in a sauce or soup base, and more.

In addition, whether in supermarkets, airports, train stations or roadside specialty stores, you can find a wide variety of Mentaiko-flavored snacks or confections, such as Bailey's, persimmon seeds, senbei, onigiri, bread, and so on, which are great to take home as souvenirs.

Recommended restaurant: Genjo Hakata Myeongtaek

As the name suggests, Mentaiko is the first restaurant to serve mentaiko rice in a lacquer box - a form of rice called “shige” in Japan, and similarly, “eel shige”. Eel Shige”. Of course, it wouldn't be “genjo” if it was just mentaiko and rice together; the specialty here is mentaiko wrapped in white kombu, topped with seaweed, sesame seeds, shiso and other ingredients, and drizzled with a special sauce that explodes with flavor!

🤗 Kumamoto: “I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!”

The Kumamoto Bear is a well-known IP, but for food lovers, Kumamoto symbolizes the colorful ramen and horse meat. Most people's first knowledge of Japanese ramen comes from Ajisen Ramen, a brand that originated in Kumamoto and is known for its thick, rich Tonkotsu soup base. While Kumamoto ramen is certainly a specialty, there are varieties of ramen produced throughout Kyushu, so if you only have one meal in Kumamoto, I highly recommend trying the horse meat.

In Japan, there was a thousand-year ban on eating meat, but various kinds of game meat were recognized as having medicinal value and became “rubbers” and were given elegant “code names”: for example, wild boar was called “oyster”, deer meat was called “red leaf”, and horse meat was called “sakura” because of its bright red color. For example, wild boar meat is called “peony”, deer meat is “red leaf”, and horse meat is called “cherry meat” because of its bright red color. In today's Japan, there are no restrictions on eating meat, but in Kumamoto, horsemeat has been passed down as a local specialty. The most classic horse meat dish is horse sashimi, or “horse spurs,” which is usually divided into three parts: the bright red red meat is pure lean meat that tastes a bit like beef and doesn't have the sour taste that is said to be associated with it; my favorite part is the frosted meat that has a beautifully textured texture that gives me the sweet aftertaste of melted fat between the muscles; and the white grease that comes from the neck is called horsehair, and is somewhat like the meat in the Chaozhou Beef Hot Pot. The white grease comes from the neck, which is called horsehair, and is somewhat like the chest portion of Chiu Shantou Beef Hot Pot.

horsemeat sashimi

In addition to sashimi, sukiyaki is a classic dish where thinly sliced horse meat and various vegetables are boiled in a thick, sweet broth that lingers in the mouth.

Horse Meat Sukiyaki

Recommended Restaurant: Aoyagi

Aoyagi, a long-established restaurant, specializes in Kumamoto's unique local kaiseki cuisine, including famous Kyushu dishes such as horsemeat, marble soup, and nagaimochi, as well as seasonal seafood from the Seto Inland Sea. Horse meat dishes are available in a variety of forms, including sashimi, sushi, yakiniku, sukiyaki, and boiled dishes, and show the richness of different parts of horse meat in different degrees of doneness.

Horse meat sushi

🤗 Beppu: Who says there's no food in “hell”?

Beppu is famous for its hot springs, and many visitors come here for the “hot springs”, so you can eat directly at the hot spring hotels. On the way to the “Eight Hells,” it is recommended to try onsen eggs and steamed buns cooked with geothermal heat, as well as steamed vegetables and seafood known as “hell steam. The hot springs have a sulfurous odor, and the steamed food is somewhat tainted by this odor, but this is the proof that you have been to Beppu.

“Steamed vegetables from hell”.

Although Beppu is not known for its cuisine, as the second largest city in Oita Prefecture, you can find quality ingredients from all over Kyushu. For example, the Wagyu breed “Toyo” is not as famous as Kobe or Matsusaka Beef, but it has won many prizes in domestic competitions, making it a high-quality Wagyu breed that is underestimated in the market. Because of this, it is much cheaper than other famous breeds.

Bongkok (grape type)

There's also the famous seafood that thrives in the raging rapids of the Seto Inland Sea - including the famous Seki mackerel, Seki mackerel, and castle flounder. For seasoning, you can't go wrong with yuzu pepper and vinegared orange juice.

Off mackerel and off mackerel pods

Eel kettle rice

Another must-try dish in Beppu is toriten, or chicken tempura, which is considered to be the originator of today's various types of Japanese fried chicken. Traditional Beppu fried chicken is made by coating chicken pieces or slices with different flavored batters and deep-frying them until they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, featuring a crunchy batter, meaty texture, and juiciness that makes for a satisfying bite.

Beppu's must-try dish, “Toriten”.

Recommended restaurant: Toyo-ken

Established in 1926, the Chinese restaurant Toyo-ken is widely recognized as the founder of Toriten, and is therefore the originator of Japanese-style fried chicken. Although it looks like a small fast-food restaurant, the fried chicken is very delicate, with a crispy, golden brown exterior and a juicy interior. Choose from original, yuzu, or seaweed flavors, and serve it with a vinegar-orange sauce.

🤗 Nagasaki: An Outpost of Japan's Foreign Exchanges

Japan has experienced a long period of “closed-door”, which led to a gradual lagging behind the world's advanced level, and was eventually forced to open its doors and embark on the road of salvation and survival. During the period of seclusion, Nagasaki was the only port of entry open to the outside world, and Western religions, sciences, technologies, and ideas flowed into Japan under the name of “Orchidology”. Along with them came Western food customs, the most typical of which were deep-fried food from Portugal, the precursor of “tempura,” “nanbanzuke,” pickled in white vinegar and onions, and Western-style sweets such as Nagasaki cake, kumpei candy, and arapei candy. Nagasaki cake, Kinpira candy, and Arigatou candy, which are Western-style sweets.

Jiyutei in the Korapa Garden was once Japan's first Western-style restaurant, and Nagasaki is known as the birthplace of Western cuisine. Today, a cafe has been set up on the site, where you can enjoy beef stew made from the original recipe of a hundred years ago.

When you come to Colaba Gardens, you can't miss the Colaba Residence located in the middle of it, which is the oldest surviving wooden house in Japan and is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Nagasaki's specialty, “Turkish rice”, is not related to Turkey, but is a foreign food (Japanese-style western food) that was born in Nagasaki, and generally consists of deep-fried pork cutlets, curry sauce, rice, pasta, etc. It is named “Turkish Rice Day” because it is the same as the Turkish dish. “The city of Nagasaki has designated September 16th of every year as “Turkish Rice Day”.

Nagasaki cake is pronounced “Castella” in Japanese, and its origin is the Castilian region of Spain, centered on Madrid. Legend has it that it was first brought to Portugal by “Catherine of Austria,” who later became the Queen of Portugal, and was named after her Castilian roots. The sponge cake looks like an authentic Western pastry, but it has been completely localized: baked instead of steamed, no milk or butter is used, and sugar is replaced by water syrup (caramel made from rice malt or wheat malt), among other things. The transformed Nagasaki cake is more in line with the Oriental's highest evaluation of desserts, “not too sweet,” and is considered a classic wagashi that goes well with tea, and is a memory of every Nagasaki child's afternoon tea after school.

Recommended restaurant: Fukusaya

Nagasaki is full of stores selling Nagasaki cakes, but Fukusaya, founded in 1624, is the undisputed “granddaddy” of them all, with a secret recipe said to have been passed down from the Portuguese. This year marks the 400th anniversary of Fukusaya's establishment, but like many other old Japanese stores, it insists on specializing in Nagasaki cakes: there are only a few flavors, but the quality of the cake is so high that I think it's better than Bunka-do, which has opened branches all over Japan. I personally think it is better than “Bunmeido”, which has opened branches all over Japan.

Fukusaya's Nagasaki Cake

Another special type of food in Nagasaki is “Omakase cuisine,” also known as “Wawaran cuisine,” which is a special form of cuisine that combines Japanese, Chinese, and Western styles of eating, and is considered to be the oldest fusion cuisine in Japan. The term “omakase” refers to a table and tablecloth, and it is clear that Chinese and Japanese eating habits are combined as everyone sits around a low round table called an “omakase-tai”. In addition to traditional Japanese cuisine, other classic dishes include “kakuni”, which is based on braised pork, tempura and shrimp toast, which are of Western origin, and “yakisoba”, which is a Chinese or Japanese soup dish prepared in the form of a crispy broth.

Japanese Style Braised Pork - “Kakuni Boiled”

Recommended: Yoshimune

Any Japanese restaurant is bound to have chawanmushi, and Yoshimune, an 1866 store in Nagasaki, is the place to go for this soupy egg custard steamed in a tea cup. Today's common chawanmushi is made in teacups, but the original version was made in a large teabowl, featuring as much broth as possible, with a soft, almost runny texture; and a wide variety of ingredients, such as chicken, shrimp, unagi, bran (gluten), shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, bamboo shoots, and ginkgo nuts, making the process of “digging up” the ingredients a treasure hunt. The process of “digging” for ingredients is like a treasure hunt.