James and I found a last minute deal to Fukuoka and visited for 3 days, 2 nights. We never thought to travel there but we are so glad we did. It was the perfect city for a short trip because it was walkable, food was delicious and people were friendly. It was also on the water so it really reminded us of Portland. There also wasn't the foot traffic or sheer volume of people and craziness that characterizes Tokyo.
I did some research prior to the trip by reading blogs and other websites. I found out that Ippudo came from Fukuoka and the region is famous for Hakata style ramen. By the time I finished our itinerary, there were way too many restaurants for the meals we would have there. So we had a choice: cut down on the places we went to, or eat at all of them. We settled for eating at all of them, of course.
On the first day we arrived at around 6 pm and ate two dinners. We shared a bowl of ramen at Ippudo, then hopped over to the Yatai stands. The ramen at Ippudo was delicious-milky broth and the noodles were just right! We were a little overwhelmed by the selection at each stand, but just sat down at one and ordered ramen. After we finished eating, we felt fomo because the other people at our stand were eating grilled mentaiko. So we hopped to another stand and ordered mentaiko and a yakitori combo and they both didn't disappoint. Our only frustration was that they required we each order a dish and a drink and the stands weren't as cheap as we thought they would be. However, the gentleman sitting next to us struck up a conversation with us and pitched in for our bill....so nice!
Our second day was crazy. We woke up early wanting to eat at the fish market before our Asahi brewery tour. The fish market turned out to be further than we anticipated and we ended up being late for the tour! I did get to grab an egg salad sandwich from a convenient store and James got some yummy mini croissants.
The Asahi brewery tour is money. It's an hour tour and the factory is really cool-especially the beer canning room. At the end of the tour, you can taste up to three cups of their beers. These weren't dinky cups either. And it was all free!
For lunch we made it to the fish market only to find that it only opens to the public once a month. We did get to eat sushi which was very cheap and fresh! I also got to have my uni and we sat next to a gentleman who was from Berkeley!
We walked around and found the hipster artsy area of Fukuoka with boutiques and cool shops. Then we decided to search for this tempura joint I found called Tempura no Hirao Tenjin. Thank goodness I can still read hiragana and katakana because we wouldn't have been able to find this place. We ordered a combination platter to share at the vending machine and sat down in the coffee shop bar area. On the counter next to us were four containers - salted yuzu squid, pickled bean sprouts, pickled mustard greens, and pickled radish (all bomb). We saw everyone piling the squid onto their rice bowl but we were skeptical at first. I would have gone back for the side dishes themselves. Then the chefs come by with freshly fried bits and drop off the correct ones onto your plate. It was amazing and only 720 yen. James was so amazed he wanted to order more.
After leaving the tempura restaurant we saw an Ichiran ramen which seemed to be very popular in Fukuoka.....so we went in and ordered a bowl of ramen and a matcha tofu dessert. The restaurant was one counter separated by walls and each person sat at one spot. It was an interesting experience but the ramen didn't impress me much. The matcha tofu, however, did. Warm, sweet tofu with real matcha? What's not to love?
By this time it's pretty late so we decided to go back to the hotel to sleep. But at around 10:30 we were feeling ambitious again and went to get gyoza. I read about a gyoza place that's been around for a while and we got there shortly before they closed. The waitress told us to eat quickly and we definitely did. Their gyoza came out on a hot sizzling platter and both sides of the dumplings were crunchy.
On our last day we only ate once and it was all we needed. On Trip Advisor, Chikae Fukuoka is one of the top rated restaurants. We got there at 10:45 and the restaurant opens at 11. There were already 15 people in line. As soon as it opened we walked in and were seated in a large room with a counter surrounding several fish tanks. There were only two options for lunch - sashimi or soba for 1400 yen each and we ordered one of each. Each meal came out on a platter with 5 main dishes, 2 dipping sauces and a plate of pickled vegetables. Mine had stewed fish, agedashi tofu, sashimi, crab miso, tempura and chawanmushi. James' had soba with two dipping sauces, chicken rice, agedashi, tempura and chawanmushi. We were so full afterwards that we couldn't eat again for 6 hours. And our mind was so blown that the food was so delicious and cheap. This is a must do!!
All in all, we loved Fukuoka! We would go back again to eat and walk around the cool town for sure! On a side note, I am amazed that I still remember how to read Japanese and speak some phrases. At first I was hard on myself for not being able to say more, but seriously, that was 16 years ago!! The brain is an amazing thing....
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