10 Top Dishes in Kyushu

Kyushu and its capital city of Fukuoka is known for being one of Japan’s top spots for good, honest, and tasty food. The sheer number of local delicacies makes it difficult to choose. People typically try out whatever they fancy from the carts selling Hakata specialties such as pork broth ramen (tonkotsu ramen), grilled chicken skewers (yakitori), hot-pot vegetable and offal stew (motsu-nabe), and dumplings cooked in iron pots (tetsunabe gyoza).

If you’re a seafood lover, get up early and head to the market in the city where you can enjoy a breakfast of fresh fish caught in the Genkai Sea. If that has whetted your appetite, join us as we explore the mouth-watering foodie highlights of Kyushu and Fukuoka.

1. Hakata tonkotsu ramen

Thin noodles in a flavorful pork broth

Good for: Food

Hakata tonkotsu ramen is top of the list when it comes to the local dishes of Kyushu. These straight, very thin noodles are served in cloudy pork broth, and you can normally choose your preferred firmness of noodle. The Kaedama system of having an extra serving of noodles is unique to Hakata tonkotsu ramen.

The ingredients are relatively simple: roasted pork (char siu), green onion, and wood ear mushroom. You can then add toppings such as spicy pickled mustard and green and red pickled ginger. Depending on the restaurant, the flavor varies in richness. Your quest is to find your favorite ramen in Fukuoka, a hotspot of Tonkotsu Ramen.

2. Hakata udon

Tasty, thick noodles served with a delicious fish cake

Good for: Food

Sanuki udon noodles and Kansai-style udon are well-known local udon dishes, but Hakata has its own spin on the genre. Hakata udon noodles are soft and tender, served in a clear soy sauce-flavored soup made with shredded bonito, flying fish, dried small sardine, and kelp. One of Hakata udon’s unique toppings is a circular fried fish cake, known as maruten in Hakata, though fish cakes are also locally called tempura.

Udon noodles with maruten is a popular local dish introduced in a TV series called Solitary Gourmet. Another topping, every bit as popular as maruten, is burdock tempura. This is not fish cake, but rather regular tempura fried with batter. Top with a lot of green onion and enjoy.

3. Fresh seafood cuisine

Fresh from the boat

Good for: Food

In Fukuoka, fresh seafood from Genkai Sea is offered on the same day it’s caught. You really must try the sushi and fresh seafood rice bowls (kaisen don) here. There are even Japanese-style bars (izakaya) run by fishmongers, where you can enjoy excellent sashimi or nigiri sushi.Only in Fukuoka, which is surrounded by sea, can you enjoy ingredients as soon as they arrive from the trawlers. Seafood rice bowls are always a great choice.

There are so many affordable varieties; just look at the lunch menus at any izakaya. Or if you’re looking for a special dinner, you can’t go wrong at a sushi restaurant where chefs prepare the sushi specifically for you.

4. Karashi mentaiko

Marinated spicy cod roe

Good for: Food

One of the most famous specialties of Fukuoka is spicy cod roe (Karashi mentaiko). It’s available all over Japan now, but the authentic taste is still special in this part of Japan. Karashi mentaiko is popularly eaten with rice or as a snack on while drinking. Each shop has its own version and it’s also sold in tubes, making it easy to use with pasta.

Originally a Korean dish, it was launched in 1949. Since then, it has become very popular and is now one of the most famous souvenirs to pick up in Hakata. It’s probably best to buy some on the last day of your trip, but some shops may ship it for you if you ask them.

5. Motsu nabe

Filling and nutritious hot pot

Good for: Food

Tripe hot-pot (motsu nabe) is one of Fukuoka’s soul foods. This dish is a made with beef tripe and a good helping of vegetables such as Chinese chives and cabbage. It’s an energy-boosting dish popular not only in winter but also in summer to prevent fatigue from the heat.

Its fame has now spread all over Japan as a healthy dish that is low-fat, low-calorie, high-protein, and rich in vitamins and collagen, but what better place to try it than here at its birthplace? The base soup flavor varies depending on the restaurant, ranging from soy sauce and soybean paste to kelp stock, but the classic flavor is soy sauce. Garlic and chili pepper are added to deepen the flavor.

6. Mizutaki

Classic Japanese chicken hot pot

Good for: Food

Mizutaki is a Japanese hot-pot in which skin-on, bone-in pieces of local Hakata chicken are simmered in water. This dish has been chosen as one of Japan’s 4 major chicken hot-pot dishes, along with shamo nabe from Tokyo, kashiwa nabe from Kyoto, and kiritanpo nabe from Akita.

It’s popular as a home cooking dish in winter locally, but specialty restaurants offer Mizutaki set meals throughout the year. It was invented by a Japanese man from Nagasaki who went to Hong Kong in the Meiji period and worked for an English family. The great thing about this dish is that aside from the chicken, you can also enjoy a lot of low-calorie and healthy ingredients such as vegetables and mushrooms.

7. Nakasu yakitori

Succulent chicken skewers

Good for: Food, Budget

Skewered chicken (yakitori) is a highly popular local food in Kyushu. A little-known fact is that the consumption of chicken in Fukuoka is the highest of any prefecture in Japan. This seems to have started back in the Edo period when the Kuroda Clan recommended chicken farming as a specialty product for the area.

In Nakasu, the downtown part of Hakata, you can find many skewered chicken restaurants where they grill high-quality local chicken with charcoal. The leading dish here is chicken skin (torikawa) grilled over and over with a delicious sauce. It goes really well with beer. Pork belly is another classic dish at skewered chicken restaurants in Hakata.

8. Tetsunabe gyoza

An easy and delicious snack

Good for: Food

The birthplace of Chinese dumplings cooked in iron skillets (tetsunabe gyoza) is Yahata, Kita-Kyushu. Delicious dumplings that can be eaten quickly were very popular as an energy-boosting dish among the people working at the local ironworks.

The dish became popular because of being served in an iron skillet and retaining its heat. Eventually, it became a classic dish at stalls in Fukuoka. Small and bite-sized, this is an ideal snack for people of all ages. As soon as you take a bite of a hot dumpling cooked on the skillet, the juicy rich flavor will fill your mouth. Make sure you try it with citrus pepper paste (yuzukosho) like the local people do.

9. Gameni

Slow-cooked, celebratory chicken stew

Good for: Food

Gameni is a dish in which root vegetables and chicken are sauteed together in oil and then slowly simmered. This is an essential Fukuoka delicacy at celebrations and happy occasions. Known as chikuzenni in other regions, gameni has become popular throughout Japan thanks to its inclusion in school lunches.

There are several theories that explain the origin of its name, one of which is that it came from the local dialect phrase “gamekurikomu”, which means to collect various things. As its name suggests, gameni is a dish in which various ingredients, such as chicken, burdock, taro, carrot, lotus root, shiitake mushroom, and bamboo shoot, are all simmered together. The flavors are deeply absorbed, so it’s very delicious even when cooled.

10. Umegae mochi

Sweet rice cakes filled with red bean paste

Good for: Food

Many shops sell the famous umegae mochi on the approach to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. This rice cake filled with delicately sweetened mashed red bean paste grilled on a griddle has a signature plum blossom branding from which it gets its name

Originally umegae mochi were brought as comfort food to Sugawara no Michizane, who had been deported to Dazaifu and was leading a difficult life as a criminal. They areusually white, but on the 25th of each month, for Tenjin Day, you’ll find green umegae mochi with yomogi leaves and on the 17th of each month pink umegae mochi made with ancient rice varieties. Freshly grilled umegae mochi are very fragrant and best eaten on the spot.

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