Before I write anything else, the takeaway for today is that I ate three large bowls of ramen (plus beer, gyoza, cha-han) in a span of 4 hours. As I stated during my journey on Facebook, I HAVE NO REGRETS.
Fukuoka is known, as far as I’ve researched, for many things including a few temples, big matsuri (festivals) during the right times, the fukuoka softbank hawks baseball team, and food. Given that last item, I decided to make this stay all about food. If anyone has been to Shinsengumi in LA / Gardena, you will recognize the term “Hakata Ramen.” Hakata is the main area in Fukuoka that I stayed, and at the suggestion of Candice and Temo, I marked down a few places to check out Hakata’s tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen that evening. Fukuoka is also known widely for its yatai, which are collections of sittable food stands that line the streets and riverside at night. They serve ramen, obviously, but also a variety of other items like yakitori, some sushi, oden, and other traditional Japanese foods.
The daytime consisted of checking into the hostel, which was in the middle of a shopping street mall, but very nice. Three beds with its own bathroom/shower. I also checked out Oohori Park and the Fukuoka Castle Ruins during the day, but I’ll detail that after the ramen.
My first stop was Ippudo Tao, which is the same chain that everyone waits for hours for in NYC. Sat down and ordered the dinner set, which was tonkotsu ramen + gyoza + beer. The gyoza was delicious. Small but pan-fried/steamed to a perfect crispness on the bottom. The ramen came and I was not disappointed. The broth was thick and flavorful, the noodles were extra soft (as I had requested) and the chashu was amazingly tender and fatty. I enjoyed the bowl and it was definitely on par with or slightly better than Shinsengumi (better, if you count the chashu).
Next I wanted to try out the yatai stands, so I walked over to Nakasu island along the river and saw the stands lining it, full of people sitting, eating, talking to each other and the chefs and having a good time. One of the stands had an open seat so I sat down and ordered MOAR RAMEN!!! I added a beer too, of course. This ramen was good, but not to the same level as Ippudo’s. The broth was a little lighter and the noodles were normal consistency. But the environment at the yatai made it fun; people were talking and being friendly, meeting each other and conversing with strangers. I talked to some salarymen next to me for a little bit but my extremely limited vocab made it tough. I also stopped at another yatai to eat some yakitori. Mmmmm so good.
After that bowl, I was way too full, so I walked back to the hostel. I talked to my bunkmates for a while, an older Japanese dude and a Vietnamese med student, and then decided it was time to eat another bowl of ramen. I went back into Tenjin and found Ichiran, which is known for its individual stalls and spicy broth. This one was tucked away in an alley, and had the vending-ticket system out front. I bought a ramen ticket, went in, was seated in a booth (see below). Options were in front of me as to broth strength, oil level, noodle hardness (this restaurant is known for its super-hard noodles), garlic level, amount of negi, and spicyness. This is pretty much how they do the ordering at Shinsengumi. I circled my options, pressed the “Ready” button and a few minutes later my bowl arrived and the curtain from the kitchen was lowered so it was just me, the booth, and my ramen.
This bowl was the best of the night. Even though I was on my third bowl of ramen and wasn’t feeling it that much when I entered, I immediately discarded any thoughts of regret. The broth on this bowl was freakin FANTASTIC. Aside from it being spicy, which is something you don’t often get in Japanese food, it had an amazing flavor that was far over Ippudo’s. The thickness and strength of it was perfect. The hard noodles took a little acclimation, since I am definitely a soft noodle lover (twss), but the quality of the noodle made it good either way. The chashu was more like rare steak you get in pho, but that was the only thing I didn’t care for too much in the bowl. Otherwise, I was extremely happy. I should have gone there first, but then I probably would not have liked anywhere else after.
After that bowl it was time to go back as the last trains were coming, so I went back and packed up for the morning and went to sleep.
Oh, and not to forget the sights of Fukuoka, I did visit Oohori Koen, a large lake/park that was previously a moat for the destroyed Fukuoka Castle. It was pretty like most in-city gardens I’ve seen in Japan, and had a small Japanese garden on the side to walk through as well. The Fukuoka Castle Ruins were just that: ruins. There wasn’t much to see aside from stone foundations, some trees growing through that were just starting to show autumn colors, and a few reconstructed towers. I wandered the rest of the area for a while; they have a huge mall called Canal City which reminded me a lot of the Roppongi Hills mall, if you added a waterway on the first floor. I didn’t get any photos of it though since I had left my phone in the room to charge. Prior to the trip I had wanted to visit the Kuju Mountains in Kyushu, but their distance from Fukuoka and only having one day prevented that from happening, so I enjoyed the Hakata area as much as I could.
Alright, so that’s enough about Fukuoka. I’m on the Shinkansen yet again, now off to Hiroshima.
