Must-try foods in Fukuoka! 6 traditional, long-established and trending new foods

"Motsuko" is a long-established restaurant that serves mizutaki-style motsunabe (offal hotpot) with a special vinegar and soy sauce.

A three-minute walk from Gofukumachi Station, one street down, you'll find a large red lantern. This is Motsuko, a long-established restaurant founded in 1978 that serves mizutaki-style motsunabe (offal hotpot) seasoned with a special vinegar and soy sauce.

The stately interior of the restaurant is spacious and can seat 140 people, and it's great that it can be used for a variety of occasions, with counter seats, table seats, and tatami rooms available.

The "Motsunabe" was a single portion (1,100 yen *the photo shows a two-portion portion), and we added the recommended "Mizu Gyoza (10 bite-sized pieces)" (460 yen) as a topping.

The ingredients are four kinds of fresh domestic beef offal (small intestine, omasum, red omasum, and heart), cabbage, and chives, a classic lineup. In pursuit of a light flavor, garlic is not used. The style of simmering the dish with gyoza skin on top is also said to have originated at this restaurant.

Another feature of this restaurant is that the motsunabe, cooked in chicken broth, is served with a special vinegar and soy sauce. Because the offal is fresh, you can enjoy the natural flavor of the ingredients.

The vinegar soy sauce has a refreshing sourness that really brings out the flavor of the tripe! The cooked vegetables are sweet and full of flavor. The stewed gyoza skins are thick and delicious. I was thrilled with this new kind of tripe hotpot, something I'd never tried before.

The boiled dumplings added as a topping are chewy and the delicious meat flavor spreads throughout your mouth.

To finish off the meal, we ordered champon noodles. They were simmered until all the remaining soup was gone, and finished off with a generous amount of white sesame seeds!

The delicious flavors of the meat and vegetables are concentrated in this exquisite champon noodle, which has a fragrant white sesame flavor. You can enjoy the flavorful soup to the last drop.

Why not try this unique, traditional motsunabe, which is a little different from the authentic Hakata motsunabe?

Motsukou (Happiness of Motsukou)

Maruhide Fresh Fish Shop Yoshizuka Branch: Enjoy the fresh fish procured that day to your heart's content

Maruhide Fresh Fish Shop Yoshizuka Branch is a seafood bar that opened in November 2021, a 3-minute walk from Yoshizuka Station. It is a specialty bar where you can taste fresh fish delivered from the market and fishermen every morning.

As soon as you enter the store, you'll find a fish tank. You can enjoy fresh, live squid sashimi!

The restaurant has two floors, with a counter on the first floor where you can enjoy a view of the fish ponds, and private rooms on the second floor with sunken kotatsu tables where you can relax, giving you a sense of privacy.

First up is the "Assorted Obanzai 3-piece Set" (759 yen including tax). This is a comforting and tasty obanzai set made with seasonal ingredients such as lightly pickled Chinese cabbage and yellow yuzu, and gluten and komatsuna.

The "Luxury Assortment" (2 servings, 1,740 yen) is a luxurious assortment that includes bluefin tuna and sea urchin, as its name suggests. You can also enjoy it with condiments such as chive soy sauce, ponzu sauce, sashimi soy sauce, and Guérande salt from France to suit your taste.

The colorful and beautiful presentation is also appealing. It is filled with the freshest fish of the day, including sablefish, trout, red sea bream, amberjack, bonito, Spanish mackerel, and conger eel with pickled plum. It also contains sea urchin, bluefin tuna, and salmon roe, making it a real treasure chest!

The popular takeaway "Homemade Tsukune" (330 yen each) comes in two varieties, salt and sauce. The meat is plump and juicy, and the shiso leaves are kneaded into it, giving it a rich flavor. The salt version is light, while the sauce is slightly sweet, making both delicious.

The hearty "Maruhide Special Mentaiko Chicken Nanban" (759 yen) is topped with plenty of homemade tartar sauce and a generous amount of mentaiko, typical of Hakata.

The final dish is the limited-edition "Seafood Broth Ramen" (539 yen). The thin noodles are mixed well with the clear soup made with a generous amount of seafood broth. The delicious flavor of the broth will seep into your body...!

This is a very convenient bar where you can enjoy fresh seafood and the specialty meatballs at reasonable prices. The homey atmosphere makes it a great place to drop in by yourself or have fun with friends.

Maruhide Fresh Fish Shop Yoshizuka Branch