Kagoshima to Hakata

One of my favorite Japanese foods is tonkatsu, which is breaded port cutlet. Outside Japan, chicken katsu is more popular, however, I prefer the traditional pork version. As I mentioned, Kagoshima is famous for pork, and tonkatsu is a must have while I'm in Kagoshima.

Kurokatsu-tei is located near the Kagoshima central station. Soon after I placed my order, rice, miso soup and shredded cabbage were brought to the table. These can be refilled for free, which is pretty typical at tonkatsu restaurants in Japan.

I ordered assorted fried items: pork roulade, fried meatloaf (menchi katsu), and tonkatsu (filet). The bread crumbs were very coarse, making the texture very airy and crispy. I guess this is a recent trend in Japan. I prefer the tonkatsu to be a bit more thinly breaded, though.

[Added in June, 2020 - Pork Sour Plum Roulade cooking video]

Before leaving Kagoshima for Hakata, I stopped by at an izakaya, called Sumiyaki Hazeru, for more shochu. There is a variety of shochu throughout Kyushu, but Kagoshima is especially famous for shochu. Since I knew I would be having a nice dinner when I was back in Hakata, I just ordered assorted yakitori (skewered chicken), which was pretty good.

But when I saw their shochu menu, I was so excited. There are 3 famous shochu brands in Kagoshima and these three are called 3M: Mori-izoh, Maoh, and Murai!! These shochu are difficult to get and quite expensive in the Tokyo metro area. Here, however, each shot was sold for $6-7. Unfortunately, one of the 3M was out of stock but I got to taste Maoh and Mori-izoh. They are both smooth and clean. I didn't taste the typical sweetness of potato shochu as much.






The dinner in Hakata is at Kawatarou. This restaurant specializes in live squid. It's not uncommon to have a water tank to keep live fish at seafood restaurants. But Kawatarou has a pond inside the restaurant to keep live squid. The squid is caught in front of the customer and prepared as super fresh squid sashimi in a few minutes.

I ordered a course meal and a few a la carte dishes.

First the squid sashimi is served. The flesh of the squid is transparent and the arms are still moving. It may be a bit grotesque for some people but it can not be any fresher than this. I was told to leave the legs so that they can cook it further. The arms can be eaten raw, but are a bit too tough to eat as is.  

As soon as the server took the squid legs back to the kitchen, she brought three a la carte dishes.

Goma saba - Mackerel sashimi tossed in sesame and soy sauce  

Shiokara - raw squid marinated in its own liver. Normally it's packed in a jar but this is freshly made at the restaurant.

Sazae - a shell fish whose scientific name is turbo cornutus. It's commonly grilled but the liver gives a distinctive bitterness. This is sashimi and the liver is removed. It was incredibly crunchy, so it was a bit difficult to bite into. I prefer it grilled despite the bitterness.

After a few more dishes in the course, the fried squid arms and accompanying veggies were brought. The squid legs were very crunchy with the crispy tempura batter.

This is the last dinner in Kyushu. I'm leaving for Okayama tomorrow.

Kirishima (Kagoshima)

I stopped by Miyakonojo on the way to Kirishima in Kagoshima prefecture. Miyakonojo is located in the southwest region of Miyazaki prefecture, adjacent to Kagoshima. Miyakonojo is one of the cities with the highest meat production. Although the most famous meat in Miyazaki is chicken, Miyazaki beef is a well recognized brand of beef in Japan.

One of the best ways to enjoy good wagyu beef is BBQ (Yakiniku). The style of BBQ originated in Korea, but most Japanese BBQ meats are served unseasoned. The meat is accompanied by dipping sauce. Normally yakiniku is served for dinner, so there are not many yakiniku restaurants open for lunch. Luckily, I found a yakiniku restaurant that serves Miyazaki beef for lunch, Ryo-zan.

The entire city was quiet and many restaurants were closed. And this restaurant was empty. So, I didn't expect much. But they served excellent quality meat at a reasonable price. I chose the cheapest course, which is around US$35 per person and the amount of meat was pretty generous by Japanese standards.

Accompanied dipping sauce (ponzu, lemon juice, miso-based BBQ sauce from left to right)

For 2 persons

Miyazaki is famous for mangoes as well. It's a relatively new local specialty, but their high quality mangoes became popular very quickly. I went to a fruit parlor, called Tanaka. Once I went inside, I was really disappointed. Mango was not in season... I should have thought of this, though. Instead, I tried two seasonal fruit parfaits, hyuganatsu and persimmon. Hyuganatsu is a local citrus fruit and somewhat similar to pomelo.

Persimmon parfait

After the desserts, I headed to the onsen (hot spring) inn in Kagoshima. I got off the train at Kirishima jingu station and dropped by a shochu brewery, Kirishima-cho brewery. Initially I chose this brewery just because it's located on the way to the inn. Then, I found that their shochu, called Akarui Noson, had won a double gold medal at the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco in 2018. Shochu is a spirit made from various grains/starches, such as wheat, rice and potato. Kagoshima area is famous for potato shochu. I really liked their purple potato and red potato shochu. Because spirits are distilled, there's no color in the final product, unfortunately.

Their tasting bar was self service. 

The inn I stayed at had an amazing view of Sakura-jima from the balcony. (Sakura-jima is a former island - now a peninsula - with an active volcano). The plume on the top of the mountain is the tail of smoke that is constantly released from the volcano.

Because I chose the inn for the beautiful outside onsen (hot spring) and the location (for the view of Sakura-jima), I didn't have a high expectation for the food. However, it was really good.

When I was seated, a big appetizer plate with various items welcomed me.

Kagoshima is famous for their Kuro buta (literally means black pork). Kuro buta is starting to become a well-known brand of pork outside of Japan as well. It originated with Berkshire pork from the UK and was brought to Japan in the late 1800's. The dinner included pork shabu shabu. The silver pot is filled with a rich broth, so it didn't need any dipping sauce. Very good.

BBQ with hot stone

A la carte - braised pork with its cartridge

Fresh local fish sashimi

Matsutake (very fragrant Japanese mushroom) dobin-mushi. Matsutake is cooked with broth and served in the tea pot.

Fried fish

Braised vegetables topped with egg & potato puree

Soba (buckwheat) noodle

Dessert fruits

Not only the quality of the food but also the size of the meal was amazing. I was really stuffed...

Oita to Miyazaki

Most tourists come to Oita prefecture for onsen (hot spring). Not me. Oita is all about "Saba", which is mackerel. Saba is one of my favorite fish. Saba has a "fishy-ness" similar to that of sardines. But it's packed with good fish oil and umami.

The saba served at most restaurants is marinated in vinegar because saba deteriorates rather quickly. Vinegar helps to slow down the deterioration process with its acidity. Moreover, saba caries a parasite called Anisakis, which lives near organs. As soon as the fish dies, the parasites start moving into the flesh. In order to eat truly fresh saba sashimi, it has to be prepared from live fish.

There's a famous port in Oita that catches a famous saba, called "Seki Saba." The fast tide in the area where Seki saba is caught makes the flesh firmer. It is flavorful because of the plentiful plankton in the water.

The seki saba that I had was at Umibozu-Yochan, which is walking distance from Oita station. The fish was very firm so I knew it was very fresh. However, it was a bit too lean and not very fatty. Some sashimi (raw) fish is aged for a few days to create more umami (the protein is broken down by it's own enzymes into umami-amino acid). However, that technique is not an option for saba because the saba deteriorates quickly and the texture will turn mushy. I guess that's the tradeoff for fresh saba sashimi.

I also had another saba dish, called goma saba. This is actually a local dish in another prefecture, Fukuoka. It's a bit like poke. Saba sashimi is tossed in a sweet & salty soy based sauce.

This is the specialty of Oita, toriten. It's a chichen tempura. I already had this in Hakata but I had to try it again in Oita. I like karaage (Japanese fried chicken) better because the chicken is more well seasoned.

After the early saba dinner in Oita, I headed to Miyazaki. I arrived late, so I chose an izakaya (Japanese style tapas bar) adjacent to Miyazaki station, Rakui. I was welcomed with Otohshi (amuse bouche). There's a fee for otohshi, but this is another way to add a service fee since there's no tipping in Japan. These are very fancy presentations of otohshi, though.

I started from a fried local dish, mehikari. It's about the size of smelt. It's usually fried because then the whole fish can be eaten (the heads are removed).

This is "the" dish to have in Miyazaki. Although Miyazaki has a long coastline and can catch fresh seafood easily, the most popular ingredient in Miyazaki is chicken. Unlike other local dishes in various prefectures in Kyushu, this dish is relatively new. Fried chicken is soaked in sweet & sour soy-based sauce and served with tartar sauce. This can be eaten in any part of Japan nowadays but it originated in Miyazaki.

Another local chicken dish is chicken sumibi-yaki. Chicken thigh meat is grilled over charcoal. It's pretty well charred. Some restaurants serve pretty much blackened chicken. 

The chicken in Miyazaki was pretty tough but flavorful. Although wagyu beef is famous for its almost melting texture, Japanese interpret the rubbery/crunchy texture of some foods as a positive experience. It's always interesting to find that there's no universal standard for tasty foods.

Nagasaki to Hakata

Nagasaki was the sole port city to Europe from the 16th to 19th centuries. Also, China and Korea had a big influence on the city because of geographical proximity. As a result, Nagasaki has a very unique mixed culture.

One of the most famous Chinese-Japanese fusion dishes in Nagasaki is Chanpon, which is similar to ramen. The broth is made from chicken and pork and is very creamy like tonkotsu broth. The toppings are unique with lots of mixed veggies, shrimp and meats (mostly pork). The noodles are somewhere between ramen and udon.

I went to a chanpon restaurant, called Soshuurin in the Chinatown area. There are three major Chinatowns in Japan and Nagasaki is one of them (the others are in Yokohama and Kobe).

Another example of a famous fusion food in Nagasake is kasutera, a cake brought by the Portuguese. Shooken is one of the well known kasutera makers in Nagasaki. It was founded in 1681. There are many stores within Nagasaki but this is the original location. This store is adjacent to a cafe that is nicely decorated with stained-glass lighting. The Portuguese brought more than kasutera to Nagasaki.

Kasutera is a very fluffy and moist cake baked in a loaf. It's pretty sweet as far as Japanese sweets go.

I came back to Hakata in the evening. Among the many local specialties in Hakata, what I chose for the dinner was motsunabe, a hot pot with offal (organ meats). I'm not a big fan of organ meats, but I have wanted to try this hot pot for long time. This restaurant, Rakutenti, is within walking distance from Hakata station. It was very crowded.

Most motsunabe is made with "Motsu", which is offal, cabbage and chive. The broth is the one thing that makes this restaurant stand out. Their broth was very rich and garlicky with a hint of sweetness. Like most hotpot served in Japan, the leftover broth is used to cook noodles and is eaten as "Shime" which means closing meal.

The motsu was surprisingly clean tasting and I didn't find any gaminess. However, because of the richness (fat from the offal), I found that this is not an "everyday" meal. 

Himeji to Hakata

Japan consists of 4 major islands and Kyushu is the southwestern one. Kyu-shu literary means "9 states" in Japanese. It used to consist of 9 states, but there are actually only 7 prefectures now. Each of these 7 prefectures has a distinctively unique food culture, so that I decided to mostly focus this visit on Kyushu.

Starting at the end of the year, Japan enters its biggest holiday season. It's January 3rd today and it's not the end of the holiday season, so I wasn't expecting large crowds on the bullet trains (Shinkansen). Yet the train I was on was almost full. I left Tokyo in the morning and stopped by Himeji, Hyogo to see Himeji castle. On the way back to the train, I headed to Yamagi, a very cozy anago restaurant. Anago is a salt water eel and it can be eaten in many areas of Japan. Himeji is one of them. The preparation is pretty much the same as unagi, fresh water eel. But it seems anago is seasoned more lightly than unagi is.

This is the standard anago bowl, which is steamed. Topped with wasabi.

Anago three ways, steamed, grilled and braised. The accompanying soup can be used to make a quick rice porridge/soup at the end of the meal with the last small portion of rice and anago.

Then, I hopped on another shinkansen to the gate city of Kyushu, Hakata. It's the largest city in Kyushu and it is one of the foodiest cities in Japan. In this trip, Hakata is going be a hub point, so I will come back here a couple more times.

The first restaurant in Hakata is Hirao, a local chain tempura eatery. Like many ramen restaurants in Japan, you need to buy tickets from the ticketing machine at the front door. You can choose one of the set menus or order a la carte. The cooks bring the tempura to each seat as soon as it's fried, piece by piece. The most important quality for tempura is the crispness of the batter. If it's fried long enough, it becomes crispy and stays crispy for long time. However, the items inside the batter are likely to be overcooked. Crispy batter and soft and moist items inside make a good tempura. But the excess moisture inside the batter makes the batter soggy pretty quickly. Because Hirao serves tempura immediately after it's fried, it can be brought to the customers in its ideal state.

The tempura set comes with rice, miso soup and tentsuyu (dipping sauce). The cook leaves the super fresh tempura on the metal tray.

After the meal, I found a local craft brewery, Fukuoka Craft Brewery. Their beers were pretty good but one of the best I had there was one of the guest beers from Ushitra Brewery, called Ashura Triple IPA. Although it is a triple IPA, it didn't taste as sweet as other triple IPAs that I've had before. It was very hoppy and refreshing.

There are so many other good foods in Hakata. I'm so glad that I'll have more opportunities to eat here.