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.