I only managed to get about 2 hours of sleep last night due to jet lag. I usually have nothing hard scheduled for the first day of a trip, we’ll stay close to where our hotel/airbnb/hostel is and wander around to find things to eat, take a nap, and then eat some more. Today was no exception 🙂
Headed out of the hotel in the morning to find some breakfast at one of the 5 convenience stores within a block radius. It’s strange how quiet and clean the streets are here. Managed to get some rice balls and milk tea at 7-11 then Joanna wanted to get a fried potato croquette at a Lawsons around the corner too because she loves them so much. This one had some beef in the middle.
The Hakata train station and shopping mall was nearby our hotel so we decided to wander around to burn off the breakfast to get ready for lunch. I found out on facebook that someone I met while traveling about 10 years ago just came through Fukuoka last month. She posted her favorite tonkotsu ramen places that she recommended which I noted for reference in case we were looking for another ramen place. Coincidentally while reading her post, we found a ramen restaurant in the mall that was amassing a line at 10:30 before they opened at 11, which turns out it was her favorite one that she had during her whole trip.
We decided that the 30 min wait for the restaurant to open would probably be shorter than if we were to come back later to wait for a table. The decision ended up being the right one as the line got so long and wrapped around the corner and down the hall by the time it was time to open.
I was blown away with how good this Shin Shin tonkotsu ramen was and it cost less than $7! The slices of pork were really tender and flavorful, noodles were thin and chewy, broth was creamy but not fatty. This easily made it on my top 3 best bowls of ramen I’ve ever had. The other two were a random place we happened on in Shibuya in 2016 called Shiomaru Base which isn’t around anymore and Torisoba Zagin Niboshi in Hong Kong last November 2022. I guess the original Torisoba location is in Osaka so we may consider going to that location for another bowl of amazingness.
The rest of the day was just eating random things that we happened on and checking out shops in the mall. It turns out the Pokemon center was in the same mall and it was swarmed with people. I managed to get a Charmander plushie as I wasn’t able to find one the last two times I came to Japan. Now I have all 3 original starter Pokemon! Line took 40 minutes to pay, Nintendo is just printing money with this franchise.
We got some more snacks but one of the things that really stood out was this strawberry ice cream that I got. The strawberry flavor really comes through, very fresh and doesn’t taste artificial. Also Japanese strawberries are just next level, not to mention the dairy here doesn’t mess us up like it does at home. I realized that we’re currently at the tail end of the strawberry season here so I’m going to find a strawberry farm to visit in one of the cities we’ll be visiting in the next 2 weeks.
I kind of love that a lot of restaurants operate via a ticket machine so you don’t have to really talk to anyone. Pick what you want, put the money in the machine, hand the ticket to the person, eat your delicious food.
Decided to play nap roulette and not set an alarm because we’re on vacation. Woke up 4 hours later at 10:30pm and hungry. Thankfully it’s Saturday night and there are plenty of late night places to eat. Fukuoka is known for their street food stalls called yatai. There were a bunch lining the Naka river about 15 min walk from our hotel so we decided to head over and see what the options were.
Most of the stalls that were still open served more or less the same thing: Mentaiko (Fukuoka’s specialty cod roe), gyoza, tonkotsu ramen, yakitori. We chose one that had the tastiest options and an English menu.
The food was just ok, not amazing, but we were glad to try out the local specialties. We ordered Oden (konjac, fried tofu, fish cake) simmered in a fish broth, plum wine with soda water, grilled cod roe, fried tonkotsu noodles, and grilled free range chicken with cabbage.
I don’t think I have a full feeling of the city yet, but so far it’s pretty chill. Kind of like Sapporo where it’s a modern city but not as busy or population dense as Tokyo or Osaka. Looking forward to more good things to eat tomorrow.
