LocalEatsJapan

This is a fun one if you are wanting to get some drinks in a lively environment right in the centre of Tenjin Fukuoka.

Tenjin has a ton of shops and restaurants, and it also gets very lively at night. Around this area there are quite a few izakaya (japanese bar/restaraunt), but a lot of the ones I found were generic chain places you could find anywhere else in Japan. 

I would have been fine with that, but A they were packed with people, and B, after I found “majiya” I knew it would be a good place to grab a drink. 

Now, based on what I just said here I might sound a bit like a hypocrite, but majiya does not serve food from Fukuoka, instead, they are completely Okinawan themed, from the food all the way to the atmosphere of the place as well. 

But hey, I figured even if it wasn’t serving some local specialties, it was still a “local” restaurant, so after waiting around an hour and wandering around I went in. 

Keep in mind that depending on the day you go it can get super busy (especially the weekends) and the staff do lack a bit of attentiveness to those that enter in the door because they are so busy with other things, so the best you can do is catch their attention and have them take your name down. From here they will give you an estimated time to show back up at, but I would show up a bit before they tell you in the chance they think you might be a no show/seats open up early. 

As for the vibe, it is a wide area with seating all over the place – tables, bar seating, and it extends to the second floor. 

Izakaya’s, or places where people drink in Japan can be like a whole different country in the sense that people let go of the societal constraints and pressure they have on them. This is why it is much easier to make Japanese friends drinking than it may be elsewhere. 

Regardless of this however, this izakaya had exactly that. People drinking, eating, and enjoying themselves conversing with their friends etc. 

The drinks were standard, beer, high-ball, and the list goes on, but one thing that was cool was that they had a lot of fruit-themed drinks, I guess to stick to the Okinawan vibe. 

As for the food though, this is where I was quite impressed. 

A lot of Izakaya’s in Japan (especially cheap ones) tend to have the same things. French fries, maybe some yakitori, etc. and while this was the same here, they also had a lot of traditional Okinawan dishes like bitter melon pork stir-fry for example.

I thought it was cool to be able to have these at a cheap price without having to visit Okinawa (though I highly recommend you do if you have the chance). 

Other than that, this place was ridiculously cheap, almost to the point where I question if they aren’t in a minus for their sales constantly. 

For example, if you go with an all-you-can-drink option, you can have 2 hours of it for only 1078 yen. That is like 9 dollars Canadian and even less American. Or, if you just want to order each drink individually, for those of you beer drinkers, the first hour after going into the restaurant you can get a glass of beer for only 110 yen (like 1 dollar) as many times as you want. It seems too good to be true, but it actually is, and there happen to be a lot of places like this in Japan.

While this wasn’t the best food I have ever had in Japan, actually far from it, it was solid, and a good place to hang out off the beat and track a little bit. If you are in a pinch on where to go around this area I would highly recommend it!

Thanks for reading – if you’d like to support and follow along: 

More about me

Different types of ordering systems in Japan explained

Purchasing an onigiri to keep me fuelled throughout my journey 🍙

Probably one of my favorite all time dishes in Japan, or at least in the top 10 for sure. 

Motsu Nabe is probably the 2nd most recognizable dish in Fukuoka besides Tonkotsu Ramen, and it 100% exceeded the hype. 

Nabe is essentially Japanese hotpot, and motsunabe specifically is a soy sauce or miso soup base packed with beef or pork intestines, tofu, cabbage, and topped with chives that slowly get submerged into the soup. 

Motsu Nabe Ichifuji is I think the most famous for this dish, though there are quite a few that one may consider more “local” but in terms of access and convenience this was the one I went with in the end. 

Aside from it being close to the biggest station in Fukuoka (Hakata), they have a really easy reservation system you can book on their website (which they also have in English). 

Because of this, I was able to book it in advance and secure one of their many course menus which I personally think is the best option if you want to try a bunch of their different dishes (just be warned that it is a lot of food and the motsunabe comes out last). 

If you don’t care about waiting, then the restaurant has 3 floors and seating for 140 people, so there is a chance you might be able to get in and then just order off of the menu normally too. 

For the course, I was with another person so we were able to share the soup, but with one person it might not be possible (unless you eat a ton, but even then I would tread on the passive side here). 

The course I recall going with was the Taka course which has 7 dishes consisting of sashimi, a stew of some sort (served in a little bowl), basashi (horse meat sashimi), the motsunabe, and a dessert. 

So yeah, you don’t have to worry about not getting enough food, nor about the quality of it, and this is all for only 4500 yen, so I feel it is an incredible deal. 

The seafood was great, and so was the horse sashimi, which I know some of you may be thinking “there’s no way I’m eating that”, but trust me don’t knock it until you try it, because if I had the option to, I would be ordering it over most seafood sashimi. 

There is no off taste to it, and it is very meaty and tender, maybe a little chewy? I don’t know how to describe it, but I highly recommend you try it. 

Then, it was time for the main event, the motsunabe, and wow, I was absolutely blown away. 

Usually when I go to different prefectures in Japan I almost always try the dishes they are most famous for, but sometimes they are just ok. 

But this was different, the broth was creamy, the intestines were tender and packed with umami, and the vegetables and tofu soaked up the soup excellently. This was actually the dish that got me hooked on nabe and led me to buying my own hotplate in Japan too. 

But by far, I just cannot forget the soup. It was like nothing I had ever had before, and if I could drink it everyday I would.

Then, when I had finished all the ingredients in it thinking I would have to waste the rest of the soup, the staff brought over these thick udon-like noodles as a part of the course. I couldn’t have been happier at that moment. 

My stomach on the other hand felt like it was going to explode, but I knew this wasn’t going to be a dish I would be able to have very often going forward, so I enjoyed every last bite. 

My recommendation for finding a place is look on the Japanese food website “tabelog” and look for places that are a 3.5 rating or higher, because in the eyes of the Japanese, there is no perfect 5 restaurant, so even the best ones in Japan will be around a 4 ish a lot of the time. 

If you come to Fukuoka then you must have this dish. But I do warn you, because if you have it at the beginning of your trip you may be disappointed with the rest of the food you have, but if you have it at the end, you will likely regret your decision not having it earlier, so pick your poison. 

Oh, and there are shops that make it across Japan including Tokyo as well, but Fukuoka definitely is on a different level. 

Thanks for reading – if you’d like to support and follow along: 

More about me

Different types of ordering systems in Japan explained

Purchasing an onigiri to keep me fuelled throughout my journey 🍙