1) NIKU NIKU UDON

Service: very friendly and easy-going but attentive
Equipment: Old but very clean. Basic but clean washroom
Prices: reasonable
Strong points: Great Japanese traditional comfort cuisine

Niku Niku Udon in Kami Kawabata, Fukuoka City, is actually one of seven similar restaurants in Fukuoka City (also one restaurant each in Hokkaido, Saga Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture and Indonesia!) serving the same menu but left to the responsibility of a chef with his own name card for visitors.
Chef Seiji Nonaka/野中誠二さん is the man of the house and pays of his own person when welcoming guests.
This is what I would call a typical Japanese comfort food restaurant which you can imagine is very busy at lunch and even busier at nights as the greater majority of the customers are local.
There is a lot of variety on the menu and plenty to drink, too, but let me at least introduce to the food we had the pleasure to savor that day!

Niku Niku Udon with gobo/burdock tempura!
The soup (they call it “black Soup” and it is strongly flavored with ginger!) contains udon, that is wheat flour noodles, long-simmered beef tendons and some really delicious burdock root tempura. You can rectify the heat/piquancy yourself or eat it as it is, that is mild but solid taste.
As for the udon, these have come from Ogura in Kita Kyushu for more than 40 years!

Niku Niku Soba, with the same soup and long-simmered beef tendons as above, but with buckwheat noodles!

I actually ordered the Niku Niku Soba as a Teishoku/full meal with steamed rice and karaage/deep-fried chicken.
Note that Fukuoka Prefecture and City are known all over Japan for their chicken and especially karaage!

A must for lunch for hungry people looking for true Japanese cuisine!

NIKU NIKU UDON/肉肉うどん

Chef: Mr. Seiji Nonaka/野中誠二さん
Fukuoka City, Hakata Ku, Kami Kawabata, 5-106
Tel.: 092-282-0966
Opening hours: 11:00~24:00
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)
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2) Sashimi & Tempura at Seimonbarai!

Service: very friendly and easy-going but attentive
Equipment: Very clean overall. Excellent washroom
Prices: reasonable to slightly expensive
Strong points: Upper class izakaya. Great seafood. Good drinks menu

Fukuoka, being a major harbor in the north of Kyushu Island it benefits from a plethora of fish and seafood than you can enjoy fresh in many downtown upper class izakaya.
One such place is Seimonbarai/せいもん払い in Kawabata Cho, an area replete with such establishments.

Sashimi plate for one person!

We hda the occasion to savor the food there for a simple and quick but very enjoyable dinner!
We concentrated on two of their specialties, namely sashimi and tempura!

Kampachi/環八/Amberjack, Hotate/帆立/scallop, Ama ebi/甘海老/Sweet and Fugu no Kawa/河豚の皮/Globe fish (Puffer) skin!

Chutoro Maguro,/中トロ鮪/Semi-fat Tuna, Akagai/赤貝/Bloody Clam, Kaibashira/貝柱/Small scallops and Chiisai Awabi/小さい鮑/Small Abalone!

The small abalone was alive and “dancing” under the lemon juice!

Great tempura assortment including Satsuma Imo/薩摩芋/Sweet Potato, Ninjin/人参/Carrot, Shishito/獅子唐/Shishito Peppers, Kabocha/南瓜/Kabocha Pumpkin, Nasu/茄子/Aubergine/Eggplant, Kisu/鱚/Sillago, and Kuruma Ebi/車海老/Large Prawn!

To be enjoyed with wine, sake or shochu!

SEIMONBARAI/せいもん払い

812-0026 Fukuoka City, Hakata Ku, Kami Kawabata Cho, 5-107
Tel.: 092-291-2055
Opening hours: 17:30~23:00
Closed on Sundays
Credit cards OK
Reservations highly advisable!
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3) Sushi at Yoshida Fishmonger in Fukuoka City!

Service: very friendly if a bit shy
Equipment: old but clean overall. basic bu clean washroom
Prices: reasonable
Strong points: Traditional Japanese sushi inside fish monger’s shop

One interesting destination in Fukuoka City is a market called Yanagibashi Rengo Ichiba/Yanagi Bridge Cooperative Market near Yanagi Bridge in Chuo Ku.
This is real local and traditional, almost a time-slip into japan of yore.
Go there for lunch.
Yoshida Fishmonger (吉田鮮魚店) is a small two storey-shop but easy to find thanks to the queue of local and foreign customers who are waiting to climb the stairs to the second floor where dishes orderd on the first floor can be enjoyed
The food is cheap and authentic.
Just forget the old setting and try to imagine yourself in a different era!

The prices are really good!
No wonder there were so many Chinese and Taiwanese customers!
The above is a mixed raw fish donburi!

Mentaiko/spicy cod roe and deep-fried fugu/glovbe fish, both Fukuoka City specialties!

The sushi set was really reasonable: 1340 yen for 10 nigiri!

When you think it included urchin and salmon roe, it would be difficult to imagine such prices in Tokyo or Kyoto, or even in Osaka!

And the local squid/ika was top-class!

Worth looking for!
Great value and authentic!

YOSHIDA FISH MARKET

〒810-0003 Fukuoka City, Chuo Ku, Haruyoshi 1-1-11 (inside Yanagi Bridge Market (Yanagibashi Rengou Ichiba)
Tel.: 092-781-5013 , 092-761-3212
opening hours: 06:00~18:00
Closed on Sundays and national holidays
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