Delights of Kyushu (1): Lunch at Chikae Honpo (稚加榮本舗), Fukuoka

My partner and I are currently in the Kyushu region of Japan for a holiday, and what better place to start our foodie explorations than in the regional capital of Fukuoka! Home to the famous Yanagibashi Market (Kyushu's answer to Tokyo's Tsukiji Market), this city offers a plethora of gastronomic delights at prices significantly lower than in bigger cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto.

For our first lunch after touching down in Fukuoka, we headed to Chikae Honpo 稚加榮本舗 in the city centre, a stone's throw from the Akasaka 赤坂 subway station. Not being used to the complicated network of narrow streets we got a little lost, but eventually found our way with the help of a kind policeman.

Chikae is a seafood specialist and highly regarded producer of one of Fukuoka's most well-known culinary exports, mentaiko 明太子 (seasoned cod roe). The main shop building features both a mentaiko boutique and a large restaurant. By night, the restaurant is a posh ryotei, but for lunch Chikae offers a prix-fixe menu at only 1,360 yen (including taxes). Limited to 500 portions per day, 7 days a week from 11 am, with no reservations allowed, we saw for ourselves upon arrival how popular this was with both locals and tourists alike. It took about 30 minutes of standing in the queue before we were admitted.

A special feature of this restaurant is sitting around these large tanks filled with all kinds of fresh live seafood, which customers can pick out and have cooked in any way they wish. Mostly not included in a budget set lunch of course, but still incredibly enticing to see! From where we were sitting, we could also see and hear the chefs in the semi-open kitchen. The atmosphere was very busy and lively, and the main dining space was mostly filled with families and local workers on their lunch break, quite different from the typical image one has in mind of luxury restaurants in Japan.

And voilà, our lunch set for the day, with grainy spicy mentaiko sauce in a tube, free to use as you like it. The intense umami and fishy aroma (akin to salted fish) can be an acquired taste, but it is really delicious especially as a topping for plain rice! I could never get enough of it!

Sashimi of maguro (tuna), tai (bream) and kanpachi (yellowtail). These thick-cut pieces with a lean and firm texture were lovely. The dark-red tuna loin, known as akami in Japan, was particularly memorable for its deep and fresh taste. The wasabi with its somewhat fibrous texture and clean taste (signs of being freshly grated) was better than most I've tried in foreign restaurants, but still rather piercingly spicy; some horseradish or cheaper spicy substitute had probably been mixed in, as most restaurants do nowadays. To be fair, I know for a fact that pure fresh wasabi is extremely expensive and I wasn't expecting it in a relatively cheap lunch.

Tempura of seafood (whiting & prawn) and vegetables (okra & sweet potato). This was pure comfort food. Despite deep-frying this dish remained very light, and the sheer freshness and natural textures of the seafood and vegetables were allowed to shine through the thin crispy batter.

Agedashi tofu. This typical Japanese side dish was alright I suppose but not particularly remarkable; I don't think I'll ever understand the point of frying something in batter then soaking it in sauce so that the batter becomes all soggy. The soft silky tofu was great though.

Simmered vegetables (daikon, eggplant, mange tout, carrot, shiitake mushroom) and beancurd skin in a light broth. This was wholesome and delicious - how do the Japanese grow such sweet and juicy vegetables?! The beancurd skin (like the Singaporean tau kwa) was also very nice with its soft and spongy texture.

Chawanmushi with flavoured crab sticks and chunks of other seafood. This savoury egg custard was very light and smooth, and the seafood generously scattered within imparted both deeper flavours and a pleasant succulent bite in each spoonful.

Crab miso soup. This was probably the most tasty and luxurious miso soup I've ever had till now; the intense umami of miso highlighted the natural sweetness of the crab simmered within the soup. There was probably about half a small crab in that bowl, and I enjoyed working my way through the shells and sucking out every last bit of that succulent flesh. Not the easiest to eat, but well worth the effort!

One last picture of those impressive tanks.

With that, we finished, paid up and continued with our sightseeing plans. This lunch took just under an hour. Service here is brisk at lunchtime, like in a typical Chinese restaurant (i.e. not really a place in which to linger) - not particularly personal or warm, but if you're just looking for something quick, good and reasonably priced, this will certainly meet your expectations. At current exchange rates, lunch in Japan doesn't get much better value-for-money than this. Highly recommended, but do come early to avoid the queues!