After watching the impressive laser light fountain show at Canal City Hakata, we decided to look for food within the huge shopping mall itself.
There were a few options, and 平四郎 キャナルシティ店 廻転寿司 Heishirou conveyor belt sushi restaurant looked rather popular. Price ranged from ¥100 to ¥500 per plate (excluding tax), and we spent ¥3024 in total for 8 plates of sushi.
We gotta say that the fish were fresh, but a pity about the sushi rice…
Contact (廻転寿司平四郎 キャナルシティ店):
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We were strolling along the shopping street when a half price 焼餃子 Pan-fried Gyoza and Beer advertisement caught our attention 😛
We had the 焼餃子 Pan-fried Gyoza (half price at ¥125 for 7 pieces), as well as the 水餃子 Steamed Gyoza (¥300 for 6). Boy, we were glad that we made this pit stop! The gyozas were very juicy and the skin was rather thin. We really enjoyed this snack food 😀
Contact (Outlet-川端店):
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After a long train ride from Kumamoto to Hakata, and dropping our luggage at our hotel, we went in search for lunch.
We still recalled the very nice もつ鍋 Motsu Nabe which we had tried at a yatai stall in Fukuoka years ago. So when we saw this restaurant specialising in Motsu Nabe, we went in without hesitation.
We ordered the Motsu Nabe Set Meal for 2 pax (¥2560), where we could opt for either rice or Champon noodles. The set also included sides such as Hakata Spicy Cod Roe (raw), Okyuto (seaweed jelly), and pickles (citron radish).
We enjoyed the side dishes, but the Motsu Nabe was quite a disappointment with very little offals… There was probably much more tofu than anything else 😦 The soup and noodles were not bad though.
Note: Menu was available in English, Korean, and Chinese, so it was fairly easy to order.
Contact:
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After a day of train-riding, and after dropping our luggage at our hotel, we went in search for dinner. Google suggested a popular Kumamoto ramen restaurant near 熊本駅 Kumamoto Station, so off we went looking for 黑亭 Kokutei in the light drizzle.
Though it was dinner time, there wasn’t much of a queue, and we got into the restaurant after about 10 minutes of waiting. While waiting, there was an English menu available for us to browse.
We shared a Ramen Set (¥1290) consisting of 玉子入りラーメン (Tamago Iri Ramen) Ramen with Egg, 豚そぼろ丼 (Buta Soboro Don) Rice Bowl with Pork and Vegetables, and 特製ギョーザ Special Gyoza. We thought the food was pretty decent 🙂
Note that there are 2 outlets, and you can check its website for the locations.
熊本ラーメン黒亭本店 Kokutei Main Store:
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We actually attempted to walk in for lunch the previous day, but it was fully booked for lunch and dinner. Lunch today was fully booked too, so we were pretty glad that we managed to secure seats for tonight. We had already pre-ordered the 霧島コース Kirishima Course dinner set (¥14742 for 2 sets) at the point of booking, so we were led to our seats very promptly as we waited for the spread.
While we were waiting for the food to arrive, we were presented with both English and Chinese instructions on how to enjoy the 黒豚しゃぶしゃぶ Kurobuta Shabu Shabu. We gotta say, the Chinese instructions were much more comprehensive 😛
The food, from the appetisers, to the different cuts of meat, to the noodles and dessert, were simply awesome! If you could only splurge on one meal in Kagoshima, this would definitely be a good option 🙂
あぢもり Adimori (or Ajimori):
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We were exploring the area near our hotel after the bus tour, and it was rather late by the time our stomachs called out to us 😮
We had wandered to 天文館公園 Tenmonkan Park, and Google search showed us that there was an 居酒屋 Izakaya just opposite us! Despite being so near, it took us a little while to find the entrance 😛
We had to remove our shoes upon entering, and were pretty lucky to get the last table. Once we settled down, we were presented with a 100% Japanese menu without pictures or food models, haha!
We poured over the menu and had a fun time trying to decipher some of the items with our limited vocabulary. The friendly staff also tried his best to explain what some of the items were, and gave us some recommendations.
We were just roaming along the streets after the bus tours, and being way past lunch time, we just randomly popped into a building that looked like there might have some food options.
寿庵 Moze attracted us over with the yummy-looking pork. After all, one should always check out 黒豚 Kurobuta while in 鹿児島 Kagoshima 😀
We were surprised to be led to a private room 😮 Having browsed the menu outside the restaurant earlier, we quickly settled for the 黒豚しゃぶしゃぶランチ Kurobuta Shabu Shabu Lunch Set (¥2484) and 鹿児島グルメMOZEランチ Kagoshima Gourmet Lunch Set (¥1944). We did not have to wait too long in the cosy room before our food arrived.
It seemed rather difficult to find a breakfast place near our hotel in 天文館 Tenmonkan area early in the morning, so we just randomly went into a place that was opened.
This Izakaya was either just opened, or had yet to close 😛 because the chefs looked “just-woken-up”.
We were the only customers, and opted to seat at the counter area to share a 黒豚キムチチーズ お好み焼き Kurobuta Kimchi Cheese Okonomiyaki (¥1200), which turned out to be really literal when the description mentioned “black (pork)”.
As the “chef” was rather busy with other stuff as well, (and at one point, we were wondering if she had indeed forgotten that there was “a piece of thing” on the frying pan) we ended up with a rather black okonomiyaki…
This was the worst meal in our entire 2 weeks in Japan… And we only blogged about it so that readers would not make the same mistake as us…
Contact:
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After visiting 桜島 Sakurajima, we returned to 鹿児島 Kagoshima in search of the famous and popular 黒かつ亭 中央駅本店 Kurokatsutei Kagoshima-Chuo Eki Honten for some delicious とんかつ Tonkatsu Deep Fried Pork Cutlet for dinner (they have another branch 黒かつ亭天文館店 Kurokatsutei Tenmonkan Branch in Kagoshima and one branch 黒かつ亭東京駅店 Kurokatsutei Tokyo Eki Branch in Tokyo Station).
黒豚 (Kurobuta) “Black Pork” refers to the skin colour of the animal, and are Berkshire pork that were originally imported to Kagoshima about 400 years ago.
We opted for the 上ロースかつ定食 Premium Loin Set (¥1,560) and 黒かつ亭定食 Loin & Fillet Set (¥1,380).
While the meat was juicy and had a good bite, we found the breaded crust to be a tad too oily. However, the generous amount of cabbage certainly helped to give it a refreshing lift. Surprisingly, we both felt that the simple カツカレー Curry Rice with Pork Cutlet that we found at 霧島神宮 Kirishima Jingu to be far more delicious. Perhaps the curry rice far exceeded our low expectations because it was relatively away from Kagoshima; while we had much higher expectations of the pork cuisine by restaurants located right in Kagoshima.
黒かつ亭 中央駅本店 Kurokatsutei Kagoshima-Chuo Eki Honten (Main Store):
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We have always enjoyed the soup at 塚田農場 Tsukada Nojo in Singapore, and now we had the chance to try out at the 宮崎 Miyazaki outlet where it all started 🙂
Apparently, in 宮崎 Miyazaki, they use only free-range, home-bred domestic chicken. Only selected farms that have passed Miyazaki Prefecture’s stringent production conditions are allowed to breed this specific type of chicken, which produces leaner meat with well-marbled fat. Reading the description, we were more than ready to try all kinds of chicken cuisine 😀
Eat.Eat.Walk.Walk . 吃吃走走 