Northern Kyushu Trip | Fukuoka Food | Torimabushi Mizutaki Hot Pot | Free-Range Chicken Specialty Restaurant

Northern Kyushu Trip | Fukuoka Food | Torimabushi Mizutaki Hot Pot | Free-Range Chicken Specialty Restaurant | Delicious Chicken Four Ways

This was the last night of our Northern Kyushu trip. We'd already had Ichiran, and we'd also had the tonkatsu I'd been wanting to eat again. With no particular plan in mind, we simply hopped online to see what else people recommended. Many suggested that chicken hot pot was a must-try, but since the most famous restaurant was a bit far from our hotel and we didn't feel like walking too much, we found another spot very close to our hotel: Torimabushi mizutaki hot pot. This restaurant also scores a high 3.58 on Tabelog (https://tabelog.com/fukuoka/A4001/A400102/40040160/).

Torimabushi mizutaki is a chicken water-boiled hot pot, and what makes it famous is the use of Fukuoka "jidori" — essentially what we call free-range or native chicken. It's said to be one of the dishes that best represents Fukuoka. Mizutaki chicken hot pot uses no other seasonings; it's made purely from quality free-range chicken, giving it the sweetest, most natural chicken flavor.

📜 Information

Address: 1F Tm-16 Building, 5-3-18 Nakasu, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture 810-0801
Opening hours: 11:00 ~ 23:00
Phone: +815034644885
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Official website：https://fb3m600.gorp.jp/

🍽 The Restaurant

The restaurant is located near Exit 2 of Nakasu-Kawabata Station. After exiting, you'll see the Ichiran Ramen head store; head into the alley beside it and you'll arrive in about a minute.

We arrived around 8pm, fairly late already, yet the first floor was completely full and the second floor was half full — and almost everyone looked like local Japanese, as if they'd just gotten off work and come here for dinner and a drink. Restaurants popular with locals usually taste pretty good.

A small place that feels much like an izakaya

The restaurant isn't big — the ground floor has only about ten counter seats and a semi-open kitchen.

We were seated by the window on the second floor. The table was set with all sorts of seasonings — seven seasoning powders in all: salt, ichimi (chili powder), sansho pepper, shichimi, black pepper, sesame, and yuzu kosho.

Try pairing your food with different seasoning powders

Ponzu (yuzu vinegar)

🍽 Menu

The menu has basic à la carte items plus all kinds of drinks and alcohol. Besides the various hot pot set meals, Torimabushi also offers many luxurious-looking course menus (with equally luxurious prices), ranging from ¥2,700 to ¥5,000 per person.

The menu even teaches you how to enjoy the kabayaki chicken rice bowl in four stages — the so-called "chicken four ways"

🍽 The Food

Kabayaki Chicken Rice Bowl Set ¥1,260

Hakata Chicken Hot Pot Set ¥1,760

Wanting to try both the famous mizutaki hot pot and the delicious-looking kabayaki chicken rice bowl "four ways," but not wanting to order more than we could finish, we each ordered one: the Kabayaki Chicken Rice Bowl Set and the Hakata Chicken Hot Pot Set.

Hakata Chicken Hot Pot Set

The renowned mizutaki hot pot uses Fukuoka "jidori" free-range chicken. Since no other seasonings are added and it's made purely from quality free-range chicken, it has the sweetest, most natural chicken flavor. Tasting it for real, the soup does carry the aroma of free-range chicken, and with no extra seasoning it's the purest original flavor — but personally I found it a bit bland, so unseasoned that it felt like a light chicken soup. That said, the chicken itself was cooked beautifully tender and juicy, not dry and stringy like the chicken in many long-simmered soups.

Kabayaki Chicken Rice Bowl Set

The kabayaki chicken rice bowl is the dish with the four eating methods listed on the menu. Just reading about it made it sound impressive, so of course we had to order one. The moment it arrived, the golden, crispy-looking chicken already earned points. The chicken was genuinely delicious, beautifully grilled and full of aroma.

After the first round enjoyed plain, the second round is with your favorite seasoning — you can try all seven or mix and match your own combination to make the chicken rice bowl even tastier.

The third round is adding the soft-boiled egg served on the side, mixing it into the rice and eating it with the chicken — I thought this was the tastiest of the four.

For the fourth round, pour the small cup of chicken broth that comes with the set over the rice to make chicken soup ochazuke. Personally I'm not a big fan of soup-over-rice, so this combination was just so-so for me and I wouldn't recommend it — but if you're curious, give it a try.

Plum wine soda

Overall, the restaurant was pretty good — a safe bet worth experiencing. If you're in the area, come try Fukuoka's famous mizutaki hot pot. I've read many articles saying this place requires reservations, so if you're coming during peak dining hours, it's safest to book ahead!

2019 Northern Kyushu Independent Trip:

2019 Northern Kyushu Trip Itinerary Overview

Day 1 Kokura

Day 2 Mojiko and Shimonoseki

Northern Kyushu Trip | Mojiko Attractions | Kokura to Mojiko Transport | Mojiko Retro District | Kaikyo Plaza
Northern Kyushu Trip | Mojiko Food | BEAR FRUIT Baked Curry | Mojiko Specialty | A Mojiko Must-Eat
Northern Kyushu Trip | Shimonoseki Attractions | Mojiko to Shimonoseki Transport | Karato Market | Shimonoseki Treaty Memorial Hall | Akama Shrine

Day 3 Yufuin

Day 4~5 Fukuoka

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北海道自由行 | Hokkaido | 不自駕自由行 | 行程規劃 | 景點介紹 | 住宿推薦 | 預算花費

提到日本自由行，北海道一直是一個特別的存在：它不像東京那樣熱鬧繁華，也不像關西那樣歷史悠久，卻有一種讓人放鬆的節奏，適合慢慢體會，但機票始終都很貴。這次選擇在五月出發，一來是為了避開人潮，二來是因為這個時候的北海道還沒進入旅遊旺季，機票、住宿都相對便宜不少 (洞爺湖溫泉旅館還是不便宜...)，加上氣候舒適宜人，不冷也不熱，安排了一趟以函館、洞爺湖、小樽、札幌為主的自由行，希望用比較緩慢的步調，好好感受北海道初夏的風景與味道。

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