Because of the nature of my work, there’s no slow season at any point in the year’s twelve months. Even at year’s end, when everyone is in holiday mode, I’m the only one pretending to be busy. I’ve been so swamped lately that I haven’t been able to go anywhere, but when it comes to having to meet people there’s nothing I can do, so I popped out to a get-together for a bit. The place was Hakata Niwaka, a motsunabe specialist. It’s a chain, but you can get Fukuoka’s famous motsunabe and Kyushu specialties at a reasonably decent level..
Premium sweet potato shochu, Sato genshu
Sato may not be the absolute top tier, but it’s a Kagoshima shochu right up there next to it. What I ordered was the genshu (undiluted shochu) cut with water, and both the aroma and taste were better than regular Sato. Who knew you could drink shochu of this level at a chain like this.. Though the serving was way too small..
Basashi (raw horse meat)
This is basashi, Kumamoto’s famous raw horse meat. Again, it was in good shape for a chain. This place is cheap and the food isn’t bad, so it’s handy for the occasional get-together, but that day there were way too many customers, so the service was meh and the food wasn’t as good as before. That’s the limit of a chain. Maybe I should have booked an upscale place a bit earlier, but places like that are a bit much for the younger crowd. Really, the best thing to do over the holidays is stay holed up in your room..
Satsuma-age
It’s fried fish cake, a traditional dish from the Kagoshima area. Nothing special taste-wise, and it came out cold, which was a bit of a letdown.
Grilled mentaiko
Mentaiko (spicy pollock roe) is a Fukuoka specialty. The taste was just so-so.. These days I take most of my photos with my iPhone, so the image quality is lousy. A better-camera iPhone needs to come out soon, but can I hold out for another six months..
Horumon-yaki
Grilled offal, and even though it’s this place’s signature dish, it was in a really disappointing state. I should have anticipated how uneven chains can be, but since it wasn’t bad when I ate here before, I went ahead and booked it. My mistake. Choosing a restaurant really is hard. Even a place you’ve been to can taste different depending on the circumstances. Well.. I guess this is how you gain experience.
Finally, the motsunabe
It’s a dish sort of like Korean gopchang jeongol (offal hot pot). Honestly, there’s no way this style of dish could beat the Korean version, but for around here it was decent enough. Unfortunately that day it was way too fatty, so it was a bit greasy, and the ingredients were in poor shape too. I got through it somehow, but the MSG flavor was so strong that my stomach was upset after I got home. The appeal of this place is getting decent shochu and Kyushu regional food at a low price, but I learned you should never come when business is booming like this. I’ll be careful not to make this mistake again.