Japanese cuisine is recognised globally as one of the best, thanks to its simple yet meticulous approach to quality ingredients. Traditional Japanese cooking has strong roots in Buddhist cuisine, which typically prohibits the use of ingredients that are strongly-flavoured, rich, or foreign, which could excite the senses and deter cleanliness. This included discarding animal innards and offal, a practise which changed with Korean influence around the period of World War II. Such ingredients which were previously unused become an important source of cheap nutrition.
In Korea, we enjoyed a number of offal-based dishes including makchang pork intestines (막창) and deep-fried ddongjib chicken gizzards (똥집), both of which were delicious. We’re not averse to offal, and in fact embrace its variable textures and flavours which are often underrated in Western cuisine.
In Fukuoka, only an hour flight from its sister city of Busan, South Korea, one of its famous local speciality dishes is motsunabe, a hotpot made with beef intestines or other offal, as well as a variety of vegetables such as cabbage and chives. With our life-changing experience of beef intestines in Korea, this was not a local dish we were going to miss.
Motsunabe Oisi (牛もつ鍋 おおいし)
There are plenty of restaurants to visit for motsunabe, which will set you back around ¥1200-2000 (US$11-19) per person, which are easy to search for on Google Maps using the search phrase “もつ鍋”. We paid a visit to Motsunabe Oisi, one of a number of restaurants just a few minutes’ walk from the main Hakata Station. This gorgeous traditional-style restaurant is floor-seated, requiring visitors to store their shoes in lockers before entering the main dining area. In addition to the warm staff, it makes for an incredible atmosphere and dining experience. There is one setback, which is that the restaurant permits smokers. If this is an issue, there are plenty more well-known restaurants that do not.
The menu is very basic consisting of motsunabe in three flavours: miso (みそ), which uses a house blend of four types of nutty, salty-sweet fermented bean paste; shouyu (しょうゆ), or soy sauce; and mizutaki (水炊き), which uses a vinegared soy sauce. The most popular, and the house recommendation was the miso base, which we went with. One portion of motsunabe is ¥1,400 (US$13.25; ¥1,350 at the time of filming), which is tax-inclusive. Other menu items include additional toppings for the hotpot such as noodles, side dishes and salads, and a list of beverages including beer, a common accompaniment to the rich hotpot.
The dish is served fully cooked in a pot that is placed at the centre of the table on an induction stovetop. They also serve a complimentary plate of raw vegetables that can be added as you eat through the hotpot. Our hotpot included tofu, intestines, and plenty of chives, and was fragrant with garlic and miso, with an incredibly rich, sweet and nutty flavour thanks to the miso paste and the garnish of toasted sesame seeds.
The soup, however, doesn’t overwhelm the delicate flavour of the intestines, which has a satisfyingly tender-but-chewy outer membrane and melt-in-the-mouth fat, or the cubes of silken tofu with its mild but fragrant flavour. For those who love spicy food, there is also a pot of chilli flakes at the table to add to taste. This adds a warm, tingling spice that offsets the rich intestines well.
Offal may not be the first dish to come to mind for many people, but thanks to proper cleaning and a perfectly-seasoned soup, the beef intestines you’re likely to find in motsunabe restaurants have not a whiff of gaminess. Motsunabe Oisi is an excellent spot to visit, though there are plenty of other restaurants throughout Fukuoka with high-quality offal hotpots. If you enjoy fatty meat and warming soups, this is definitely a dish to try, with the meal being one of our favourites in Fukuoka, if not through our whole trip in Japan. This was a meal that we’d anticipated to be great, and still managed to far exceed our expectations.
Motsunabe Oisi (牛もつ鍋 おおいし)
〒812-0018 福岡県福岡市博多区住吉４丁目８−21 (One of two locations)
Mon-Sun 5pm-12am
Closed Thursday
Website (Japanese only)
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