We stayed a night in Fukuoka.
Today we were renting a car and heading out to Kurokawa Onsen in Kumamoto. But first, we need to fill up.
Hakata Uogashi, on the 1st floor of fish market building.
This is my kind of restaurant! Fresh fish in simple cooking for cheap price.
Sashimi Bowl, JPY980.
Breakfast of the day, JPY650!!!
2 breaded sardines and teri braised yellowtail.
The yellowtail was so juicy.
Grilled yellowtail. JPY650! This was a big fillet!
2 big sardines. Simply grilled with salt. JPY760!
This kind of grilled fish like sardines and mackerels used to be so common for Japanese everyday meals before our diet became westernized. Now it’s rather difficult to find restaurants which serve these dishes. Especially sardines are so quick to go bad. I really wish we had a restaurant like this in Okinawa.
I was in trans while eating these fish with delicious rice.
With my sincere gratitude…
Dinner at this place would be great too. For my personal memo for future trips.
With our happy bellies, we headed down to Oguni region in Kumamoto. It’s about 2-hour drive from Fukuoka. A mountainous area around Mt. Aso.
Water is great here. They grow the nation’s leading brand rice in this region.
Also, this area is famous for good soba.
And that is why we were after for lunch.
Soba Tofu.
Grilled soba miso
Duck sashimi
Yamame Trout. This clear stream fish is a specialty food for this region.
This cooking method is called Kanro-Ni, like “glacé” in French cooking. They braise the whole fish for hours until the bones become soft in sweet teri sauce. It’s good for preserving the food through the winter. You can eat the whole fish.
Mushroom tempura.
And finally, soba. Washed noodles with dipping sauce.
I love Japanese soba very much. Too bad we have few Japanese soba places in Okinawa. Okinawa has Okinawa soba, different from Japanese soba. I love Okinawa soba too, but sometimes I get cravings for good Japanese soba.
After you are done, they usually serve the hot water they boiled soba in.
Soba is buckwheat. This soba water has much vitamins and flavonoids that are so good for you. Mix it with what’s left of your dipping sauce and drink like tea.
This is a very soothing moment for me.
Now we were only a few minute drive from Onsen spa we were staying tonight.
