Ooyama Motsunabe Review: KITTE Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan
My first post from Fukuoka, Japan.
I’m still nowhere near done with all my Tokyo posts,
but I wanted to start writing about Fukuoka too
before my Dubai memories completely take over.
Little by little, my Fukuoka memories are already starting to blur ^_^
Anyway, this was the very first meal I had after landing in Japan, checking into the hotel, and heading straight out to eat.
A famous Fukuoka restaurant
Ooyama Motsunabe KITTE Hakata branch.
If you’re looking for Fukuoka motsunabe, this is one of the best-known places to start.
Ooyama is a chain, so there are several locations around Japan,
but I’d heard the wait is usually long at most of them.
KITTE Mall is right next to Hakata Station,
and there are a ton of restaurants inside.
Ooyama is on the 9th floor, in the second section.
The business hours are standardized by floor,
and the 9th floor is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
This is what the entrance looks like.
We came at that awkward 3:30 p.m. time slot,
so we got in right away with no wait.
There were a lot of semi-private tables that felt almost like little rooms,
but we were seated near the entrance,
so I didn’t get to see what the deeper part of the restaurant looked like.
The interior was really pretty,
and the dim lighting gave it a nice atmosphere.
The menu at Ooyama, one of the best-known spots for Fukuoka motsunabe.
They even had a Korean menu, which made ordering super easy.
We ordered one assorted horse sashimi platter
and two servings of motsunabe.
You can check the full menu here.
Since we were in Japan,
we obviously had to start with a nama biru, or draft beer.
Since it was still daytime, we kept it modest and got the small one.
This was the horse sashimi set,
and it was about 25,000 KRW, so roughly $18—not outrageously expensive.
The portion was pretty generous, and it came with a nice variety of cuts,
so if you’re at Ooyama, the horse meat sashimi is definitely something worth trying.
They also give you soy sauce for dipping the horse sashimi,
and you can mix in different condiments yourself.
I honestly couldn’t tell which cut was which,
but the texture definitely changed from piece to piece.
Flavor-wise, it wasn’t insanely rich or nutty the way beef yukhoe can be,
but it also didn’t have any strong gamey smell like some people might expect.
Honestly, it tasted pretty similar to regular raw beef.
And in Japan, raw beef dishes like yukhoe are legally restricted,
so if you’re craving that kind of experience,
horse meat is usually the way to go.
Right around the time we were happily working through the sashimi, the motsunabe arrived.
You can find more and more places serving motsunabe in Korea these days,
but since it’s originally a Fukuoka specialty,
there was no way I was skipping it on this trip.
In case anyone isn’t familiar,
motsunabe is basically a hot pot made with beef or pork offal—most famously beef intestines.
Like at a hot pot or Chinese hot pot restaurant, they give you two ladles.
It comes out partially cooked,
so you just let it boil a bit more and start eating once everything is fully done.
I mostly picked out the pieces of offal first.
No unpleasant smell at all—just rich, fatty, savory, and delicious.
Since it’s definitely a rich dish, we also ordered kimchi,
and it was refreshing and actually paired really well.
Maybe it was the beer, or maybe the portion was bigger than I expected,
but we got full and ended up leaving a little behind.
Apparently, if you post on Instagram with a hashtag,
they give you free dessert ice cream,
but I wasn’t really in the mood, so I passed.
After eating well, the total came to 80,000 KRW including tax,
which is about $58.
Looks like they gave us candy too.
After the meal, we wandered around KITTE Mall for a bit.
I was kind of amused to see that Fukuoka has The Original Pancake House and Saboten too.
Anyway, Ooyama is so famous that I’d really wanted to try it at least once.
And after actually eating there, I was pretty satisfied.
That said… would I feel the same if I had waited an hour for it?
A lot of the restaurants that are popular with Korean travelers
pretty much always come with a wait,
so if you can, do what we did and avoid peak meal times.
Go at those awkward in-between hours instead.
We did that with a lot of famous restaurants on this trip and barely had to wait.