The 10 Best Places to Eat in Kyushu, Japan

Kyushu has many delicious local cuisines such as Nagasaki champon and Hakata ramen. You definitely need to try their special cuisines that they are proud of if you get to travel to Kyushu. Here are the 10 best local restaurants in Kyushu!

1. Torikawa Takaraya

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You may look for yatai, motsunabe, mizutaki, or Hakata ramen when you travel to Fukuoka. Not many tourists know about “torikawa (chicken skins) restaurants” but they are very popular among locals.

The way they prepare torikawa is a bit different from normal yakitori restaurants. They coil chicken skin around a skewer, grill, let it sit, and grill again. They put a lot of time and effort on preparation, and in average, it takes 3 to 7 days.

You will find many torikawa restaurants mainly in Fukuoka city, and one skewer is around ¥100. People usually order 10 – 20 skewers at once. Torikawa Takaraya is strongly recommended among other torikawa restaurants. They have kept their original recipe since the establishment.

“Torikawayaki” is grilled with their special sauce, and “Torikawashio” is grilled with carefully selected salt. Try both with ice cold beer!

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2. Chikusuitei Honten

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Nagasaki has 971 small islands and each island established its own history and food culture. One of the well known food there is Goto Udon. It is said to be there for about 1000 years.

The most common way of having Goto Udon is “Jigokudaki”. The Udon is boiled in a hot pot and you dip it into agodashi sauce (fish broth) or beaten egg. Goto Udon’s characteristics is thin, strong and smooth noodles.

Chikusuitei Honten is especially recommended for “Jigokudaki”. It is a restaurant of Masuda Seimen, so you can also have a tour of the noodle factory. The tour guests get to have a special menu. Please don’t forget to book in advance for the tour.

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3. Sekiaji Sekisaba kan

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Sekiaji and Sekisaba refer to horse mackerels and mackerels caught by single hook fishing. The fishing ground, Sagaseki, has a strong current and the fish caught there are big and fat. The meat is firm and gives a great texture.

The season for Sekiaji (horse mackerel) is between March and October, and the season for Sekisaba (mackerel) is between October to March. They are luxurious food.

Sekiaji Sekisaba kan offers these exquisite fish with a reasonable price. The restaurant has a great view too. The price fluctuates depending on the fish market but their teishoku (a set meal) is between ¥2,000 – ¥3,000.

There are various other fish meals too, so please try it out if you love fish. They also have a shop where you can buy local food products on 1F.

4. Suganoya

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The first thing that comes to our mind when we think of Kumamoto is “Basashi (raw horse meat)”. Kumamoto is the top producer of horse meat in Japan, and its history is more than 400 years.

You will find many basashi restaurants especially in the city but we recommend you try Suganoya. Suganoya first opened in 1789 and has been serving basashi here since then. The horses are grown in their 3-square-kilometer farm, living healthy.

As they grow their own horses, you get to have rare parts of the meat in this restaurant. You can have this low calorie high-protein meat in basashi, yakiniku, sushi and hot pot. “Hari hari nabe” is especially recommended.

You can have a lot of vegetables with the meat. Assorted basashi, Ishiyaki and shabu shabu are also popular. They choose the best parts of the day for assorted basashi so you should definitely try this along with other dishes.

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5. Furusatoryori Suginoko

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Hiyajiru is Miyazaki’s traditional dish for summer. Even when you lose appetite because of the heat in summer, you can easily eat hiyajiru. A lot of people confuse it with a cold miso soup but it is not.

To make hiyajiru, they first grill miso, mix it into dashijiru (fish broth), add grilled horse mackerel or sardine, tofu, green perilla, cucumbers, Japanese ginger and sesame seeds. Then they pour it onto rice. It is easy and simple but delicious. It is usually home food you can also have it in some restaurants.

We recommend Furusatoryori Suginoko. It first opened in 1970 and serve various dishes made from local ingredients.

Lunch menus are reasonable, and if you order “Suginoko Chicken nanban Teishoku”, you can enjoy both hiyajiru and chicken nanban. Their quality is guaranteed as they also prepare lunch for JR Kyushu’s cruise train. Please try this restaurant if you visit Miyazaki!

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6. Kaichu Sakanadokoro Manbo

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Ikiika (fresh squid) is the most well known food in Saga. Yobuko has been famous for Ikiika since 1969 when one seafood restaurant served squid ikizukuri (slices of fresh raw squid). Then it spread in the region. Yobuko still has many squid restaurants.

Manbo is one of the restaurants that are popular among locals. They opened the first underwater restaurant in Japan in 1983.

You can enjoy dinner while watching fish in the ocean. Their best seller is “Ika course” which has Ikizukuri, squid dumplings, and squi tempura. It is worth trying!

7. Kurobuta Adimori

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Kagoshima kurobuta (pork) is something you would love to try when you travel to Kagoshima. Pig farming started in Kagoshima about 400 years ago.

There are many pork restaurants in Kagoshima, but please try Adimori. There are various ways to enjoy kurobuta, such as tonkatsu (deep fried pork), shabu shabu (a kind of hot pot), Tonteki (pork steak), and yakiniku (Japanese barbecue).

Adimori’s recommendation is “Butashabu”. This restaurant is actually the starter of kurobuta shabu shabu, and their dipping sauce is soup and egg.

Dinner shabu shabu is more than ¥4,000, but lunch shabu shabu starts from ¥3,240. There are 12 different menus for lunch and they are between ¥880 – ¥1,000. What is special about Kagoshima kurobuta is the soft texture with rich flavor. Please try it out!

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8. BigMan

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Sasebo burger is becoming more and more popular in Nagasaki. It first started in 1950’s when they got a recipe from American navies. The more and more Sasebo burger restaurants opened in Sasebo and now it is known nationwide.

There are about 30 Sasebo burger restaurants but we recommend BigMan. They started selling handmade burgers in 1971.

They use handmade buns, nationally grown beef, homemade bacon, high-quality eggs, lettuce and tomatoes to make their delicious burgers. The ingredients are carefully chosen.

People especially love their bacon and their best seller is a bacon burger. Please try it when you travel to Nagasaki!

9. Nakatsu Karaage Moriyama

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There are more than 30 Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) shops in Oita as there are many chicken farms there. Oita is now known for its good-quality karaage in Japan. To make delicious Nakatsu karaage, they first soak chicken into sauce mixed with soy sauce, salt, garlic and ginger.

Each shop usually has its own way of making sauce, so the taste varies.Most of the shops cook chicken after getting an order to serve it warm.

We recommend Moriyama among many karaage shops. Moriyama only uses nationally grown chicken and homemade sauce with homegrown garlic. You can have chicken breast mix, chicken wings, chicken with bones or nankotsu (soft bones) here. They will be a great snack!

10. TRES

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Sicilian rice is well known in Saga. It started as a staff meal in around 1975 and now there are about 40 restaurants that serve Sicilian rice. Some people say that it was named after Sicily island but truth is unknown.

This dish is simple and a lot of locals cook it at home. They put grilled meat, onion, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber on top of cooked rice, and finish it with special mayonnaise. Ingredients vary from a place to place so you can enjoy the difference.

TRES uses organic top-quality rice, locally grown pork, and fresh vegetables from local farmers. You can also enjoy organic coffee or tea after the meal!

Enjoy great food from Kyusyu!

How was the list? Kyushu is famous for their delicious food as they have both mountains and ocean. The list is only a part of it. The food listed here are common food in Kyushu but are hardly found somewhere else. Please try as much food as possible if you get to travel to Kyushu!