real japanese food...

(or fukuoka, japan part three)

Saturday after my day of walking around the sights, i headed back to the hostel... thinking only of resting my poor feet. i was actually planning on chilling for a while and then going out to do some night photography of the city, but as they say, the best laid plans...

i met a canuck named andrew almost as soon as i got back to the hostel. he's been travelling around asia for the last three months and had just arrived in fukuoka. he wasa going out with a friend that he'd met in cambodia last month and asked me if i'd like to come along.

we met up with his friend midori and her friend mihwa at tenjin subway station. this is one of the main areas for going out so we thought it would be a good place to meet. i'd been there the evening before (that's where the dance took place) and so kind of knew my way around... it was nice to be with some locals though. we decided to go eat some real japanese food. we ended up on the sixth floor of a random building at futoppara.

miwha and midori

they ordered and wouldn't tell us what they got, so it was all a big surprise. the dishes came one by one served by a guy with the biggest bouffant hair i've seen on a man in a long time... sorry no pic...

our first course, salad... such smart girls!

our second course - mentaiko - an egg omelet with fish roe and sauce that tasted oddly similar to ketchup, but not quite.

a close up of the mentaiko... appetizing?

the third course - yaki ramen

this was fried noodles with fish flakes and sauce that was kind of like gravy - it wasn't that good... think ramen noodles with gravy... and fish flakes... i'd rather eat sushi!!! (for those who don't know, i'm not a huge fan of the delicasy...)

the fourth course - kooki horeu.

the girls had to look this up in their electronic dictionary. it's pig intestines with garlic stalk and a sweetish sauce. i only had one bite since it took me five minutes to chew and then i just couldn't swallow. the girls said that about half of japanese people love this dish and hald despise it... at our table three out of four enjoyed it. i was not one of them! the meat was just really chewy and after chewing for so long the flavour changed and it was unbearable.

after eating we ordered a pitcher of sake...when in rome... or, rather, japan... i'd never had sake before and had to try it. it came in this cute little pot and it was hot - which i was not expecting. i loved it. it was definitely better than it's korean counterpart! it was kind of sweet but with a slight aftertaste of rice. it went straight to my head too! definitely something i would have again.

pouring the sake.

finally when it was all done, a crowd of japanese people sitting behind us started talking to us - can't quite remember how... they said something in english and i turned around, i think. anyway, they were really nice but could only say hello in english. nonetheless one of the guys insisted on getting a photo with me - more movie star syndrome - and then he reciprocated for me.

me, the random japanese guy and andrew.

it was a really great meal and it was made better by having it with some really cool women... and a canuck. we parted ways with the girls and headed back to the hostel, exhausted after a day of (for me) sightseeing and travel (for andrew).

coming up shrines and temples in fukuoka... so stay tuned!