When it comes to food, Fukuoka is most famous for two things: yatai, or food carts, and Hakata ramen.
A city on the island of Kyushu, in Japan’s south-west, Fukuoka is a place of pilgrimage for ramen devotees. They come here to eat Hakata ramen – from the Fukuoka district of the same name – that consists of a tonkotsu pork broth, thin, straight noodles, chashu (roast pork) and condiments. Everyone has an opinion on which of the city’s many ramen shops is best, and global ramen chains Ippudo and Ichiran both have their original stores here.
Yet it wasn’t ramen that brought me to Fukuoka. Outnumbered in a world of ramen fans, I had never quite understood the particular obsession that it attracts – and I’ve made a living obsessing over food. I was here for the yatai.
In Japan, modernity has largely wiped out the vibrant street food culture that can be found in other parts of Asia, but it’s remained in laidback Fukuoka. Here, Japan’s last mobile food carts spring to life at night, in clusters around the city.
Enjoying ramen and beer at one of Fukuoka's yatai. Source: Getty Images
To look at, yatai are not dissimilar to Indonesia’s humble warungs (open-air street carts), yet they exude that uniquely Japanese brand of hospitality. Like any small Japanese bar they are inviting, fun places where ‘just one drink’ can very quickly become a boozy, all-night bender.
From a row of carts overlooking a canal, we choose the liveliest and sit next to a couple who are visiting from Yokohama, near Tokyo. About eight people crowd onto bench seating around the tiny counter, and we’re all pretty excited to be here.
The small menus at Fukuoka’s yatai are generally handwritten or verbally delivered, making them near impossible for non-Japanese speakers to navigate. The simplest way around this is to keep ordering whatever the person beside you does. Many carts sell a variety of bar foods and the city’s most famous dish: ramen.
First up, drinks. We start with beers, like the couple beside us. Then I spy a bottle of Suntory, and I attempt to order a neat whisky.
“Straight-u?”, asks the stallholder, incredulous. The raucous patrons fall silent, and everyone turns to me in amazement. People from neighbouring carts stick their heads out to join in the merriment: her, straight-u?
I admit to feeling a little smug, until it arrived. A straight-u turned out to be a water tumbler filled to the brim with straight whisky, about a quarter of the bottle. I made one attempt to explain that I’d made a terrible mistake, then took a sip and settled into my fate. One drink had suddenly become a very big night.
Our new friends order ramen, and we follow suit.
The preparation process in this tight space is a theatrical ritual, spectacular to watch.
The stall owner sets our bowls on the countertop, and strains the just-cooked noodles by tossing them into the air, and catching them again in the strainer. He lifts the lid on one of the large, bubbling pots on the ground, steam billowing into the night air, and ladles the milky broth into our bowls. He slices the chashu, adds a handful of spring onion, some beni shoga (red pickled ginger) and a scattering of sesame seeds. He gestures towards a spicy green condiment on the counter, which tastes a little like pickled jalapeno. Fukuoka really likes chilli, which is another thing that sets it apart – there’s often the option of a spicy red miso paste if you want it, too.
Perhaps it was this spicy kick, and that velvety broth, or it might have been the fact I’d consumed just enough whisky to make me emotional about a bowl of soup, but two mouthfuls in, I have a ramen epiphany.
I can’t get enough. I slurp it down and instantly want another bowl – but our new friends have moved onto something else, and we’d better keep up. They order ribs, we follow. They get some yakitori skewers, we do too. Gyoza for two – wait, make it four. Shochu shots all round? Why not. Before long, it doesn’t matter that no-one speaks the same language.
My reward for finishing the bottomless whisky was glory, and a fierce hangover the next morning.
There was only one thing that was going to soothe it: a big bowl of ramen for breakfast. I was now on a ramen pilgrimage.
Throughout August, SBS Food will celebrate Asia's love of the noodle. Oodles of Noodles will include delicious new recipes, stories and tips for buying, cooking and storing noodles.
