Pork Trotters @ Kugimoto Tonsoku, Tenyamachi, Fukuoka

 

It takes an establishment a lot of guts to just lean on one dish. But when it turns out to be explosively delicious, then it seems like such a focus is greatly justified. One such place is Kugimoto and their star maker is the humble braised pork trotters. 

Look what we have here!

 Not something that is traditionally Japanese, I caught wind of this place when I was looking for the route to the Hakataza theater. It is in fact Taiwanese. And a corner on my screen while using Google Maps pointed out "pigs feet". It has been a long while since I had pork trotters so I decided to give it a go on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. It was slightly off the common roads in the city. But the small trek to get there was worth it. 

Not many options is there?

Once you open the door, you are treated to a pungent yet pleasant aroma of spices boiling away, with the vat loaded with pigs' feet not far away. And since that is the only main thing on the menu, I ordered for myself a Set B lunch set, which comes with a bowl of rice, miso soup, an egg, braised tofu, and vegetables. There is also a karaage set meal for those not keen on the trotters. Then again, why are you at a trotters restaurant if you are going to have fried chicken? I seriously will doubt your judgment. 

Fit for a king!

Anyway, a handsome plate of piggy goodness and its accompanying pieces came not long after. It was a sight to behold. Everything was glistening, and the smell was much more intense. Aromatic all the way, you can detect strong hints of cloves, garlic, and cinnamon. Everything seems on point and once I gobbled it in, the taste does reflect the product I was seeing. It was pretty good. Everything was totally tender and parts of the trotters were falling off the bone. The cooking process was well executed, thus the flavours from the marinade and braising liquid permeated deep into every bit of this treat. 

Almost godlike

And if you are a person into texture, there are loads of it. Mostly consisting of tendons and collagen, everything felt very chewy and silky. There is not much meat on them, but pockets of muscle were detected in between the bones and fat of the trotters. 

The supporting acts. 

The side dishes were pretty good too. They rounded out the meal well. One mention needs to be made to the tofu, as it has loads of flavour and probably share the same marinade as the trotters. However, in terms of flavour, they would not be able to compare with the trotters. Still, having some veggies and non-meat protein to clean down some of the decadent trotters seems like a good idea. 

Check out this lantern!

This was one meal that I had little expectations of and it caught me by surprise. And what a great surprise it ended up to be. And the price is not too shabby too, with everything standing at 950 yen. Personally, this is a bargain considering the quality of the meal that came. A strong recommendation and a definite thumbs up. So if this has piqued your interest, why not give it a go? Kugimoto Tonsoku's address is as follows:

〒812-0025 Fukuoka, Hakata Ward, Tenyamachi, 6−29 Riverside Hakata 1F