Motsunabe @ Takenoya, Solaria Stage, Tenjin, Fukuoka

 

Being a nation proud of its food culture, Japan has a plethora of dishes to choose from. Some more popular than other. While others just hide behind the facade of more popular cousins. But that does not mean they are any flaws in them. In fact, its these hidden gems that makes the local eating experience more interesting and worthwhile. One such dish is the motsunabe ( もつ鍋). 

An open kitchen, which is pretty common. 

I had this warming dish in Takenoya ( 竹乃屋), which is an izakaya style restaurant located in the Solaria Stage shopping mall, which is located next to Tenjin Station. The establishment is a modern take on the traditional premise, and is famed for their yakitori skewers and of course, motsunabe. Seeing that I had yakitori several times and never had this local hot pot dish before, the decision is obvious. Although I would love to return soon to try their skewers. 

The whole works

Directly translated as innards hot pot, motsunabe is a Kyushuu regional specialty. As the name suggests, its innards, usually beef offal, that is cooked in a hot pot. Well, that is not all. The dish is cooked alongside a plethora of veggies, mostly meat and bean sprouts in a dashi broth. And this is one of the few Japanese dishes that actually uses chillies as an ingredient! Not known for their penchant (or lack thereof) for spicy food, this was a nice surprise. 

Fiery...

Being a hot pot, be prepared to take the heat! After ordering, a steel pot loaded with ingredients will be placed before you with its own bunsen burner where the ingredients are slowly bubbling in front of you. You would need to wait for a while for the fresh veggies to break down and making it more manageable to eat. The aroma was strong and intoxicating. If you love garlic and chillies, this is for you. 

Surprisingly clear. 

Ok, so how about the dish itself? The soup was clear but surprisingly dense and rich. I would not be surprised if they added some pork or chicken stock into the dashi. It was not ramen strong, but still very rich. There was a strong whiff of cooking wine too, giving it a fruity flavour of sorts. I complemented the dish with some white rice and seems like it was a good move. 

Look at all the goodies. 

This place was also generous with the offal. If you are a bak kut teh lover or enjoy haggis, then this ticks the meal ticket. The tripe and intestines were quite aromatic, probably due to the foul odour being kicked out by that strong broth that it was bathing in. The tripe was chewy and it was such good fun chewing into it. The veggies gave the dish some balance. Well, at least I can tell my mom that I was having my veggies. Being a hot pot, this is not a quick meal to take down. This is a dish that is best enjoyed slowly. 

Unmistakable sign. Will come again. 

Overall, I would consider my first motsunabe experience pretty enjoyable. And it was surprisingly affordable as the whole thing stood at a price tag of 1,254 yen. Similar to bak kut teh, there is no one perfect motsunabe spot and I am keen in trying out more shops in the future. However, if you would like to try what Takenoya has to offer, then the address is as follows:

Solaria Stage, B2f, 2 Chome-11-3 Tenjin, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, 810-0001