Chicken Dinner @ Torizen Tei, Hakata Station, Fukuoka

 

Winner winner chicken dinner. Well I am not quite sure as to when this meme came about, you will surely feel like a serious winner once you have sat down for such a great chicken meal. 

Bastion of the night

Underneath the bridge facing next to Yodobashi lies a humble izakaya that serves really good chicken dishes. Well, with the name ToriZEN Tei, (鳥ZEN亭) which literally means "chicken zen spot", it leaves little to the imagination on what its best dishes are. It specialises in using chicken specifically raised in the Kyushu region. And being an izakaya, there are great drinks to be had alongside some fabulous chicken dishes too. 

Not off to a good start, but lets see...

For  starters, the otoshi for the establishment consists of a half a pickled cucumber. it was refreshing to say the least. But if I would have things my way, I would prefer not to have it in general. This compulsory starter stood for the price of 350 yen, which is pretty steep for some cucumber. 

Crunchy!

Lucky, when the main dishes arrive, they were able to redeem themselves rather quickly. The first entre in the real scheme of things were the karaage. Golden brown, with a light crust but extremely flavourful meat, this was fried chicken executed well. The chicken meat had lingering hints of garlic and ginger and the marinade would probably have been spiked with a lot of soy sauce. The crust had a crunch that could only be achieved by mixing at either rice flour or potato starch ito the batter. An overall textural beast, this was such a treat to have. Standing at 600 yen, this was pretty decent. 

Very sinful

The next dish that came was a serious show stopper. Or rather a heart stopper as it was a plate of barbecued chicken skin skewers. These skewers were very loaded with deep chicken flavour. But also loaded with a lot of chicken grease as well. Oh lord, have mercy! The crispy bits of this monster is even crunchier than what we had earlier. A great dish to gobble down with some beer but probably not the best thing to tell your doctor about. A plate of 5 skewers stands at 800 yen. 

Chicken and boozy combo. And what a combo this is. 

Speaking of beer, my friend and I opted for the all you can drink for 980 yen only. The options are quite limited, as you can only get beer, lemon sour or highballs. Still, if you order at least 2 drinks, you would break even easily. And combining a frosty highball or beer with all these chicken treats was such an experience.  Things only got better with the next dish in the form of the chicken tsukune plate. 

Perfection

Standing at 580 yen for 2 chicken tsukune meatballs, this was such a great deal in terms of flavour. The minced meat was just bursting with a lot of aroma. I am not too sure what aromatics were used, but I can taste a good amount of garlic and pepper spiking the dish. The teriyaki glaze gave it a sweet and salty finish which was just perfection redefined. And you are given a raw egg as a dip. It may seem a bit unusual for some but this works like a charm as it help tempers the intense flavours of the tsukune. Everything just melds so easily. 

Different vibe, but still glorious

The gluttony continues as we then ordered roasted pork feet as our next entre. This was chewy, fatty, and juicy all at once. The cartilage and smaller bone bits does make it a challenge to chow on. However, it does add more fun into the overall experience, being the only non-chicken item for this night. The pickled onions help temper the savoury profile of this dish. Imagine relish on a hot dog and you probably get the idea. 2 pork feet took us aback for 480 yen. Not too bad to be honest. 

The classic mizutaki, with a lemon sour making an appearance. 

The final entre for us was a pot of mizutaki. This chicken hot pot dish was the perfect item to end our eating experience for today. The broth was clean and crisp, while the pot itself is loaded with various veggies that help pad out the meal. The boiled chicken and meatballs were also absolutely delicious. Being a more subtle dish, this helped cleanse the palate as we down the final glass of highball before we call it a night. A pot stood at 2360 yen. 

Cheers for joining Haruki! That was a great night. 

With an overall damage of 7480 yen, we were pretty surprised at the volume of what we had. Then again, we were 2 lads on a Tuesday evening that really wanted a lot to eat and drink. And considering the quality and quantity of what we had, this was pretty good. A winning chicken dinner indeed, no pun intended. So if you would like to sample what Kyushu chicken as to offer, I strongly recommend ToriZEN Tei. It may not be an obvious find, but once you do, it is an establishment you probably would not forget. So if you fancy a go, the address is as follows:

〒812-0012 Fukuoka, Hakata Ward, Hakataekichuogai, 1−1