Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan and this is one of the capitals of ramen and of noodles in all of Japan Today, I'm going to take you on a noodles tour of Fukuoka. We're going to be eating iconic Tonkotsu Ramen which was invented right here in Fukuoka. We're going to be eating udon, which is extremely popular locally, and then finally, we're gonna eat a dish called Champagne. It's going to be an amazing day of noodles and Fukuoka You're not going to want to miss any of the noodle action and it's all coming up for you right now in this video.

laughs foreign good morning from Fukuoka Again, This is one of the great noodle destinations in all of Japan And we're beginning with one of the Giants of Japanese noodles Hakata Ramen which is also known throughout the world as Tonkotsu Ramen. The signature of Tonkotsu ramen is made with pork bones which are boiled for hours sometimes 15 or even 20 hours to release all of their flavor potential. All of the collagen, all of the Milky broth. it's known to be extremely rich, extremely flavorful.

We're gonna start with the first place. It is an absolute legendary place to eat. Fukuoka style Hakata Ramen The shop is called Hakur Yuken. Even from the outside appearance, it's just so old school and they date back to 1952.

this place is so iconic! I am so incredibly excited I Love the decoration I Love this style. It's all bar counter seeding and you can watch the Master as he cooks the ramen and prepares the ramen with precision and at the same time it's so friendly. Such a positive energy here. People come for this old style.

Hakata Ramen and one of the things that they're known for is their handmade homemade noodles. and so the ramen. Master He grabs the amount he really kind of like Works them in his hand before boiling the cooking them for the perfect amount of time before then combining it with the soup and the toppings and all the other ingredients. But it's just truly something that never gets old to watch a Ramen chef and master of cooking at their art.

Oh here we go All that is a gorgeous, spectacularly beautiful bowl of ramen. On the rich porkiness, you can smell the noodles. You can see how they're handmade and prepared to. Precision I Think there's four different levels of noodles that you can order from the the doneness, whether it be more firm or less firm or softer or just the regular that the chef decides.

But then it's topped with chashu chopped up with uh, what are your mushrooms, some green onions and bamboo shoots. But look at these noodles. One of the highlights here is definitely the the noodles which are handmade cooked to Precision. Oh and they're also known for their kind of flat noodles flat noodles I believe which are different.

Okay, so the first way to go about your Ramen is to definitely taste that soup broth. Oh oh look how oily and thick that is and milky and that definitely is from the the tonkotsu from those bones being boiled for so long. That's what gives it the milkiness. With all the secret herbs and spices, here you go.

This is my first ever bowl of tonkotsu Hakata Ramen in Fukuoka Wow Oh that is so rich, so creamy and so much of an intense porkiness to it. Wow that is healing and soothing and just fills your mouth with like the juices all juices of the pig that you can possibly imagine. All that broth is stunning. um good.

All the noodles are incredible. Tangly thin, fresh cook to the point where they're like this version is not so chewy, quite soft, but not like mushy whatsoever. The quality, the freshness of the noodles, all that that stands out and then they just sort of absorb that. Porky broth I kind of buried all that chashu and the bean and the bamboo shoots.

But let's move on to that cashew. some of those bamboo shoots and mushrooms. We've got the salty pieces of the pork belly. That chashu kind of has a smoky, salted overdose of flavor.

and then I love those bamboo shoots that preserved flavor to it which boosts the flavor and contrasts the flavor in your mouth. And you've got the woodier mushrooms which are kind of spongy, kind of a little bit rubbery on your tongue as well. What a combination! What a bowl! This is just the real deal. just an iconic bowl of ramen.

Happiness: You can add some of the sesame seeds as a topping as well, so hard. he's so fulfilling. and this is what you want to be eating in the winter time I mean actually year round in Fukuoka but in wintertime it is so rich and heavy and warming, you can just feel it warming your soul all the way to your core. Wow! that was a spectacular bowl of ramen that was iconic.

That was so good. And my bowl I got kind of the deluxe bowl with maybe extra toppings I came to 1150 Yen but such a cool place I Love the feel of it, how just it's a preservation of the heritage of ramen. What a way to begin this Fukuoka noodle tour and we have a lot more noodles to eat. Thank you! Next up on this noodle tour in Fukuoka we're going to eat Hakata style udon and from what I hear, udon might actually be the number one noodle dish for local fukuokins.

And they have a unique and special style of Hakata udon. And this restaurant is famous for their udon. but I think they might also have soba so we're going to go inside. we're going to check it out and we're going to have udon next.

The menu. They have small, medium or large amount of noodles with no extra cost. so no matter how what size you get the same, we have to get the large size. Bowl It's huge and their most popular one is set.

It's Gobo 10 which is Udon in a soup with Burdock tempura. Okay, this is the biggest bowl of udon I've ever seen. It's huge, oh man and being able to watch them as they cook as they boil the noodles. they've already been pre-boiled in the morning, but then he just flash boils them, gets them to that perfect texture and then combines it with that clear broth and then also with the fish cake, a little bit of green onions finely sliced and then the Burdock tempura which is this is this the classic that is like a family-sized bowl but for a single person of udon.

Wow! I Can't wait to try it in these noodles. So I believe in Japan there's different versions of broth for udon but in Hakata specifically it's known as being light and thin and clear. and the tools of choice oh oh man. that's so soothing though.

has like a little bit of a fishy Seafood kind of flavor to it like a Dashi baby but it's so clean, it's salty, pure so much flavor on your tongue as you taste that broth. And we have so many noodles to eat, you can almost swim in this bowl. it's so huge! Look at these noodles. They're fat, they're thick, they're hearty, and they use whole wheat so their noodles are not Pure White They use a variety of Wheat and flour for their for their noodles but they're like you can see how gummy and thick they are.

Here we go. First taste of the udon. Man those are hearty. The texture: they're gummy and soft and they've just started to absorb that broth a little bit.

That's really good and really really hearty and soothing. And then this one is the the popular one served with burdock root tempura. Hmm oh that's amazing. It's kind of absorbs some of that broth so it's kind of soggy but crispy at the same time.

You taste the flavor of the oil and your taste of flavor of that burdock root kind of has an Earthly taste to it. I mean I don't know what else to compare to it. It's just like natural tasting, really good textures. Somehow it just complements those noodles and that broth so well.

Let's do a little seasoning so they have a little bit of a chili pepper or chili powder and then also the sunshow I think the Japanese pepper as well which is fragrant, citrusy. Okay I've got the fish cake next. sweet taste. After 2 p.m you can refill as many times as you want.

So it's really all you can eat noodles here. so this is definitely the place to come if you're extremely hungry. Wow. Okay, I made it I'm sweating on the inside.

Um, made it to my final bite of noodles. I Conquered the bowl. All the noodles. Oh man.

I'm warm from the inside out now I Don't know if I can move on to the next place after that udon challenge. Really good though. Oh wow! and after that giant bowl of udon, we're just stopping by. Nearby there is a temple which commemorates the Master Shochi.

Kushi He came back from China in 1241 and he brought the recipe for sweet Bean jelly, Manju udon, and soba. This is the stone that marks his achievement and he brought back the Milling techniques from China and also introduced it to Japan. Here in Kyushu Wow! I mean udon and soba. These are two of the major staple foods of Japan.

Now this is. this is Huge. This is monumental. For our last and final noodle dish, we took a taxi ride.

it was a little noise away on the other side of Fukuoka but we are here at the last restaurant. This place is called champon and they serve a dish which is called champon and we're gonna hopefully see in the kitchen when he's frying up a fresh batch. but they serve it to you. It's a lot of vegetables are included.

They serve a mountain in your bowl. Vegetables noodles. It's another really love dish. Definitely okay.

So Champion is a dish that includes noodles at the bottom plus a stir-fry of vegetables and meat. and so he started with a bunch of oil. then like some bacon kind of looking meat went in. Then he added in a bunch of cabbage, a bunch of onions, a bunch of bean sprouts, and he's just kind of sauteing that down until it wilts foreign.

He didn't leave a spare bean sprout in that broth. He fished every last vegetable out. That is Huge. Oh, that was a cool process and after eating all you can eat udon and a bowl of ramen earlier, I'm pretty happy that this is almost 80 percent.

Vegetables is mountain. Building skills are quite impressive. Okay, let's try that broth first. It's hard to tell if it's Porky or if it's kind of like I think it is meaty.

The broth broth is thick and Rich and kind of Milky brother is really good. Let's just start from the top of the mountain. Pizza Tons of bean sprouts, cabbage, onions in here. All that pork simmered down.

Mmm that's delicious. I Like how there's so many different textures and yet 90 vegetables. Wow look there's a lot. okay and there's a sauce that goes along with it.

This one is called the red Golden Show I Believe you can smell Yuzu in there. kind of adds a little Zing bite to your dish. Maybe kind of spread that out. Maybe rehydrate it with some of the soup.

Foreign. Yeah, that's pretty salty so you can't eat that much of it. but I love that. First impressions from the the usual: Maybe there's some Sancho pepper in there too with a little bit of tingling and then a little bit of spice in there and then also a lot of salt.

so it's used to kind of I mean you're supposed to use it kind of sparingly and a little bit goes a long ways. There's a whole plate of seasoning here. I'll try chili. Oh yeah, a little bit chilly.

chili flakes would be good. Maybe this one is the vinegar. Maybe A little bit of vinegar need a little bit of that chili oil? Okay I Can't wait for the noodles. Let's go.

let's dig below the mountain of vegetables. Oh, here we go. Here's the noodles. Foreign.

This is really a good dish. Tasty actually goes down quite easily. and definitely that broth is definitely pork bones. Definitely pork based broth.

It is very thick. I mean it kind of does remind me of a tonkotsu. Maybe the pork bones are boiled down kind of has a similar richness and taste to it. It is a rich broth as well.

Milky I'm going to be warm for days digesting noodles. Oh so good. That completes the noodle to our oh nice to end on some vegetables but I need to lean back. That was a lot of noodles If you are a noodle lover.

Fukuoka is an absolute must visit destination at some point. So I'll have all three of the places that we went in the description box below. You can check out all the locations and that completes this noodle tour of Fukuoka really one of the capitals of noodles I mean they have contributed so much to Japanese food and the Japanese noodle culture right here in Fukuoka and Kyushu Island And that's going to wrap it up I Want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video? Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you.

and if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now. And also be sure to check out all the videos in the series we're traveling around the island of Kyushu eating some amazing Japanese Food I Also want to say a big thank you to Kyushu Tourism for arranging some of the things that we did on this trip and for helping me to set it up and that's gonna be it. Thanks again for watching see you on the next video.