Fukuoka Eats: Yakitori at Hotarujaya in Ropponmatsu Japan

Hi guys, so today I visited Hotarujaya, a popular Yakitori place in the Ropponmatsu area of Fukuoka.

They have a paper lantern (提灯 pronounced chou chin ) with the Kanji 蛍茶屋(Hotarujaya) so you'll know that that's the place.

The place has seats on the second floor as well, but we went for the counter seats on the first floor where we could see the sizzling action. Oh yes!!

I really love this type of setting; makes you really appreciate the amazing skills of the chef at work. And also because it makes stomach growl with delight.

The menu was huge, with a lot of delicious and salivating names of the parts of chicken, cow and pork.

We ordered quite a lot of things and can't show all the pictures so if you're interested in seeing everything we ate check out the video down below or on youtube.

What I will do is list down the things we ate in order and give you a brief explanation of them so you can always refer to them when ordering something at a Yakitori place.

I'll also give points. That's just according to my taste buds so just take it as a rough reference.

Sunazuri (砂ずり) ~ ~ ~ chicken gizzard - very interesting texture. felt like I was biting into a brand new hard sponge. crunchy but chewy at the same time

taste 6.7/10
texture 5/10
grill 8/10

Bonjiri (ぼんじり) ~ ~ ~ chicken tail - very meaty, fatty and oily, love the chicken oil fragrance. You'll love this.

taste 8/10
texture 7.8/10
grill 9/10

Seseri (せせり) ~ ~ ~ chicken neck - cooked with shiso, very good combination, little salty but really good

taste 8/10 ( 8.5 if it wasn't too salty )
texture 8/10
grill 9/10

Hatsu (はつ) ~ ~ ~ raw cow heart - tasted like nothing, the sesame oil dip only gave it a sesame flavor, texture was chewy, good to try at least once

taste ?/10
texture 5/10

2nd Place - Butabara (豚バラ) ~ ~ ~ pork belly - tasted amazing, love the salty juicy oils from the seasoned pork, sweetness from the onions were complementary, a must-order item

taste 9/10
texture 8.5/10
grill 9.2/10

Kawa(皮) ~ ~ ~ chicken skin - can choose btw salt or sauce, went for the salt, amazing crust, little chewy but I could taste the flavor of the skin, grilled well

taste 8.9/10
texture 8.2/10
grill 9.4/10

1st Place - Sagari(サガリ) ~ ~ ~ hanging tender of cow - wow, juicy steak, that's what it tastes like. and the sauce really complements the grill. You must get this

taste 9.5/10
texture 9/10
grill 9.5/10

Maruchou(丸腸) ~ ~ ~ small intestines of a cow - like a cream puff with the cream replaced by oil. has an interesting fermented taste. if you like to dare, get this.

taste 7.8/10
texture 7/10
grill 7.5/10

Enokimaki(えのき巻き) ~ ~ ~ enoki mushroom rolled with pork - juicy and delicious, the earthiness from the enoki combines really well with pork. this is bomb.

taste 8/10
texture 9/10
grill 8.2/10

Geso(ゲソ) ~ ~ ~ squid tentacles/legs - grilled for a short amount of time, tastes of the sea, fresh, salt watery, but grilled well, if you like the sea, you'll like this

taste 7.8/10
texture 8/10
grill 8.2/10

Yakionigiri(焼きおにぎり) ~ ~ ~ grilled rice ball - seriously good, love the burnt soy sauce taste, a great carbo-snack

taste 9/10
texture 9/10
grill 9.5/10

3rd Place Tsukune(つくね) ~ ~ ~ grilled chicken meat balls - very different from others, a huge patty on two skewers. Very flavorful, aromatic and an explosion of goodness in the mouth, inner skeleton texture was strange, but everything else was awesome

taste 9.2/10
texture 8.5/10
grill 9.1/10

Other Interesting Facts:

The Cabbage - basically, you won't really have rice at a yakitori place. To fill your belly, cabbage is always around, some places offer free cabbage refills while others offer refills for a cheap price. Our cabbage came with a sweet and sour yuzu dressing which was awesome

Hotarujaya - The name of the Yakitori restaurant is actually a station in Nagasaki. The owner apparently comes from there, and he uses ingredients from Nagasaki and promotes the goodness to the Fukuoka people.

If you get the chance to come to Fukuoka, you must have this place on your gourmet checklist.
A place for Yakitori lovers.

Address (google maps): http://goo.gl/7zT3QS
Open hours: 19:00 ~ 05:00 (closed Sundays)
Budget: About 2000yen ~ 3000yen per person