When Mendo Hanamokoshi opened in Fukuoka, it caused a big stir on the ramen scene. The shop’s owner, Norihiro Hirohata, took Fukuoka’s famous pork-based tonkotsu ramen and turned it on its head, creating a chicken-based ramen known as tori paitan. The flavour of the soup is unlike any ramen you’ll have had before, extraordinarily rich and more akin to a western gravy than the pork creations found at tonkotsu ramen shops. While the number of tori paitan restaurants in Fukuoka has increased in recent years, Hanamokoshi reigns supreme, with daily lines outside the shop. From the soup to the noodles to the chicken char siu, Norihiro Hirohata prepares everything himself, and limits the number of bowls of his ramen to just 40 a day. At lunch, try tokusei tanrei tori shio soba, soup-less soba with chicken char siu, and at dinner tori tsuke soba: noodles with a rich, chicken-based dipping sauce. Delicious – best get there before it opens.
Menu (incl. tax):
Special chicken ramen ¥850, tsuke soba ¥1,000, second serving of noodles ¥150, small rice ¥100, Medium rice ¥150, large portion of noodles +¥200
Originally published in Fukuoka Now Magazine (fn218, Feb. 2017)
