Stepping into this shop, located on a small alley in Daimyo, is like stepping back in time. The interior looks like an old house and is filled with old movie posters and figurines. The grade school-style furniture adds to the nostalgic decor. Regulars, who affectionately call the shop “Moguore,” come to enjoy shochu, ramen, and other dishes. The owner, Masahiro Gondo, used to work at Ippudo. Back then, he often went to a shochu bar in Shirogane called Mogura, so when he opened his own shop eight years ago, he named it Mogura Ga Ore O Yondeiru (“Mogura (lit., ‘the mole’) is calling me.”) The retro decor and huge shochu menu are an homage to the original Mogura. But the trademark tonkotsu ramen (¥610) is pure Gondo-san. The soup combines a broth made only from boiled pig knuckles with Japanese stock. With toppings of daikon radish and minced pork and chicken, the ramen is lighter than usual, and it keeps customers coming back for more.
Menu:
Moguore ramen ¥610, meat ramen ¥790, cheese marinated in broth and soy sauce, ¥380, okonomiyaki-style dumplings (2 pcs.) ¥600, fried rice ball ¥300, pork and tofu ¥380, char sui ¥680, Moguore potato salad ¥380, fried burdock root ¥400
Originally published in Fukuoka Now Magazine (fn221, May 2017)
