I love mentaiko and Fukuoka is the capital of this delicacy in Japan. There are probably 300 producers.
What is mentaiko? It is marinated pollock eggs. The sauce used in the process includes chili, sake, konbu and yuzu citrus. The fermentation process last several hours. The result is spicy, flavorful roe, tiny in size and red in color. Mentaiko is sold in its natural membrane, easy to remove, and ready to be used for all kind of dishes. An animal like me sometimes eat it raw just as it is.
Usually mentaiko is referred as karashi mentaiko: karashi means spicy, but mentaiko can come with different levels of spiciness. Japanese cuisine also uses the untreated pollock roes that are called tarako.
Given my interest, it was natural to try Ganso Hakata Mentaiju that is a restaurant entirely specializing in mentaiko dishes in Fukuoka.
The visit
I headed to the restaurant very early, at 11am, sure to be the first customer. To my dismay, there was already a long line! I did not realize that this was a tourist spot.
I went back after 3pm and there was no line.
At the entrance I was asked to choose the level of spiciness of the mentaiko for my meal. They have 4 levels. To do so I picked up a wooden token indicating my preference that was later collected by the waitress at the time of placing my order.
I had their Deluxe Ganso Hakata Mentaiju where the homemade mentaiko is wrapped in kelp and placed on top of a bed of hot steamed rice garnished with seaweed, then topped off with umami-infused “Special Topping Sauce”. I added as a side dish a soft-boiled egg.
In this version, one piece of mentaiko was raw and another was cooked. The raw one was better in my opinion. I admired the preparation, but the gain in terms of flavor from a raw piece of mentaiko was minimal.
I am a bit sorry that I did not have room for another dish. They had a cod roe soup and other mentaiko dishes that seemed interesting.
The check
I spent 3,196 yen (30 USD). The dishes were definitely not cheap. I would not suggest anyone to queue for an hour or so for this restaurant. But if you are a mentaiko enthusiast like me, you might want to try it going at odd hours. At Chikae Fukuoka I had some very interesting mentaiko dishes that I liked even more.
Where in Fukuoka:
6-15 Nishi Nakasu Chuo-ku.
In Japanese: 福岡県福岡市中央区西中洲6-15.
Website: www.mentaiju.com/mentaiju.