Seafood restaurants at Nagahama Fish Market

Nagahama Fish Market is a major wholesale market in central Fukuoka. It is a 10 minute walk from Akasaka station. The real market is only opened to the general public on the second Saturday of every month (from 9am to noon) and there are reports of long lines.

However, the market office complex (pictured above) hosts a number of seafood restaurants (the cluster is called ichiba kaikan,市場会館, market hall, in Japanese). These are spartan eateries, very affordable, where workers of the market and the nearby offices eagerly go for lunch. Some open very early to cater to the fish market’s workers schedule. It was a discovery in Fukuoka. I loved it. The seafood was very fresh and lunch menus were changing daily. I had lunch several times to try as many of the restaurants as I could.

The directory is pictured above. All the action is on the ground floor. Upstairs there is a small seafood museum (but all in Japanese).

Ichibazushi Uotatsu (魚辰)

First restaurant I will mention is located near the entrance and it a conveyor-belt sushi joint called Ichibazushi Uotatsu. The seafood was really fresh. But it was not easy to understand the price of the seafood on the conveyor-belt; this coupled with all of their “rules” made the visit unpleasant and I just had a few dishes. You can also order a la carte.

Okiyo (おきよ)

Okiyo is located in the back of the building and it is easy to recognize from the blue curtain (noren). They had an English menu. Most lunch menu were prized 700-800 yen and come with rice, miso soup, tofu, and pickles. I had deep-fried amadai. Impossible to find a better value in Fukuoka for a seafood lunch set.

Ichigyo Ichie (一魚一栄)

I went to Ichigyo Ichie for their fresh sashimi (1,400 yen), but they also had tempura and classic Fukuoka dishes like sesame mackerel. The sashimi set had over a dozen slices of sashimi: tuna, seabream, octopus, squid, salmon, greater amberjack. It came with miso soup, rice, pickles, and a salad as it is customary for these lunch sets.

Fukuuo Shokudo (福魚食堂)

Fukuuo Shokudo will get my award for the the nicest owner. He was very friendly and wanted to know where I was from. I ordered a tuna bowl with various cuts of tuna. The set had a large bowl of clam miso soup, tofu, and pickles. For 1000 yen (less than 10 USD) it was a great value. I also added a grilled mackerel for just 400 yen. Many dishes were on display on the counter inside the restaurant and could be picked juts by pointing my finger.

Of the most interesting eateries, I think I only missed Hakata Uogashi (博多魚がし). There is also a Chinese restaurant if you crave for it and a shop (see picture below).

This cluster of seafood restaurants was a great discovery and I would gladly have lunch in such a place every day of the week!

Where in Fukuoka:
3-11-3, Nagahama, Chuo-ku.
In Japanese: 中央区長浜3-11-3.
Tip: go a bit early, like 11.30am, to beat the lunch crowd.

Seafood feast with mentaiko and Ikizukuri dishes at Chikae Fukuoka

Researching Fukuoka, I learnt about this restaurant through a youtuber channel called Strictly Dumpling. As I have experienced in the past, these youtubers tend to be over-enthusiastic about the venues they visit. You will find here a more down-to-earth review with and at the end I will share a “ordering” strategy to enjoy this restaurant without breaking the bank.

The visit

I went there one afternoon to make a reservation. They have a reception where reservations are accepted throughout the day even if the restaurant is open only for dinner on weekdays. The reservation was not really necessary though, there were a lot of seats available at the counter on that evening.

The restaurant main dining room on the ground floor is truly beautiful with tanks filled with live seafood in the middle and two long ginkgo counters on the sides. Further tables are available behind the counters.

I was given a seat at the counter.

The horseradish (wasabi) was grated at the table. This was very classy, it is usually done in high-end omakase sushi restaurant. This kind of fresh wasabi is not so spicy as the one “in tubes”.

Two types of soy sauce were provided.

My first order was amadai fillet, a seasonal fish (more common in Kansai though). It was not so great and it was a micro-portion.

Then I wanted to try a Fukuoka quintessential dish, the local mackerel in sesame sauce. It was quite good, but again it was a micro-portion and I am pretty sure you can find better and cheaper options elsewhere. But I did not have a long time in Fukuoka to I took the plunge (it was not listed on the menu by the way, but they of course knew the dish).

Then I had two very interesting mentaiko dishes (they have a full page on the menu dedicated to mentaiko). The first was a kind of dumpling filled with mentaiko and with squid pulp all around. It was really good.

The second dish was nothing short of spectacular! It was a sardine neatly filled with mentaiko. The flavors were speaking the language of the sea. I understand it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

By the way, the company owning the restaurant is also a producer of seafood delicacies sold throughout Japan. The dumplings and some other mentaiko dishes are part of their offering. They have a retail shop close by the restaurant.

The restaurant is famous for their live seafood dishes (ikizukuri style). These dishes consist of sashimi and the rest of the fish is deep-fried (tempura or karaage style) or salt-grilled. The fish is prepared live.

Most of the fishes were very expensive. I decided to try the most accessible, the squid (ika) that is particularly renown for its tenderness in this region of Japan. The sashimi was brought to my table with a part of the squid still moving. Then I was left the sashimi and the rest was taken away to be deep-fried.

The result was some nice and tender fried squid. It was a portion for one person.

The check

All in all I spent 9,260 yen (86.5 USD). What to say? The level of service, quality of the seafood, and the decor commanded a premium price of course. The mentaiko dishes were very reasonably priced (less than 10 USD, maybe because part of the company’s retail offering), the live squid was ok (around 25 USD, for two would be 40). The amadai and mackerel dishes in terms of value for money were disappointing.

While keeping in mind the price tag, I would recommend the restaurant to try 1) one or two mentaiko dishes as I did, 2) maybe a marinated fish (I did not try them but there were some interesting options), 3) the live squid. This should keep your check under control (50-60 USD). If you start ordering sashimi or exotic fish, the check will soon skyrocket.

Finally, above you can see a picture of some of the company’s product on display in the retail store a few meters down the road.

Where in Fukuoka:
2-2-17, Daimyo, Chuo-ku.
In Japanese: 福岡市中央区大名2-2-17.
Website: chikae.co.jp/foreign/en/

Masterful execution and top-shelf ingredients at Otto e Mezzo Bombana Shanghai, at a price

Bombana is an Italian chef that made it big in Hong Kong: his restaurant in Central has three Michelin stars. From there he has been expanding in Asia: Macau, Beijing (where the restaurant is called Opera), and Shanghai.

I visited a couple of times the Shanghai’s restaurant (two Michelin stars) headed by chef Riccardo to better understand this Italian high cuisine. By the way, “Otto e Mezzo” of course is the title of a famous Fellini’s movie, but references to Fellini seem to end here.

The visit

This review is based on my second visit in April 2019, part of the ongoing Shanghai Michelin Scramble.

I had my reservation through Dining City (very simple) and I headed to the restaurant on a gloomy Sunday evening. It was a pity, because the restaurant also has a nice terrace and balcony on the sixth floor of a renovated building in the now called Rock Bund district.

The restaurant has an elegant dining room with tables reasonably spaced. To avoid bothering other guests I did not take a picture of the room, but you can check the restaurant’s website.

While I was still looking at the menu, I was served a welcome dish with three nibbles: a geometrically audacious pastry with diced salmon, another pastry with a sort of Russian salad, and half a cherry. I thought the staff was too hasty in delivering the plate or maybe it is their style. Apart from this, the service was spotless and all staff spoke English.

The bread basket was a bit underwhelming: white bread with olives, sourdough with sesame and corn bread. The sourdough was almost impossible to chew! Luckily, they also served some Italian grissini that were still warm and very nice.

There was another amuse bouche: a stracchino spuma with peas. The stracchino is an Italian cheese that I had never tried in this preparation that made it incredibly soft. It was a great dish and the peas felt very fresh and full of flavor.

The menu was divided in four sections: appetizers, pasta dishes, mains, and desserts. No appetizer stimulated my interest, but all pasta dishes looked great. I went for the homemade cavatelli (small pasta shells from eggless semolina dough) with seafood. There was king crab meat and two pieces of uni (sea urchin) on top. The dish was excellent.

My main was amadai fillet in a light coconut and shellfish broth with some fresh peas. The cooking fully respected the flavor and texture of the fish that came from Japan. Other mains available were lobster from Brittany, wagyu from Japan, and veal.

I ordered a dessert and before getting there I was offered a palate cleanser in the form of a very elaborated sorbet.

The dessert, called Chocolate Variation, was a small masterpiece. In a perfectlty coreographed presentation, the dish included a round hazelnut “moretto” (a homage to an Italian ice-cream), a scoop of chocolate ice cream, a ball of pistachio rocher (I guess using Ferrero Rocher material to enclose the pistachio) and, finally, two crispy tuilles cannoli with black and white chocolate. That was like a chocolate encyclopedia.

Before leaving, I was offered a final dish with pear jelly, pastry with cream and a “sandwich” with berries.

No wine for me, the still water was a Chinese spring water, Nongfu, that is also the best selling water in China. This came a bit to a surprise, as the water cost me 15 USD, for that money I would have expected some Italian bottled water.

The check

This three-course dinner cost me 1542 RMB or 229.5 USD.

Most appetizers and pasta dishes cost around 50 USD, a main costs around 100 USD and desserts around 30 USD.

All the dishes were perfect (apart from the bread). The ingredients were top of the top, super fresh and genuine. Was this worth the price? I do not think so. After all, these were not particularly innovative dishes, just very well executed dishes. I have no problems spending this kind of money for a meal, but I am seeking something more that I did not get in terms of creativity and surprise.

Where in Shanghai:
6-7/F, 169 Yuanmingyuan Lu
In Chinese: 圆明园路169号协进大楼6-7楼
Website: http://www.ottoemezzobombana.com/shanghai/