Travel Japan's capital of food stalls

[thomas]

CNN with a special feature on Fukuoka, the Japanese city that dominates street food.

Fukuoka, Japan's sixth largest city by population, has more open-air food stalls than the rest of the country combined. These stalls are called yatais, and they're an indelible part of what makes Fukuoka's food scene so special. Think of them as a sort of foodie Cinderella. Yatais are assigned specific, highly coveted spots at major pedestrian thoroughfares. However, they can only operate at night and must completely dismantle or remove their stalls before morning commuters begin swarming the sidewalks. The only clue that a yatai might materialize later is a ground-level water spigot. But at night, the city transforms. Carts and vans seem to appear by magic, serving everything from gyoza (in Fukuoka, these popular dumplings are served in mini, bite-size form) to ramen to meat skewers to a local chicken hotpot stew called oden, paired with ice-cold Asahi or Sapporo beers.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/fukuoka-japan-street-food-yatai-intl-hnk/index.html

 

[Grandpa Frank]

When I was in Fukuoka , they warned us to look for how places washed their dishes. No hot running water , avoid them.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

When I was in Fukuoka , they warned us to look for how places washed their dishes. No hot running water , avoid them.View attachment 108449

Water and sewage and the hygiene management are checked strictly now.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

Late-Night Fukuoka: Yatai Food Stalls and Stories Behind Them!


As I did not live in Hakata though I live in Fukuoka-Prefecture, I have not eaten with a Yatai.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I kept looking for old friends in this video. Bought back good memories.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

I kept looking for old friends in this video. Bought back good memories.

Possibly Uncle Frank-san may know this Yatai.
Tempura Yatai in business for 70 years.
天ぷら専門店 玄海
Well-established Hakata stand. The menu only as for the tempura! Freshly-fried tempura and beer are the best.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I must confess , I was the world's fussiest eater when in Japan. I did not like seafood , rice , any vegetables and most all of Japanese normal foods. When off base , I ate at an American style hotel with a restaurant that had foods I did like. Most of the time I ate when on base to avoid eating any Japanese foods. After I got married , I learned to eat what was in front of me and the wife did not spoil me. There was a small Japanese restaurant near my apartment in Japan and I would teach the chef how to make American type food and he would try hard to learn what I liked. When I look back at how I was in Japan , I was much like a spoiled child.