Toast of the Town: Yatai Culture in Fukuoka
Photograph provided by Fukuoka City.
Fukuoka’s foodways are world-class, encompassing everything from mentaiko (salted cod roe) and Hakata ramen to shochu, the unofficial spirit of Kyushu. But it’s not just the mouthwatering menus themselves that draw visitors from across Japan and overseas. Fukuoka is also famed for its yatai—characterful street stalls that combine dining, drinking, and down-home hospitality in one compact package. We spoke to Stephen Lyman, shochu ambassador and Fukuoka raconteur, about how to enjoy the yatai experience to the fullest.
Stephen Lyman
“What makes Fukuoka’s yatai unique is that they’re on the street, but they’re intended as places to drink and socialize,” says Lyman. “The casual outdoor setting breaks down barriers. At an izakaya, the next table over will never talk to you, but in a yatai it’s almost inevitable. Even if you don’t speak Japanese, the chances are someone will approach you in English and make you feel welcome.”
Each yatai district has its own distinct character. Dockside Nagahama is the birthplace of Nagahama ramen, a lighter take on tonkotsu ramen that fishmongers eat as breakfast before work. In Tenjin, yatai nestle beneath towering department stores and other buildings. Nakasu’s yatai stretch along the river beneath cherry trees. (Photographs provided by Fukuoka City.)
Each yatai district has its own distinct character. Dockside Nagahama is the birthplace of Nagahama ramen, a lighter take on tonkotsu ramen that fishmongers eat as breakfast before work. In Tenjin, yatai nestle beneath towering department stores and other buildings. Nakasu’s yatai stretch along the river beneath cherry trees. (Photographs provided by Fukuoka City.)
Each yatai district has its own distinct character. Dockside Nagahama is the birthplace of Nagahama ramen, a lighter take on tonkotsu ramen that fishmongers eat as breakfast before work. In Tenjin, yatai nestle beneath towering department stores and other buildings. Nakasu’s yatai stretch along the river beneath cherry trees. (Photographs provided by Fukuoka City.)
Fukuoka is home to around a hundred yatai today, mostly standing shoulder-to-shoulder in traditional yatai areas like Nagahama, Tenjin, and riverside Nakasu. Only sole traders are allowed to run yatai—no corporations or chains—which makes every yatai a fiercely individual, self-contained world, 3 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep, that reflects its proprietor’s taste in everything from decor and construction to menu and drink list. Yatai also have to be disassembled down and stored completely out of sight during the daylight hours, so the whole setup has to be optimized for setup and breakdown as well. Fortunately, nothing fosters creativity like restraints.
“The classic yatai food is gyoza, ramen, oden, yakitori, yakisoba, and yaki-ramen,” says Lyman. “People should definitely try these when they visit Fukuoka!” “Yaki-ramen,” a Fukuoka yatai specialty, is a ramen-inspired take on stir-fried noodles.
Piping-hot oden is classic winter yatai fare (Photograph provided by Fukuoka City.)
As for liquid refreshment, Lyman says nothing goes with classic yatai food like shochu. “It’s the native spirit of Kyushu, and very little is exported. A visit to Fukuoka is the perfect chance to give it a try.”
Honkaku or “authentic” shochu is made using koji mold and local agricultural products with one round of distillation in a pot still. The most popular agricultural ingredient is sweet potato, which thrives in southern Kyushu’s mineral-rich (and rice-unfriendly) volcanic soil, but over fifty ingredients are officially allowed. “The array of flavors and aromas that can be expressed through shochu is vast,” says Lyman. “I truly believe that there’s a shochu for everyone.”
Shochu can be drunk straight, on the rocks, or mixed with warm or cold water. “If you’re visiting Fukuoka in the winter, I’d recommend a sweet potato shochu served oyuwari style, which means blended with hot water, plus the traditional winter dish of oden.” says Lyman. “In warmer months, shochu with soda is refreshing, and goes well with yakitori. Try some Hakata-style chicken skin skewers—the tight wrapping makes them crispy and delicious. Finally, when finishing off the night’s yatai-hopping, the traditional shime bowl of ramen, yakisoba, or yaki-ramen pairs great with a barley or rice shochu on the rocks .”
Yakitori skewers go well with shochu with soda
Delicious as traditional yatai fare is, it’s far from the end of the story. Ingenious proprietors have found ways to push the yatai envelope in surprising directions. Jerk chicken, classic French cuisine, elevated izakaya food, modern Western dining complete with wine pairings—there’s a yatai for just about every taste. We followed Lyman to a couple of particular favorites.
Megane Coffee & Spirits is a street cafe in a box
Pour-over coffee, yatai-style
Blending black coffee and shochu
Our first stop was Megane Coffee & Spirits. This unique yatai serves pour-over coffee and a carefully curated selection of coffee-friendly liquor, including craft gin and shochu from Yamatozakura Shuzo, a distillery where Lyman volunteers.
“The coffee infusions, made by soaking coffee beans in shochu or whisky, are also fun to try,” says Lyman.
Megane Coffee & Spirits’ proprietor spent nearly thirty years in the corporate world before deciding that Fukuoka needed a coffee yatai and setting out to make it happen. His stall, a stylish exemplar of the “neo-yatai” movement that pays tribute to yatai culture while drawing on contemporary design language, won a Good Design Award in 2021. It takes two hours to set up and three to break down every single night—certainly evidence of dedication to yatai culture. City ordinances prohibit take-home product sales at yatai, but by popular demand the coffee blends used at Megane Coffee & Spirits are sold online.
Ebi-chan packs an incredible range of spirits into a tiny space
Ebi-chan packs an incredible range of spirits into a tiny space
Our mini-yatai-crawl ended at Yatai Bar Ebi-chan, a full-service yatai cocktail bar run by a husband-and-wife team. “Ebi-chan recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary—it was opened by the father of the current proprietor,” explains Lyman. The original Ebi-chan’s face is still on the yatai’s coasters, revealing a distinct father-son resemblance.
Yatai Bar Ebi-chan can make any classic cocktail you might care to order, including cocktails made with seasonal fruits and a unique negroni made with shochu instead of gin. “I was the first customer to order that,” admits Lyman. “The shochu’s lower alcohol content and floral aromas make it a beautiful drink. Now it’s one of their recommendations!” Foods on offer include pickled ginger and a “Hakata pizza” topped with local delicacies like takana greens and mentaiko.
Lyman’s contribution to cocktail culture: the shochu negroni
Hakata pizza with mentaiko and takana greens
Ebi-chan does mocktails, too, like this Saratoga cooler and Sand Lyon
Are there any unwritten rules first-time visitors should be aware of? “Be careful not to cut in line,” says Lyman. “The line for a yatai might be across the sidewalk from the entrance, so as not to block foot traffic.” What looks like an open spot at the counter might already be claimed by someone waiting outside, so take a look around before stepping inside.
Quite a few yatai offer multilingual service, and a clear majority have multilingual menus, so keep an eye out for these features if necessary. (Incidentally, if you’re backpacking through Japan, note that bulky bags are a no-no at yatai—space is at an absolute premium!)
Yatai seating is comfortable but snug
In centuries past, yatai were found all over Japan, but most were regulated out of existence over the twentieth century. Fortunately for yatai enthusiasts, Fukuoka recognized their tourist potential just in time to turn the trend around. Today, there’s even a Yatai Concierge at Fukuoka Airport. Meanwhile, many other cities across Japan have set up “yatai villages” (yatai-mura) in courtyards and laneways, hoping to revive the yatai tradition in a less anarchic fashion.
“The best way to enjoy Japan is to be open to new experiences,” says Lyman. “The yatai is an absolutely Japanese way to dine and drink that has survived for hundreds of years. Everyone should visit Fukuoka to try it before it disappears!”
Stephen Lyman on some popular shochu brands you might find at a yatai
- iichiko (Sanwa Shurui)
- “This was actually my very first shochu—I tried it at an izakaya in New York, and the rest is history. It’s a blended barley shochu, which makes it a safe bet. You can find it almost everywhere in Japan.”
- Satsuma Shima Bijin (Nagashima Kenjo)
- “This sweet potato schochu brand is actually a cooperative. Several families down in western Kagoshima distill seperately and then blend the results together. A beautiful shochu that goes great with hot water, cold water, soda—it’s highly versatile, or ‘almighty’ as they say in Japan.”
- Unkai (Unkai Shuzo)
- “Unkai is made from soba, meaning buckwheat. This is an unusual base ingredient for a spirit, which might make it an interesting experience. The difficulty of growing rice in Kyushu, especially southern Kyushu, encouraged experimentation. I’d say the results speak for themselves.”
- Nakanaka (Kuroki Honten)
- “Nakanaka is a barley shochu from Kuroki Honten. They actually grow the barley themselves in their own fields. They also make a sweet potato shochu called Yamaneko that can be found in many yatai and elsewhere in Japan.”
For more on shochu, see below!
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