Fukuoka: Ramen-Making and Matcha Experience
At didi's 70-year-old Japanese home, join us for a relaxed ramen and tea experience. Create your own Hakata-style ramen, then enjoy matcha and sweets in a cozy tea room.
Mentaiko is spicy Alaskan pollock roe, cured with chilli, soy and dashi. Fukuya's 1949 Hakata recipe adapted Korean salted cod roe technique; eaten on rice or stuffed into bread rolls.
Toshio Kawahara opened Fukuya in Hakata in 1949 and adapted the Korean salted cod roe technique (myeongnan-jeot) into the Japanese form: pollock roe cured in chilli, dashi, soy and sake. The product spread through Kyushu in the 1950s and exported across Japan in the 1980s and 1990s. Today Fukuya in Higashi-ku and Yamaya (founded 1974) are the two big factory shops. Mentaiko is eaten on white rice as mentaiko gohan, stuffed into French rolls at Full Full Bakery, or tossed through pasta and Hakata udon. The shape and seasoning carries Korean DNA but the dashi-cure is Japanese.
3 editor picks for Mentaiko in Fukuoka, ranked by editorial score. All Fukuoka signature dishes · Mentaiko across every city.
Fukuya Aji no Mentaiko Factory ★ 4.3
hakata · Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-0068, Japan
Fukuya's mentaiko factory shop reopened July 2025 as Fukuya Aji no Mentaiko Factory. Same-day mentaiko on the second floor, plus a counter for rice sets.
Full Full Bakery ★ 4.3
hakata · Hakata-ku, Fukuoka 812-0012, Japan
Full Full's mentaiko French roll has been a Hakata souvenir since 2002: a soft baguette split and stuffed with mentaiko-butter, sold by the dozen.
Yamaya Canal City Hakata ★ 4.2
hakata · Hakata-ku, Fukuoka 812-0018, Japan
Yamaya's Canal City B1 sells mentaiko by the gram next to a small dine-in counter pouring mentaiko rice sets with miso soup and free-flow pickles.
Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide
Mentaiko makes more sense with someone from Fukuoka explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
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