Motsunabe is the Hakata offal hotpot, simmered with garlic chives and cabbage in a miso or soy-sauce broth, finished with champon noodles. Yamanaka codified the miso style in 1984.
Motsunabe came from Fukuoka's postwar Korean community, who brought the practice of cooking beef offal in a hotpot format. The dish stayed local until Yamanaka opened in Ohashi in 1984 and codified the miso-based version with garlic chives and cabbage; Rakutenchi followed with the soy-sauce style. Through the 1990s motsunabe boomed nationally as a Hakata regional specialty. The champon-noodle finish is a Yamanaka invention. The dish runs from October through March in most rooms; some carry it all year.
4 editor picks for Motsunabe in Fukuoka, ranked by editorial score. All Fukuoka signature dishes · Motsunabe across every city.
Hakata Motsunabe Yamanaka Akasaka ★ 4.6
akasaka · Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810-0042, Japan
Yamanaka invented miso motsunabe in 1984 and codified the Hakata offal hotpot. The Akasaka branch is the easiest of three to reach in central Fukuoka.
Motsunabe Rakutenchi Tenjin So-Honten ★ 4.5
imaizumi · Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810-0021, Japan
Rakutenchi Tenjin flagship: three floors, 240 horigotatsu seats, the largest motsunabe room in Kyushu. Soy-sauce base, mountain of garlic chives.
Hakata Motsunabe Yamanaka Hakata ★ 4.4
hakata · Hakata-ku, Fukuoka 812-0013, Japan
The Hakata Station branch of Yamanaka miso-motsunabe original, closer to the shinkansen than the Akasaka room, with the same recipe since 1984.
Hakata Motsunabe Yamanaka Ohashi Honten ★ 4.2
akasaka · Minami-ku, Fukuoka 815-0035, Japan
The original 1984 Yamanaka, a warehouse building in Ohashi where miso motsunabe was first codified. Hardest to reach of the three Yamanaka rooms; quietest.