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.

Where to eat Motsunabe in Fukuoka

4 editor picks for Motsunabe in Fukuoka, ranked by editorial score. All Fukuoka signature dishes · Motsunabe across every city.

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Make it at home

Serves 41 hr 30 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g beef offal (small intestine), blanched
  • 800g shredded green cabbage
  • 1 large bunch garlic chives, cut into 5cm lengths
  • 100g bean sprouts
  • 200g Korean miso paste OR 100ml shoyu
  • 1L dashi stock
  • 6 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 15g ginger, julienned
  • 1 small red chilli, sliced
  • 400g champon noodles, for the finish

Method

  1. Blanch the offal for 10 minutes in boiling water, drain, rinse.
  2. In a clay pot or shallow heavy casserole, layer cabbage at the base, then offal, then bean sprouts, then a final layer of garlic chives on top.
  3. Whisk the miso (or shoyu) into the dashi stock with garlic, ginger and chilli. Pour gently over the vegetables to just submerge the cabbage layer.
  4. Cover and bring to a hard simmer over the table burner or stove. Cook 25 to 30 minutes until the cabbage softens and the offal is tender.
  5. Serve from the pot at the table. When two-thirds eaten, drop the champon noodles into the remaining broth and cook 3 minutes.

Editor tip. The garlic chive layer wilts onto the offal and is the dish's defining seasoning. Do not under-chive.

Common allergens: Soy, Gluten, Egg.