Shochu Bar Mogura

Work hard for the money, so you better treat yourself right! What a better why to relax but with good food, drinks and company? Tis’ the season for all of that ^^.

Free Shochu

In the Fukuoka Now Magazine the main spread is on Shochu in Japan. A couple foreigners decided to go check out a few places to try out Japanese Shochu, in the magazine as well there is a promotion. Until Dec 31, if you show the magazine at the restaurant you get a free glass of Shochu – WOW! How could you pass up this opportunity? So my friend and I decided to check out this one restaurant around the downtown area.

 

Shochu Bar Mogura

We got lost finding this place. Located on a residential street, this house was slightly tucked behind another building. It could have easily been missed, though luckily there was a small street sign that signaled something was there.

Sign: Motsunabe

This is an old heritage house, with the most eclectic collection of…stuff…everywhere, almost dating back to before WW1. The collection is a great way to keep you entertained as you discover items around the room, and the space is cozy but has very limited seating in the small designated area. The food is all made and prepared by the owner who carefully selected the menu to suit shochu. All I can say is… SO GOOD and service ROCKS!

Entrance.

 

Motsunabe & 3 hours of nomihoudai

The whole course was executed at certain times within the duration of 3 hours. Thank god too because there was so much food and it was all SO delicious. And of course, the magical words “nomihodai” – “all you can drink”. Lots of good food and nomihodai for the sweet price of around $29! The drinks were also the excellent quality as well, whereas in Vancouver drinks are watered down almost 90%.

Dear Japan,
Thank you for showing your love to your hard working people by giving great meals and drinks, at costs that is more than fair that I’ve encountered thus far.
I love you – Kampai!!

Oden: light meat ball appy.

Melt in your mouth seasoned tomato, on smoked baked bread.

The main course was Motsunabe. It’s like hotpot, with a miso pork soup base with veggies and intestines that can give off a soft chewy texture. Some people might not like it, but I really enjoyed it. Once most of the veggies and meat are eaten, then they reheat the soup and put in either rice, or champon (thick noodles).

Main course: Motsunabe with Champon.

Shochu.

With nomihodai and 3 hours, I made it my goal to try everything on the menu (Note: it was a small menu). I tried the Shochu, warm. The cup they gave me isn’t justifiable by the photo. The cup is actually larger and taller in real life, and really good. Shochu is really nice when warm because you can smell the aroma better, and I feel that it goes down smoother.
Happy Holidays! ^^

Octoberfest In Fukuoka

On Friday after work a few teachers and I went over to Bayern Fukuoka. A German sports bar downtown, and the only international German bar recognized by Germany itself. Well, the owner is German and married to a Japanese woman. Neither the teachers nor I have been, so we were all pretty excited. There are tons of stuff happening all around Fukuoka for Octoberfest though, this is just one of them.

Tabe-hodai & Nomi-hodai
Here in Japan they have this awesome thing called “Tabe-hodai” (all you can eat) and “Nomi-hodai” (all you can drink). Drinks include both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks 🙂
Prices are different wherever you go, but it’s probably the most interesting-est and coolest culture point about Japan.

Bayern & Octoberfest!

During the day, Bayern is a cafe style restaurant. There’s a menu, as well as bakery that takes up the left-side of the place, while the standing sports bar is in the back.

For Octoberfest, Bayern was offering Nomi-houdai & tabe-houdai for this event! Men were $40, and women were $30; plus, a $10 refundable deposit for a HUGE 1L drinking mug they give you. It felt like it was triple the size of those A&W mugs…Don’t lose it as that is your ticket to Nomi-hodai…but I was contemplating of just keeping the mug and not getting back my deposit. I didn’t know I could have done this until AFTER ><.

Armed with a colorful plastic wristband for the Tabe-hodai we headed in. It was slightly dim and a touch crowded by certain areas of the bar. Everyone was watching the soccer game Japan VS Argentina. The food was buffet style, and served in small portions.

Everything was delicious. The food was mainly German, with a few bits of Japanese options for the locals. It was delicious, and kept eating well into the night while my teachers had stopped after the first hour. I think my body missed Western food quite a bit.There was a huge drink menu for the Nomi-hodai, which included 6 German beers, a few Japanese alcoholic beverages, Western cocktails and highballs, non-alcoholic stuff, and more.

Bayern Fukuoka, International German Bar

Nijiikai – Shidax Karaoke

Usually with parties, there’s always an after party (or nijiikai). People head over to another place to drink, eat…and in many popular cases, Karaoke!

Shidax karaoke chain

After Bayern’s we went for a karaoke nijiikai! Shidax is one of the bigger karaoke chains, and really good in terms of song selection, cleanliness and services. Karaoke is quite cheap here, we got a deal of $10 for two hours. Sometimes you can get sets, like lunch & karaoke package.
The Shidax that I went to had an all you can drink (non-alcohol) station that hugged the side of the grand staircase, all guests were free to use this bar.

We sang for two hours, killed our throats and didn’t get home till 2:30am. The DD and I were both pretty awake considering we both had 2 cups of coffee at the bar. It was hard not to avoid going out for some late night ramen ~ sanjiikai!! (after-after party, or 3rd party).

Shidax’s main foyer & drink bar on the side

In case all the rooms are booked, guests can wait it out, and Karaoke in the waiting area until a room is available.