Kyushu Bike Adventure 11 – Kitakyushu to Beppu
Get up, Tucker. On your bike, son. Big day ahead. And this foldy, it’s not going to ride itself. That massive pork spare rib, meatball with egg yolk, chicken jidori, guoza from last night. There’s calories to burn. Let’s not talk about the Matsunab. Okay, time to roll. The city fades into rice patties and becomes a distant memory. Kitakushu. Yep, I like it. Now it’s rice for days, their grain tops swaying in the breeze. Small lonely roads cutting through fields and pristine little aotments. Perfect cycling territory for kilometers in every direction. I get sidetracked by some farmers and then mesmerized by this machine. Nice ride, bro. I didn’t realize the GoPro was filming as I snuck past their trucks. Next stop, right through this forest and Shinshitken Mango Shrine. No shortage of memorial stones here. I’m loving these cow sculptures, too. May peace prevail on Earth. You see these all over Japan. Simple but powerful. The gardens are huge, tranquil, not a soul to be seen anywhere. An empty togate path, a vacant fox shrine. What a dream. Looks like the Kyoto tourist magnet is doing its thing. A really great spot, but I’m getting hungry, so I settle up. It’s pretty rural out here, and food spots are scarce. So when I see this little diner, I’m straight through the door. Tucker, just a quick lunch. So I’ve come from Kit Kyushu in a big day on the bike so far. And I’m in this little town of Chuo and I’ve got some Tori Namban here. Has a little set. Has a little bento box. It’s got some miso soup, some rice, some pickles, etc. And then Tory Namban. I’m very, very hungry and very excited for this. So namban chicken comes from Miyazaki Prefecture and it’s a little bit different to Karag because normally the sauce makes it less crispy. Actually, it’s not crispy at all, which doesn’t sound good, right? But I would challenge you to try this because I reckon it’s better than karag. And the sauce, it’s like a tart sauce. It’s got eggs in it, but it’s also got a vinegar. So, let’s try. Really nice. This is actually quite crunchy. So, this sauce, what I really like about it is it’s a tarte, but it’s a real sour one. A real hearty miso with pork, veg, mushrooms, plenty going on. Super good. And because I’m carb loading, this is somewhere between ayakodon and a katsudon. So, it’s chicken katsu with egg on top and a rice ball. Look at that egg. It’s like barely cooked. Have a look at that. M over a bed of rice. Really light soy, some onions, some spring onions. Simple, hearty, delicious. So, I’m going to smash all of this. And then I’ve got quite a few KS. I got to get to a castle. That’s the goal. I’ll see you there. Post lunch, I push on a bit sluggish while my stomach settles. Good roads with wide bike paths. And as Nikkatu rolls into view across the Yamakuni River, it’s looking sublime. Seaw walls and all. Up ahead is Nakatsu Castle and the adjoining Ki Shrine. It’s all stunning. But I’m feeling a little temple fatigued, so I don’t stick around. Just long enough to acknowledge the military shells adorning some memorial stones. Interesting. At Natsu Station, there’s this cool tile mural of Fukuzawa Yukichi, the 10,000 yen guy, born right here. He’s a pioneer for modern Japanese education. Respect. I smash a quick snack. Hop on a limited express and in no time, I’m in Beu. And nice accommodation options here. Midweek in this tourist town means great deals. I’ve never filled a bath from the kitchen before. Awesome. Damn, big ride today. I’m cooked and need food. No surprises to an isakaya. Tucker, you’re up. All right, so I made it to Beu. It’s been a massive day coming from Kitakushu. Not all the way by bike. There was a bit of a train journey involved, but it was a long day in the saddle. And so I feel like I’ve definitely earned my massive sized beer. And I found an izakaya. Now this place beep. It seems like a Japanese tourist town place with lots of hot springs and lots of onen and things like that. There’s plenty of tourist infrastructure here except it’s not very busy. So it is a Tuesday today and I feel like on the weekends it would just be absolutely rammed. Really happy to be here but it’s kind of it’s curious because it just feels like offse you know. Anyway, this is described as the best Wagyu. It’s quite pricey, so I’m hoping it’s good. I’m going to load that up with some wasabi. So, have a look. Nice chunk of wasabi. Let’s see if this Wagyu is any good. We are back in the realm of butter imitating beef. Or is it beef imitating butter? Whatever the case, it’s absolutely delicious. Not chewy at all. It’s just soft and succulent and easy to eat. All right, let me try it with this lemon. So, let’s try it. It’s just too good. So, original specialty here is to 10. Just looks like fish, right? But it’s actually chicken and it’s tempura chicken. It comes with this yellow sauce. And let’s try. So, that’s good. It’s got a really soft tempura coating and succulent chicken in the middle. And this on the side that is a punchy punchy mustard. This is a local regional specialty because tempora chicken. I didn’t know it existed but in this region it does. So there you go. And once again is coming through with the goods cuz you just go into a local izakaya and they’ve got the regional specialties just on the menu front and center. So yeah, very delicious, very original beu as well as the mustard comes with this tempora dipping sauce. So, let’s try it. Pork trotters. See if I can pull a piece off. Loaded it with that chili sauce. And let’s try it. Oh, yum. This has been cooked for a long time. So, that’s like a sweet chili miso and it’s really quite spicy. So, this has been cooked for a long time and then I can see it’s been finished on the grill. So, over charcoal, no doubt. And look at that. It just pulls away. This is delicious. Try this. Yum. All right. So far so good. You can see the beer is slowly depleting. And now we have yam and cheese steak. It’s called I remember ordering steak in Nagoya. like this nagoya food. It said steak on the menu and it came with this hot plate like this with a bunch of veg on it. And I was extremely disappointed that I wasn’t going to be eating this big juicy steak, but never got to the bottom of that one. So, what do I see here? This is just like some kind of 1980s French dish. Like a gratin or something. So, it just looks like a bunch of cheese. And apparently there’s some yam in there somewhere. Okay, so the yam’s been blended. You think mashed potatoes but with yam instead of potato. And then a bunch of cheese, seaweed, bonito flakes, and call it a steak. Why not? That baked cheese deliciousness. Nothing particularly interesting about it, but of course it’s delicious. So, tomorrow I’m going to be exploring Beu a bit before I go on. I not going to be traveling too far. I think I’m going to Ita tomorrow, which is only about 20 km away. So, I’ll explore Beu in the morning and then I’ll head out to Oita and see what’s happening there. All right, see you later. What a day. Calories in, calories out, then calories in again. Tomorrow, I’ll be exploring Beu, this little hotring town, another castle, the hills, and foot baths. Then expect a ryukudon which is a regional specialty. Later I press on to it. It’s raining by the way. Raining hard pretty much all day with no let up. Anyway, hit it and I’ll see you in the next installment. [Music]
Flying from Jakarta Indonesia to Fukuoka Japan for a bicycle tour on a Brompton folding bike. Expect to see Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kitakyushu, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Kumamoto and plenty of towns in between. I ride, I eat, I ride, I eat, I rinse, I repeat. 18 episodes. Ramen, gyoza, onigiri, miso black cod, Imari beef, Takuro rice, kushiyaki, sashimi, combini, okonomiyaki, sushi, yakitori, yakiniku, tonkatsu, tonkotsu, tempura, soba, udon, matsunabe, sake, keiseki, not gonna lie, I do a lotta eating.
Against all odds:
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