Kyushu Bike Adventure 2 – Fukuoka to Karatsu
ramen. Ramen. Ramen. Oh. Oh. Oh. Time to ride. Oh no. Yep. Time to ride. Tucker. Is this bike thing even a good idea? I’m not so sure. Right. Better fuel up first. I grabbed an oniri and an egg salad sandwich. Yes, Anthony Bourdain. Very nice. All right. West to Karatu. I’ve never heard of Karatu before this, but that’s the destination 50 km west. By the end of this video, I’ll realize that Karatu is the most incredible little Japanese town. But for now, it’s time to suffer. Now, I know looking back that I was about to get real fit, real quick. But for now, only suffering existed. The going was slow. The hills felt like mountains. My foldy didn’t have the gears I needed, and I was searching for him like a lost tourist. The sun was brutal. The legs, they were screaming in the seat. It was destroying my ass. I needed a break and took a moment to check out this cool roadside garage. Is that an S2000? An NSX? Why didn’t I rent one of them instead? Soon after, my chain started skipping. Tried fixing it myself and made it worse. Now I couldn’t hold on to any gears. I had broken my foldy on my first morning of riding. After fuffing about for most of the afternoon, I did the sensible thing. I gave up and jumped on a train. With the career straight, sparkling outside, I managed to get the derailer working again. Looks like I had damaged a cable while folding the bike. A simple rookie error, but I think my Gorilla Pod can stop that cable from catching, so it lives there now. Anyway, the train ride was stunning. And look at that sunset. It was dark by the time I rolled into Karatu and that place had a vibe. Can’t quite put it into words, but some places in Japan just feel magical. And that magic dust had been sprinkled quite liberally on Karatu, that’s for sure. But I was beat, starving, and ready for some comfort. Found this izakaya that was just cozy, warm, welcoming. Tucker, time to eat, son. So, I just got into Karatu and first vibes at the place. I knew nothing about this place. Just chose it randomly. It’s close to Puka, so it’s only a bike ride away. Um, and it’s just this kind of looks like a real traditional vibe town. Looks super super cool and very very few tourists, but lots of locals and straight to an izakaya. The best isizakayas I’ve found in Japan are in these kind of local towns. Really happy with the vibes I got as soon as I came through the door. It’s just like wall to ceiling full of locals and maybe Japanese tourists and it just looks so traditional. So, the menu was quite challenging. There’s like five pages just like this. Except I noticed that they’ve got number one, number two, and number three most popular choices. So, guess what I went for? All three of them. And look at this absolute piece of culinary art. Are you jealous? I’m guessing there’s some mackerel, there’s some octopus, there’s maybe some king fish, there’s some uni and some squid as well and a couple of other things, white fishes that I could guess if you want me to, but no real idea. So, let’s start. I’m guessing this first one is mackerel. It has a lovely shiny coat. So, I’ll just load that up with some wasabi. Wasabi and soy. And let’s find out if I’m right. Actually, I’m not sure it is mackerel. Doesn’t have that strong mackerel flavor. Look at that oonie. Wow, that is so fresh and so clean. You know, sometimes uni has a little bit fishy flavor. That is some of the best ooni I think I’ve ever had. That is just plain. What else have we got here? We’ve got this. Yum. Fishake. Fish cake. Very hot. hot. Isn’t she lovely? All right, check it out. It’s kind of light fish. I wonder what it is. Very clean, very lacking flavor. Just a nice freshness. And finally, we’ve got this octopus tentacle. This also looks very good. I’m going to eat this clean. The whole plate super fresh, super clean. We’re just by the ocean and this has not traveled far. I feel like it was swimming around not too long ago. Amazing. [Music] All right. Number three. Number three. Number two. Number three. Number one. One, two, three. Okay, I will eat it in that order. So, after that plain sushimi perfection, a little bit more beer, it’s time for this fish cake. Going try to split this apart. So, I’ve picked up a chunk of that. It looks very oniony, very kind of stodgy. And then deep fried. Little bit of the mayonnaise. Well, a lot of the mayonnaise. Super nice. It’s a fishcake, but it’s not overly fishy. Got lots of onions in there. It’s kind of soft and springy and spongy and it’s got a lot of oil going on there. So hot, golden, delicious. Really delicious. Fan’s favorite number three. It’s like a beef sizzling plate. Slices of beef on a bed of bean shoots, some spring onions on the top, and then a sauce. Let’s find out what that sauce is. Wow. So that sauce I was expecting like a miso, but it’s actually like a buttery ginger and maybe some citrus as well. Probably some bean shoots. So good. That is just tender. That is some real easy eating. So I’ve had the three most popular things in here. Let’s go back to the menu. [Music] So, I’ve sorted out round two for us and we’re starting with sake and beautifully presented with flowers, no less. So, we’ll try this. Cheers. Plain, mild flavor and easy drinking from this exact region. All right, the second course has arrived and it’s beef tongue. Now, look how thick and fat that is. I’m very excited. It comes with this. So, I don’t know much about this, but So, that just looks like a cut of steak. Dip it into that. Let’s try it. M. Wow. Ridiculous. Yeah. I honestly wouldn’t be able to distinguish that if I saw that on a plate. I’m just thinking steak. But you can see there’s a little bit of like a blood vessel or something going on. And so that hints the fact that it’s actually not just meat, it’s tongue. I try to describe this. Now, we’re comparing this to the most delicious steak. Filt minion. You can get tough tongue, but if you get it like this, like you’re comparing it to the finest of steaks. What else did I order? Crab rouad. That’s right. And finally, we’ve got crab gratin. Not crab rouad. Like I said, similar kind of vibe in the head, but this one’s really cheesy. Sloppy, cheesy, steamy goodness. M. Super good. Tastes like bchamel with that layer of cheese on the top and then the crab coming through as well. Reminds me of like western food from maybe the 1980s. Cheese melted on the top. And they do that a bit over here in Japan is they’ve taken things from 1980s or 1990s European cuisine and it’s just kind of hung around here and it’s still celebrated here. It’s kind of a really bizarre kind of thing that you’ll find over here and it’s something that I love because you know there’s memories to my childhood there. Have a look at that. Just that burnt cheese, crab flavor. Mainly cheese actually. Mainly cheese flavor. M. stodgy bimmell. So good. All right. Ongiri. And then finally to finish this feast, beautifully presented again, yaki onigiri. So that is oniri and then grilled over charcoal. Ongiri or triangle rice, up to you. So good. Really salty. There’s like a light sauce on there. with the same being grilled. And it’s just crunchy. It’s warming. It’s hearty. It’s just rice, but it’s also delicious. That is probably enough food for me. But, you know, it’s a cycle tour. I’m cycling tomorrow. Putting some kilometers down. So, car loading. Next episode, I’ll be diving deeper into Karatu, a place pulled straight out of the pages of a fairy tale. Then it’s off to Kashima, where I find an 80s style diner serving oyakodon and omo rice. Want to see where this ride takes me? Well, tag along and let’s keep rolling. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [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.
Music by: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: AZTQDRA1MSA1X1BV
Artist: : Nick Petrov
@Japan @Kyushu @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 @Fukuoka @Nagasaki @Kitakyushu @Miyazaki @Kagoshima @Kumamoto @drone @foldy @Brompton @bike @bicycle @biketour @oita @Imari @karatsu @kashima @isahaya @miyajidake @beppu @nakatsu @hells @azamui @saiki @nobeoka @takachiho @takachihogorge @sakurajima
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