A note on the words: tonkotsu is the pork-bone ramen broth of Fukuoka, normally cloudy white from long boiling; chintan means the opposite, a broth kept clear. Buta soba is simply this shop’s name for its bowl — buta is pork. Chashu is the braised pork laid on top. Kabosu is a green Kyushu citrus, sharper than a lime, squeezed in at the end. Nakasu is Fukuoka’s main nightlife district. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Buta Soba Tsukiya, Fukuoka Airport on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want something good to eat today too. This is Hangover Meshi. Well, the time to go back to Tokyo has crept up on me. I had finished buying a full round of souvenirs at Fukuoka Airport when word came that the flight was delayed. Departure pushed back a full thirty minutes! Come to think of it, Fukuoka Airport has something called the Ramen Runway. So I went to look, and it is packed with tonkotsu ramen shops. Since I am here, let us eat one last bowl. I went round once and settled on Buta Soba Tsukiya, Fukuoka Airport. Come to think of it, I have a feeling I saw this place while drinking in Nakasu. There was a queue then, I think, but at the airport it looks like I can walk straight in.
Clear tonkotsu! Tonkotsu, and yet the soup appears to be clear. Now that is interesting!
Buta soba, 900 yen
Buta buta soba, 1,000 yen
I had already had lunch, so I suppose this counts as an early dinner. Thinking I could not eat all that much, I went for the ordinary buta soba.
Hand over the meal ticket and wait a while, reading the how-to-eat card on the counter.
Soup, spring onion, kabosu, and drink it to the bottom, it says. I am not sure about drinking it to the bottom.
After a while the ramen arrives.
Well now, it really is clear. It looks good.
The soup looks astonishingly clear — perhaps chintan tonkotsu is the right way to put it. One sip and a rich pork savor spreads slowly out, quite against expectation. As with the smell, there is no gaminess in the flavor at all, and the clarity of a whole-chicken broth sits alongside the depth of pork. I can see why someone would say you can drink this. It feels light in the mouth, with a faint sweetness left behind.
The noodles are medium-thin and straight. They have a firm-ish bite and carry the soup well. With every chew the scent of the wheat and the flavor of the pork layer softly over each other, and you cannot put the chopsticks down. The chashu is thinly sliced shoulder loin. Bite it and the juices seep out, the sweetness of the fat harmonizing beautifully with the salt of the soup. Yes, an easy tonkotsu ramen to eat.
Partway through, following the card on the counter, I added the spring onion, and the aroma lifted and the texture picked up a rhythm.
And then the finale: the kabosu. Give it a squeeze and the whole thing changes in an instant. Something in the oil of the peel, perhaps? The heavy soup is reset into something light, leaving only the savor of the pork and then vanishing. That gap is what makes it interesting.
Yes, I am completely full, but it was good!
I am glad I got to eat ramen before boarding. Put that way, the delay did me a favor. Something that would normally make you groan can be forgotten by eating something good. Food is a great thing. A bowl worthy of being the last tonkotsu ramen of the trip! Recommended.
Buta Soba Tsukiya, Fukuoka Airport (Ramen / Fukuoka Airport Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
