A note on the words: a kappou is a mid-sized Japanese restaurant where the cooking is done in front of you, more formal than an izakaya and less so than a ryotei. Dashi is the Japanese stock made from kombu seaweed and dried fish. Tai chazuke is sea bream sashimi laid over rice with hot dashi or tea poured over it — here the fish is dressed in sesame sauce first. Ikizukuri, translated here as cut live, means the fish or squid is prepared and served while still moving. Geso are the legs of the squid, and they get battered and deep fried as tempura. An ohitsu is the wooden tub the rice is served from, and an izakaya is a Japanese pub. Yobuko, mentioned in passing, is a port in Saga famous for its squid. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Kappou Yoshida Hakata tenyamachi ten on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today too. This is Hangover Meshi. I had heard there was a place in Fukuoka doing very good tai chazuke, so I booked it: Kappou Yoshida Hakata tenyamachi ten. It is the signature dish of a restaurant that has been going for over sixty years, and by now it is known across the country as one of Fukuoka’s local specialties. Apparently the live-cut squid is famous here too, though, so I wanted to try that as well. A place with real atmosphere.
Squid, cut live — market price
Filefish, cut live — 3,850 yen
Mackerel, cut live — 9,350 yen
There is plenty on the menu, but the live-cut squid is priced at market rate. A nice touch. Slightly alarming, but it was unlikely to get out of hand. Yobuko is not far from here, after all, and if there is good squid to be had I want to eat it. The tai chazuke and the squid were already reserved, so all that was left was to wait for the food. I had rather overdone it the night before, so I skipped the drinks at lunch for once.
First to arrive was the live-cut squid. Market price. Of course it is, I thought. That is how impressive this squid is.
A very large squid. The color of the legs keeps shifting. Very much alive.
One slice and it is remarkably sweet.
Salt was the recommendation, so salt it was, and it is remarkably sweet.
It twitches a little as you chew, which is exactly what you come to a live cut for.
For raw fish it carries real depth of flavor, and yes, the salt is the way to eat it. Wasabi and ginger each have their own appeal.
Genuinely delicious. And at the end they offered to turn the legs into tempura, which I gladly accepted. While that was happening, the tai chazuke arrived.
Tai chazuke.
First to come out were beautifully arranged small dishes and glossy slices of sea bream, coated generously in sesame sauce. Knocked out on sight alone. The scent of toasted sesame and soy rises off it and your appetite accelerates at once. Have a mouthful plain, first. The bream is cut thick, with real spring to it, and the more you chew the more a refined sweetness comes out. The sesame sauce is rich without any sharp edges, mellow and moreish. It is a perfect match for bream with this much savor behind it, and by this point the rice is already unstoppable.
Then the main event: pour the tea over and turn it into tai chazuke. The warm dashi brings up the sesame aroma, and the bream turns faintly white. The gentle salt of the broth dissolves the rich sesame sauce all at once and the savor spreads. Japanese food you can drink, near enough. Your mouth fills with warmth and toasted aroma, and nothing but happiness. Delicious. The rice comes in a full ohitsu, too, and refills are free, so anyone after volume will be satisfied.
I was so taken with the tai chazuke that I had completely forgotten about the squid legs. Those legs. Unbelievably good.
Oh, right, the legs, I thought, and then took a bite and was astonished. Extremely tender, and the sweetness is not so much doubled as off the scale. This, I thought, must be the peak of what tempura squid legs can be. If this turned up at an izakaya you would be startled. A seriously luxurious plate of leg tempura. The sashimi was excellent too, but if someone told me the live cut existed for the sake of this, I would believe them. The tempura is that good, so if you order the live cut, please have the tempura afterwards.
So: Kappou Yoshida. The famous tai chazuke is of course excellent, but it was the squid that took me by surprise. The impact of the live cut, and then the tempura afterwards — that was quite something. Since arriving in Fukuoka I have eaten nothing but food good enough to startle me. What a city. Plenty of time left on this trip, so the eating continues.
Kappou Yoshida Hakata tenyamachi ten (Japanese cuisine / Gofukumachi Station, Gion Station, Nakasu Kawabata Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
