A note on the words: a yatai is a street food cart with stools around it, and in Fukuoka they line the riverside at night. Oden is an assortment of things simmered in a light dashi broth; daikon is the large white radish that goes into it. Mentaiko is spicy marinated pollock roe, a Fukuoka specialty. Yakitori are grilled chicken skewers. Tonkotsu is a broth boiled from pork bones, and Nagahama ramen is the Fukuoka style named after the district by the old fish market, with very thin straight noodles. Kaedama is a refill of noodles for the broth you still have. Nakasu is Fukuoka’s nightlife district. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Tacchan 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. Say Fukuoka and you say yatai. Last time I came to Fukuoka it was the middle of the pandemic and the yatai had been wiped out, so I never got to eat at one. That said, the yatai do not have a particularly good reputation. Everyone I asked told me they are nothing special: tourist prices, questionable hygiene, and locals do not drink at places like that.
But still. I am a tourist, so surely I want to try one, at least once. And some of them must be good, surely.
Every one of them was busy, but a seat happened to open up and I slipped in.
One dish per person, and they do hurry you along. Well, Tokyo has places like that too, so never mind.
So, meeting the minimum order per head, I settled in to enjoy the atmosphere.
This is exactly the season when drinking outdoors feels good.
The foot traffic is extraordinary, so the place is lively. There seem to be a lot of foreign tourists, and along with that the prices have grown confident. Well, Tsukiji is the same, so it is hardly unique to here.
Daikon, egg and two pieces of fish cake for 1,200 yen.
The oden itself has clearly been sitting a good while in a proper dashi and is straightforwardly tasty. I had wanted to eat oden at a yatai once, so this is good. It goes well with beer.
Mentaiko grilled until fragrant. Perfectly nice, as you would expect.
Yakitori. I suspect these were bought ready-made and grilled, but eaten in this atmosphere they do taste good.
Two hundred yen seems about fair, mind.
Tonkotsu ramen. It occurred to me that I had not eaten any since arriving in Fukuoka, so I ordered a bowl.
Nagahama ramen is the local style around here, after all. I have a feeling Nagahamaya was somewhere nearby. Thin noodles, and a tonkotsu broth with depth to it. Straightforwardly good, is it not. Tonkotsu bowls seem to come with few noodles, presumably because kaedama is assumed, and that is the good part. At this sort of small portion it is quite easy to eat.
So: the yatai. I can see what people mean when they say it is nothing special, but I had never been to one, and it was a very good experience. The food was properly tasty too. I do not suppose a local would go out of their way to a crowded place like this, but as a tourist, once, why not.
Tacchan (Ramen / Kushida Jinja-mae Station, Nakasu Kawabata Station, Gion Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★☆☆☆ 2.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
