Bastian Falkenroth is in town and he rings me up to check out his old place. The Hakata has opened shop just a few weeks ago and we want to find out what’s what. .
When you enter the place it all feels a little unreal. The place still feels familiar but it looks vastly different as the interior has changed and adjusted to a Japanese style with booth like constructions. However the real action takes place at the former U. where only the core of the former bar construction has been left and many tables have found their way into the small room which now can host approx. 26 people. .
We take a deep tour across the menu with sushi and everything else that you normally can’t get at other Japanese restaurants here, such as cow tongue sashimi, salsify sticks, fried satsuma sticks or silk tofu with bonito flakes. .
The menu reflects the cuisine of Hakata, Fukuoka in the South of Japan. All of the dishes are very tasty while being very elegant and delicate in style. Pricing is somewhat irritating as it does not seem to reflect what you will receive on your plate. At least it feels like some of the dishes are very fairly priced or even cheap while others seem expensive. When you know the menu you might be able to eat very good for a fair price. Sushi is at top level and the tamago is divine. I never would have thought that I would say this about tamago at some point. Very interesting dishes and new (to me) things to discover while I did not necessarily approve of every single dish such as the cooked tuna or the chicken with lotus and glass noodles. .
We haven’t tried the Hakata style Hotpot and there are still items missing on the menu. We will have to wait and see when the Hakata is fully up and running. My first impression is a mixed bag but it’s definitely high quality food.
Don’t you just love it when new Japanese joints open up shop?
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