The World's Best Sushi and Unique Food Experiences Await You in Fukuoka

Over 40 years of history stand behind Kikuzushi, a sushi restaurant originally founded in 1980 in Fukuoka city’s Hakata ward as a small shop with just 6 seats. 8 years later, it relocated to a quiet and unassuming residential neighborhood in Kasuga city, where it has remained ever since. Away from the hustle and bustle of busier districts, international visitors will truly feel as though they’ve discovered a hidden gem when they enter this Michelin-starred (since 2019) establishment in the Kasugakoen district.

Save for the bright street sign, the restaurant doesn’t really look out of place in the surrounding residential neighborhood. But behind the understated façade lies a simple but spacious and sophisticated space. There are only 10 seats at the counter, where the happy few can witness the chef’s masterful techniques honed after years of careful training. This is a place that encapsulates the best of antique charm, with a wooden counter built from a centenarian ginkgo tree and many elements kept or repurposed from the old shop after its major renovation in 2014.

The art of sushi runs through the veins of chef Yusuke Seguchi, who decided to continue the family tradition as the second generation of Kikuzushi. His training lasted for an entire decade in Kougyoku, one of the best sushi restaurants in Fukuoka. His European adventure began after he was invited to the Principality of Monaco as the head sushi chef of the renowned Métropole hotel in Monte-Carlo. This experience took him further inside the Monégasque royal palace in 2011, as the sushi chef for the wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene. One year after this achievement, he returned to his roots to take over the family business.

Kikuzushi specializes in traditional Edo-mae style, where the fish is slightly marinated, just as it was done at a time when refrigeration was not possible. Although no longer a practical necessity to ensure preservation, this technique is still highly treasured today, as it brings out richer flavors from the seafood. The chef’s craft is also characterized by a unique blend of akazu (red sushi vinegar), which gives the shari (sushi rice) a special flavor that complements and enriches the fine qualities of the fish. The rice alone is deserving of its own chapter: it consists of a blend of Saga-biyori, with old rice grown following the Aigamo farming techniques. Saga-biyori is a variety of rice grown exclusively in Saga prefecture, highly valued for its aroma and texture, while Aigamo is an organic farming method developed in Fukuoka in the late 1980s that raised aigamo ducks to eat weeds and insects in the rice paddies instead of using pesticides.

The chef’s motto is short and effective: “The most delicious sushi of the day”. His dedication to the craft shows in his careful selection of the finest local products and his skillful “aging” techniques to extract the flavors that best complement the rice’s strong presence. 

Kikuzushi’s omakase course is priced at 22,000 yen.

 

Kikuzushi(Japanese Website)
3-51-3 Kasugakoen, Kasuga City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Closed on Mondays
http://kikuzushi.org

Offering unique dishes, high-quality ingredients and a theatrical experience on top of a gastronomical one, Teruzushi is a sushi establishment with over 50 years of history that was reborn in the hands of its third-generation chef, Takayoshi Watanabe. Once a normal local sushi restaurant, Teruzushi was transformed by Watanabe’s creative vision. No effort was spared to locate the best seafood sources among local Kyushu fisheries. This unsparing quality in ingredients may have led to a sharp rise in shop prices, but the sushi world has become a better place for it. 

Watanabe’s masterful mix of social media savvy and a personal penchant for entertainment introduced a radical departure from traditional sushi enjoyment. The restaurant’s official Instagram account is a window into both mouth-watering original creations and a fun persona who doesn’t hesitate to turn traditions on their heads. But at the root of the now-famous #sushibae hashtag lies an intense love and respect, not just for the craft but for the local Kitakyushu markets and the fishermen’s work. Watanabe has built a very close professional relationship with them over the years, established through daily morning visits to the Tanga market in order to personally pick the best of the day’s catch — a delightful and crucial task that Watanabe delegates to no one but himself.

His commitment to local ties is such that his influence has made a great contribution to revamping the image of the Sawara (Japanese Spanish mackerel), a common catch around the Kyushu coast that wasn’t particularly remarkable until recently. That is, until Watanabe suggested that fishermen on Ainoshima Island, 35 minutes away from Kitakyushu City (from Kokura Port) by ferry, could drain the blood of the fish themselves while still on the boat, in order to keep the Sawara as fresh as possible. This technique has improved the quality of the product to the extent that its value is now recognized under the brand Ainosawara, and in November 2020, Teruzushi was awarded the status of “Master Chef” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

But quality alone is not enough to ensure a restaurant’s success in the quiet residential neighborhood of Kitakyushu’s Tobata ward, a 20-minute walk from the nearest train station. Such was the realization of a young Watanabe when he took over the reins of the family business 16 years ago. Something else was needed to attract the audience’s attention amidst an ocean of bigger fish. What started with the restaurant’s interior renovation organically evolved into full-blown character development, relaying the chef’s performance through the viral power of social media. Thus, Watanabe as master of ceremonies with his comically menacing glare was born. He’s armed with a bowtie and an intimidatingly long blade (compared to normal sushi knives). He owes his imposing presence to a life of martial arts as a Judo practitioner, in stark contrast to his playful sushi master persona and accomplished entertainer. 

*Watanabe shows a copy of the New York Times with the full-page ad announcing Teruzushi’s pop-up restaurant in the city in 2019