Kawataro | Hakata Station — Restaurant in Fukuoka

Walked up without a reservation at 6pm on a weekday. Thankfully, they had a spot for one. Before entering, the Okami kindly informed me that the squids today are above 200g, and if that was OK with me. No problem at all for me! Happily sat down and had a fantastic meal. They also recommended the sashimi platter and I picked up the Saba sashimi for good measure. Everything was fresh and extremely delicious. The squid was not slimey like what you would have gotten from the supermarkets. I never had squid that good before. The tempura of the rest of the squid was also done very well. A light batter that respected the ingredient.

I can also recommend their sake, which paired perfectly with the food. Their house sake comes in a bamboo cup. It's dry and fun to drink. The highlight was the Nabeshima they had available which i happily ordered for a glass.

For those who are worried about watching them catching the squid in front of you, that it didn't happen during my visit, but the kitchen is open, allowing you to see the skill of the chefs expertly preparing the squids.

It's hard to make a reservation, but if you walk up early during a weekday, you might just get lucky and treated to the freshest squid...

Not sure if I have had an authentic kawataro experience as a foreigner. I ordered the 9900 yen dinner set. I was told because squids in stock were large and they would only give me half, as the 9900 yen set dinner would only include around 120g of squid per person (different from if you order a standalone squid, which costs around 4400 yen for 200g squid). They asked me whether that was ok to share one half of a squid. I asked them whether I say no. Obviously that’s not the right answer. Why asked me then in the first place ? Now comes the interesting part, and I read some people also mentioned that - the cut of my squid was nothing like the image. It looked more like prepared food as they were beautifully cut and arranged (perhaps I shouldn’t underestimate the chef). But this definitely delay the serving time. And that made me wonder when they cut this as I found the taste was a bit bland. the Japanese couple sitting next to me kept saying it’s so delicious. Might be it’s just me. Overall, I thought the squid would be the highlight but it’s actually the...

The squid is still alive, I think? That's pretty scary. But that's what makes the experience so unique. And it was extremely delicious. My wife says it is her favourite meal in Fukuoka. The sushi was good too, the cuts were so extremely thick. I had their summer sparkling sake which was refreshing and nice, but it got me drunk pretty fast. The staff were friendly and they have a comprehensive and well-translated English menu, and you can watch the chefs live in front preparing the squids which is pretty brutal but wow their...