Regional food of Kyushu & Okinawa

Umegae mochi wraps azuki paste in a rice-based dough, presses it flat with a plum-crest mould and griddles both sides. Fresh cakes combine a crisp...

Abutte-kamo salts small Japanese chromis, rests the fish and grills it whole into a concentrated, savory Fukuoka coastal dish. A current Fukuoka City...

Achara-zuke combines lotus root, burdock and other roots with cucumber, daikon or seasonal vegetables in sweet vinegar sharpened by chili.

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Kashiwa-meshi is northern Kyushu chicken rice, with kashiwa meaning chicken; it appears as home-style mixed rice, udon-shop rice balls and station...

Gameni combines chicken with lotus root, burdock, carrot, taro, bamboo shoot, konnyaku and shiitake, first stir-frying and then simmering them in...

Hakata gomasaba is sashimi-grade mackerel dressed with soy sauce, ground sesame and mirin; the name describes the preparation, not necessarily the...

Hakata mizutaki simmers chicken, meatballs, cabbage and other vegetables in broth made from chicken bones, then serves the ingredients with ponzu.

Motsunabe is a Fukuoka and Hakata hot pot of beef or pork offal with cabbage, garlic chives, garlic, and chili. Modern specialist restaurants commonly...

Okyuto is a soft, slightly springy seaweed gel associated with Hakata in Fukuoka City. Ego seaweed is cooked until it sets, then the thin sheet is...

Hakata Torimon is Meigetsudo's Fukuoka confection: smooth white bean paste enclosed in a tender baked skin scented with condensed milk, butter, and...

Hakata udon pairs very soft noodles with a clear broth made from flying fish, dried sardines, bonito, kelp, or a house blend. Gobo tempura, round fish...

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Karashi mentaiko is salted pollock roe seasoned in a chili-based liquid. Plain tarako uses the same roe but is generally salt-cured without the...

Nukadaki simmers mackerel or sardines in a sweet soy sauce, then adds a mature fermented rice-bran pickle bed as seasoning until even the bones...

Kokura yaki udon boils dried udon, drains it well and fries it on a hot griddle with pork belly, cabbage and onion before seasoning it with sauce...

Kusagi Manju is a small steamed bun from Kusagi in Omuta, Fukuoka, with a thin soft skin surrounding moist white bean paste.

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Chabushi puts miso and bonito flakes in a cup, pours over very hot green tea and stirs, making the flakes both broth and filling.

Fukure-gashi steams flour, brown sugar and baking soda into a moist, airy Kagoshima country cake.

Getanha bakes a firm wheat, brown-sugar and baking-soda cake, cuts it into dark triangles and saturates them with brown-sugar syrup until moist within...

Kakaran dango steams rice-flour dough, often with mugwort or red bean, between leaves called kakaran: Smilax china.

Karukan is a white Kagoshima sweet of coarse rice flour, grated natural yam, sugar and water, aerated and steamed. Yam gives the crumb a light but...

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Sake-zushi layers cooled rice with seasoned seafood, vegetables, fish cake and egg, sprinkles Kagoshima akumochi sake, weights it and rests it for...

Kagoshima satsuma-age kneads fish paste with salt, sugar and local sake, sometimes tofu, egg, starch or vegetables, then shapes and fries it.

Satsuma-jiru is a substantial Kagoshima soup of chicken, daikon, burdock, taro, carrot, shiitake and konnyaku finished with barley miso. Despite the...

Shirokuma covers finely shaved ice with a light milk syrup and decorates it with mandarin, peach, cherry, raisins, sweet beans and other colorful...

Kagoshima tonkotsu is browned bone-in pork slowly braised with daikon, konnyaku or burdock and miso, brown sugar and shochu.

Akumaki soaks glutinous rice in food-grade wood-ash lye, wraps it long in bamboo sheath and boils it for hours until amber and cohesive.

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Takana meshi mixes warm rice with finely chopped Aso takana pickles stir-fried in oil. Egg, sesame, or nori may be added, and some cooks mix rather...

Kumamoto basashi is thinly sliced horse meat processed and frozen for raw consumption, served with Kyushu sweet soy sauce, ginger or garlic, onion and...

Hitomoji guruguru briefly blanches Kumamoto hitomoji scallions and winds each green leaf around its white stem.

Ikinari dango wraps a roughly one-centimeter raw sweet-potato round and azuki paste in a lightly salted wheat or dumpling-flour skin, then steams the...

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Firm drained tofu is matured in miso or moromi around Itsuki and Gokanosho until dense and creamy.

Myoga manju wraps red-bean paste in a shiratamako-and-wheat dough, then steams it in a myoga leaf in the Uki and Yatsushiro areas.

Kumamoto ramen combines cloudy pork-bone broth, often blended with chicken stock, medium straight noodles and roasted or fried garlic chips or black...

Nankan-age is a large, crisp fried tofu from Nankan, Kumamoto, made by pressing sliced tofu and frying it twice at changing temperatures to remove...

Chosen ame is Sonodaya's soft Kumamoto confection made from glutinous rice, starch syrup and sugar. Powdered, milky-white rectangular pieces bend and...

Taipien is a Kumamoto Chinese soup of mung-bean glass noodles, cabbage and other vegetables, pork, shrimp, squid and wood-ear mushroom, usually...

Aoshima Senbei by Nisshindo sandwiches white cream or nut cream between thin round wafers containing rice flour. Crisp, delicate shells and lightly...

Miyazaki charcoal-grilled chicken seasons bite-size meat simply and tosses it over intense charcoal heat. Fat dripping onto the coals produces flame...

Cheese manju is a Miyazaki-born baked sweet with cheese enclosed in cookie- or cake-like dough. Despite the name, it is not the usual steamed...

Chicken nanban is a Miyazaki dish of battered fried chicken dipped in sweet vinegar. The now-famous version adds egg-rich tartar sauce, but an...

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Miyazaki lettuce maki rolls vinegared rice, a broad lettuce leaf, cooked shrimp and a house mayonnaise sauce in nori.

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Obi-ten is a fried fish-paste specialty of Obi in Nichinan, Miyazaki, blending local fish with drained tofu, miso, soy sauce and brown sugar.

Kankoro mochi rehydrates kankoro, thin sweet-potato slices that were boiled and dried, then pounds them with glutinous rice into a loaf. Toasted...

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Karasumi is a whole fish ovary cured with salt, shaped, and slowly dried. Nagasaki's amber mullet roe is the best-known form, with a dense, creamy...

Nagasaki castella bakes egg, sugar, wheat flour and syrup or honey in a rectangular mold, producing a fine moist yellow crumb and dark top.

Nagasaki champon cooks thick specialist noodles in a cloudy chicken-and-pork stock with stir-fried pork, seafood, kamaboko, cabbage and bean sprouts...

Classic Cruz sandwiches ginger-scented white chocolate between two thin, crisp wheat wafers.

Hatoshi sandwiches seasoned shrimp paste between white bread and deep-fries it into crisp golden squares or triangles with a springy, gently sweet...

Hikado simmers finely cut fish or meat, daikon, carrot, shiitake and sweet potato in seasoned broth. Grated sweet potato added at the end gives the...

Ikkoko is a Nagasaki sweet, read ikkokko, made by wrapping a black-sugar and starch-syrup filling in dough, coating it with sesame and baking it...

Nagasaki sara udon includes both thin crisp fried noodles under a thick topping and thick champon noodles pan-fried with ingredients and a small...

Shippoku cuisine gathers guests around a red lacquered round table to share large platters. It embodies Nagasaki's wakaran mix of Japanese, Chinese...

Turkey rice places pilaf or fried rice, spaghetti such as Napolitan, and sauced pork cutlet together on one Western plate in Nagasaki.

Omura sushi layers sweet vinegared rice with seasoned fish, shiitake, burdock, kanpyo, fish cake and other fillings in a shallow wooden mold, tops it...

Sasebo Burger is the collective culture of city shops making patties, buns, sauces and vegetables and generally cooking each hamburger after it is...

Sasebo lemon steak quickly cooks thin beef on a hot plate and finishes it with soy sauce sharpened by lemon juice.

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Igirisu simmers dried igisu seaweed in rice-bran liquid, mixes in fish, carrot, wood ear, shiitake, peanuts, tofu and other fillings, then sets the...

Shimabara kanzarashi floats many tiny boiled shiratama dumplings, chilled in local spring water, in a clear syrup blended from sugars and sometimes...

Rokubei on the Shimabara Peninsula kneads sweet-potato-derived flour with hot water, often using yam as binder, and serves the chewy noodles in broth.

Beppu jigoku-mushi routes high-temperature hot-spring vapor into a jigoku pot to steam baskets of vegetables, roots, eggs, meat, seafood or rice.

Shiroshita karei means marbled sole landed from the limited shore below Hiji Castle, served as thin sashimi, simmered fish, fried fish or clear soup.

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Oita ryukyu dresses seasonal sashimi such as horse mackerel, mackerel, yellowtail, or sea bream with soy sauce, sake, mirin, sesame, ginger, and...

Toriten is Oita's chicken tempura: bite-size seasoned chicken coated in a light egg-and-flour batter and fried. Its batter separates it from...

Usuki senbei is a flour-based cracker from Usuki brushed one by one with a ginger-and-sugar glaze. It comes in a thin curved kata and a flatter...

Yaseuma is an Oita snack made by resting wheat-and-water dough, stretching each piece by hand into a thin uneven strip, boiling it, and coating it in...

Zabieru is Zabieru Honpo's small rounded rectangular Oita pastry. A buttery baked shell encloses either smooth plain white bean paste, the silver...

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Saiki gomadashi grinds deboned grilled local fish with toasted sesame, soy and mirin, then places the concentrated condiment on udon to dissolve with...

Taketa atama ryori separately prepares the head, gills, jaw, skin and edible offal of large white fish, then serves them with kabosu vinegar and...

Usuki ohan pairs rice colored yellow with food-grade gardenia and kayaku simmered from eso white fish, tofu, daikon, burdock and other vegetables.

Okashigoten's Original Beniimo Tart fills a boat-shaped pastry shell with ridged, vivid-purple paste made from Okinawan beniimo.

Aasa soup adds rehydrated hitoye-gusa seaweed and Okinawan tofu to clear bonito broth seasoned with salt and a little soy sauce.

Chinsukou is an Okinawan baked sweet of wheat flour, sugar, and lard, prized for a crisp bite, quick melt, and rich flavor.

Goya champuru is an Okinawan home-style stir-fry of sliced bitter melon, firm island tofu, egg and usually pork belly or canned luncheon meat. Bitter...

Ika-sumi jiru is an opaque black Okinawan soup of squid and pork simmered in bonito-and-kelp stock, with edible squid ink added near the end. It...

Mimiga means a pig's ear and, by extension, Okinawan dishes made from it. Because the skin contains thin cartilage, even narrow slices retain a crisp...

Rafute slowly braises thick pieces of skin-on pork belly after a thorough parboil, using awamori, sugar, soy sauce, and stock. Properly cooked meat...

Okinawa soba combines springy wheat-and-kansui noodles with mainly pork and bonito broth, simmered pork belly, local fish cake, scallion and ginger.

Taco rice is an Okinawan dish that layers warm rice with spiced taco meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato, usually with salsa. Taco refers to the...

Tannafakuru is a thick round Okinawan cake based on brown sugar, wheat flour and egg. Its dark matte surface and dense but soft crumb carry deep...

Yushi-dofu scoops soft, irregular tofu curds with their pale salty liquid after nigari starts coagulating Okinawan island-tofu soy milk but before the...

Andansu fries pork in oil, then works in miso and sugar to make a concentrated Okinawan rice accompaniment; minced ginger may finish it.

Hirayachi is an Okinawan home dish made by thinning wheat flour with water or bonito dashi, adding garlic chives or scallions, and frying the batter...

Jimami-dofu cooks strained peanut milk with sweet-potato starch or a related starch until glossy, then sets it into a smooth white curd with a rich...

Jushi is an Okinawan rice family made with pork or bonito stock and ingredients such as pork belly, carrot, dried shiitake, kamaboko, and kombu. The...

Nakami-jiru is an Okinawan clear soup made from carefully cleaned pork stomach and intestine, sliced and simmered with shiitake and konnyaku in...

Pork tamago pairs thick browned slices of canned luncheon meat with an omelet or fried egg. Okinawan diners serve it with rice and soup, while delis...

Tebichi means pig's feet and also dishes that blanch, clean and simmer them until skin, tendon and meat soften around the bone.

Tofuyo is Okinawan fermented food made by drying firm island tofu and aging it for months in a mash of red or yellow koji, awamori and salt.

Sata andagi is a firm dough of wheat flour, sugar and egg rolled into balls and fried slowly at a relatively low temperature. The outside becomes deep...

Yaeyama soba is the everyday wheat-noodle soup of Ishigaki, Taketomi and the Yaeyama Islands. Straight, relatively fine noodles sit in a clear...

Ganzuke crushes Ariake Sea fiddler crabs nearly whole, seasons them with salt and chili, and rests the mixture for one to several weeks.

Ariake mudskipper kabayaki skewers and dry-grills mudskipper before glazing it sweet-salty and grilling it fragrant.

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Shoro manju is a Karatsu sweet: smooth red-bean paste is wrapped in an exceptionally thin sponge-cake skin and hand-baked into a sphere about 3 cm...

Funankogui wraps cleaned crucian carp in kombu and slowly cooks it with daikon, burdock, lotus root or konnyaku in a sweet miso-based liquid.

Matsuura-zuke is a Yobuko delicacy made by finely cutting kabura-bone cartilage from the whale's upper jaw and preserving it in sweetened sake lees...

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Ikkoko is a Saga baked sweet that wraps brown sugar and ginger in a wheat-and-malt-syrup dough. During high-heat baking the filling adheres to the...

Maruboro is a flat, round Saga sweet baked mainly from flour, egg, and sugar. Many versions sit between sponge cake and biscuit in softness.

Saga Sicilian rice layers warm rice, seasoned sautéed meat, raw vegetables, and mayonnaise on one plate. Beef or pork, dressing, egg, and cheese vary...

Suko-zushi spreads slightly glutinous vinegared rice in a shallow morofuta box and decorates sections with glazed mudskipper, shiitake, burdock, egg...

Ureshino Onsen Yudofu simmers local tofu in dedicated hot-spring cooking water until its corners dissolve and the broth turns milky white.

Yobuko squid cuisine centers on ikezukuri: a restaurant rapidly prepares a tank-held squid into translucent body sashimi, then may cook fins and...