Pre-holiday FUK day 4: take it easy

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It's our last full day in Fukuoka, and DaRC hadn't planned anything so we thought we'd just take it easy.  I missed out on visiting Goh-san at his restaurant when I was in town last month, and since I only confirmed our visit two weeks ago, La Maison de la Nature Goh had already been booked up.  Thankfully Goh-san was still kind enough to make time for us, and took us to Iihi Tonkatsu (いい日とん勝) - his favorite tonkatsu (とんかつ) shop near his home.

Unfortunately for us, the restaurant didn't have any of their Bimiton loin cutlet (美味豚ロースカツ) from Kagoshima Prefecture (鹿児島県), but Goh-san did manage to get a little something special for us.

Pork loin cutlet set (ロースカツ膳) - just look at the gorgeous pieces of pork, covered in panko (パン粉)!

The pork loin was absolutely beautiful, with that strip of fat down one side.  The meat was so tender and silky smooth that we wondered if it had been cooked sous vide before deep-frying.

We each also got a piece of Kyushu kurobuta filet cutlet (九州産黒豚ヒレカツ).  A leaner cut, but still very tender.  Also had deeper flavors.

I knew that Goh-san would try to secretly take care of the bill for lunch, and I caught him in the act.  But I didn't want to make a scene in the restaurant and embarrass him... so we thanked him for his generosity. He was also kind of enough to drop us off at Yanagibashi Market (柳橋連合市場) so I could do some shopping for mom.

After strolling around the market and picking up some Donko shiitake (どんこ椎茸), kombu (昆布), and nori (海苔) for mom, we slowly made our way back towards our hotels, and eventually Hakata Station.

DaRC and I worked pretty hard (OK, so it was mostly DaRC) to find us a place for dinner, and we eventually ended up at the Imaizumi branch of Tonkoya (とんこや 今泉店).  We ordered up a hodgepodge of stuff to get some variety in our diet...

Sliced tomatoes (とまとスライス)

Hakata-style mackerel with sesame (博多ゴマサバ) - mackerel pairs really well with spring onion, and the addition of shredded nori (海苔), sesame, soy sauce, mirin (味醂)... etc.  Damn tasty.

Bonito tataki (カツオタタキ) - from Hiroshima (広島).

Live olive flounder (活平目) - from Fukuoka.  With some pieces from the wing (縁側).

Oyster grilled on the half shell (殻付き焼きガキ)

Salt-fried ginkgo nuts (銀杏の塩炒り) - from Oita (大分).

Barracuda tempura (カマス天ぷら) - from Nagasaki (長崎).  We chose for this to be fried as tempura instead of the usual salt-grilled, as it's a little unusual.  Very nice.  And the deep-fried bones were... a little too much even for me.  Just too oily.

Deep-fried pig's small intestines (丸腸GA唐揚げになってる) - OF COURSE I had to order this when I saw it on the menu!  What's not to like about intestines that have been deep-fried till they're crunchy?

Most popular deep-fried spring chicken (年間１位若鶏唐揚げ)

Crunchy lettuce and pork belly roll (シャキシャキレタス豚バラ巻き) - pretty nice, but we were a little too full by this point.

A decent dinner that finally got us eating some meat along with the seafood.  We were now ready for round 2...