Everything everywhere all in my tummy day 1: back to FUK

The very last trip that Foursheets and I took to Japan was a short hop to Fukuoka. We were piggybacking on DaRC and Ro Ro's trip and pretty much didn't have to do any planning at all. It is therefore fitting that, on our first trip back to the Land of the Rising Sun since the start of the pandemic, we are starting our 11-day journey in FUK. And we arrive on the 12th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake.

But... first things first. As we were not planning on eating on the plane, we took our breakfast at the Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge in Hong Kong. The Prince of Napa chastised me for reviewing food from an airline lounge on my last trip, but I just had to make it known that the wonton noodles (雲吞麵) at the CX lounge had become so bland. Other than helping me fill my stomach it was almost a waste of calories.

Well... I wasn't gonna make the same mistake twice. So this time around, I took two bowls of their famous dan dan noodles (擔擔麵). Yes, this is an airline lounge food item that is beloved by the airline's customers. In fact, I think the Noodle Bar at CX lounges play a reasonably significant part in maintaining customer loyalty. Even small potatoes like me always want to try to maintain at least our Silver status in order to have lounge access and get the noodles. But, I digress. The noodles were delicious thanks to the rich and flavorful broth.

We checked in to Miyako Hotel Hakata (都ホテル博多) just across the street from Hakata Station. g4gary had recently stayed here and, since we were traveling across Japan on Shinkansen, staying at hotels next to train stations just seemed easier.

I had a little mishap with getting my Japan Rail Pass, but eventually got it resolved. Meanwhile, my first stop of the day was... Family Mart! It's been too long since I had a taste of the iconic "Famichiki (ファミチキ)", and it was time to scratch that itch. I decided to get two pieces of fried chicken as I was starving. After all, I hadn't eaten anything since about 8 hours earlier! First up was the special version - sour cream and onion-flavored crispy chicken (クリスピーチキン サワークリーム と　オニオン味). This is supposed to replicate the flavors of the Pringles Sour Cream and Onion chips, but in reality the flavors are on the weak side. The batter was, at least, pretty crispy.

The second piece was the OG - Famichiki (ファミチキ). This was really, really tasty... with much more flavor compared to the first piece. Very, very happy.

Dinner time came around, and the easiest thing for us to do was to hit the branch of Hakata Ramen ShinShin (博多らーめん ShinShin) in Hakata Station. Since we've already been to the honten (本店) on our last trip here, we're happy that we have the option of just crossing the street for a much shorter waiting time in the line. Now that I've tried their regular ramen, I decided to do something a little unusual so that I could satisfy multiple cravings.

Crunchy bell peppers with shredded meat in miso paste (肉味噌ガリガリピーマン) - we ordered this because we wanted to have some veggies, but it turns out the blob of meat paste is a lot bigger... Kinda interesting, but the flavors were a little too heavy and one would feel thirsty afterwards.

Sizzling fried noodles with intestines (モツ焼きそば鉄板) - YEAH BABY! I love yakisoba (焼きそば) and I loooove motsunabe (もつ鍋), so it's just awesome when the two are combined. With a fried egg on top, too! Pretty damn happy.

We decided to take a stroll to look at the yatai (屋台) stalls along the canal, and our route took us through the southern end of Nakasu (中洲). I think Foursheets had fun looking at all the establishments in that area... Anyway, the yatai stalls were very busy and crowded, so we decided to leave it for another night.