佐久間北大
I stayed at APA Hotel Hakata Ekimae Chikushi-guchi Central, which is about a 3-minute walk from Hakata Station Chikushi exit. The hotel offers a famous Mizutaki (chicken hot pot) restaurant on the 1st floor for breakfast. The breakfast is generally priced at 1,700 yen and is available for hotel guests from 6:30 am. When I visited around 7 am, the restaurant was about 70% full with roughly 50 table seats. The dishes were laid out in a buffet style on a long table in the middle of the restaurant, where guests could serve themselves and take it to their seats. The menu included a variety of Japanese dishes such as sesame amberjack, Okyuto (local Fukuoka dish), cold tofu, mentaiko (spicy cod roe), pickled mustard greens, grilled mackerel, simmered veggies, shredded cabbage salad, sausages, thick-cut bacon, quiche, chicken meatballs and udon in a mizutaki-style soup, natto (fermented soybeans), seasoned seaweed, rice, miso soup, and more. I tried the Okyuto, which is a local Fukuoka dish made from dried Ego seaweed cooked in vinegar and soy sauce. It had a unique texture and flavor. The sesame amberjack was tasty and easy to eat, while the mentaiko was deliciously spicy. The pickled mustard greens went well with rice, and the mackerel was a bit dry. The salad with sesame dressing was refreshing, and the chicken meatballs and udon in mizutaki-style soup had a rich and collagen-filled broth. I also enjoyed natto and seasoned seaweed with rice, which added a local touch to the breakfast. However, when I tried to order a beer, I was told that it was not available for breakfast. This was the first time I had been denied beer at a hotel breakfast. It made me realize that it might not be common practice to drink alcohol in the morning at hotels or inns. I will be more mindful of this in the future.