General Information
Name: Uogashi Kassui
Type: Seafood
Address: 2F Otowa Building, 2–7–22 Tenjin, Chuo-ward, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, Japan.
Business Hours: 4pm -12am (Monday to Thursday, Sunday, and public holidays) 4pm- 2am (Saturday, and the day before public holidays)
Tel: 092–733–8018
Cost per meal per person : Approx. 4,000〜4,999 JPY
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Upload pic of food on Instagram!
Tag us #kassui and #yokaby_fukuoka !
One free drink & sea urchin on saga beef for ¥100! ※menu varies with the months.
There will be a gift for the Best Photographer and the picture will be posted on our next Yoka Map!
*Please be aware that if the account isn`t set to public, the gift will not be able to give out to you.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
One of interesting Japanese word I have learned since my arrival in Fukuoka is Anaba. Anaba refers to the place that might not be easy to spot, but there is something nice about it. The word is applicable with either restaurants or sightseeing attractions. Last weekend, I have made another great find of Anaba in Shintencho, the shopping district lying at the borderline between Tenjin and Daimyo. The place is a Japanese seafood restaurant called Uogashi Kassui (From now on will be referred to as “Kassui”)
Accessing Kassui can be a little tricky, since it is located at the back of shopping area Shintencho inTenjin. However, it is not that difficult. From Tenjin station, make a way out of exit no.2 and walked to the right until you find Nishitetsu Grand hotel and the intersection. From there, turn left . Once you find Sumitomo Bank in front of you, turn left again and walk along an alley until you find a junction. Then, walk to an alley at the right hand side. The walk way leads to the back door of Shintencho shopping area.
Before arriving at the restaurant, you will see Sushi restaurant with Sushi model displays.
Find a way to the second floor of the same building, in front of a ladder to the second floor you will see Kassui’s restaurant advertising board.
This is an entrance to the restaurant.
The interior of Kassui looked cozy and relaxing.
There was also a fish tank in the restaurant.
Like many fine dining restaurants , we began with the table charge appetizer called “Otooshi” At Kassui, a lineup of appetizers were served to us in several small glass cups gathered together in wooden bucket.
For me, I chose shrimps, small squids, and cheese.
Later, we were served with this interesting appetizer. It is pork neck cartilage in Ponzu sauce. It is chewy. This is a good start before an arrival of the main course.
This is Kassui’s proudly presented menu. It is the Sashimi platter called “Iki.”There is a small word play in the name of this platter. From its Kanji character, the word Iki (粋) means stylish. On the other hand, the word iki has the same pronunciation as the word alive (活), which implies freshness of the fish. Last but not least, when the word “Alive” and the word “Stylish” are combined together, it will be the word Kassui(活粋), which is the restaurant’s name. Life in Japan can be more fun with some knowledge of Japanese and Kanji characters.
According to restaurant’s staff, Kassui works hard in getting ingredients from the best production source possible. For some examples, squid is from Yobuko town in Saga prefecture , and Salmon roe is from Hokkaido. Many kinds of fishes served restaurants were purchased directly from Fukuoka’s famous fish market in Nagahama, just not far away. Sashimi slices on the platter are beautifully arranged. One charming point of fine dining in Japan is that the food does not only give us a pleasure to eat, but also a pleasure to watch. In addition of the looks, these thick slices of Sashimi on the platter came with great taste. Sea urchin (Uni) gave a creamy, delicate taste. Meanwhile, Salmon (Shake) and Tuna stomach (Chuutoro) slices made us feel like they were melting within the mouth. There were also other tasty fishes like red seabream (Tai) , horse mackerel (Aji) amberjack (Kanpachi), mackerel with sesame sauce (Goma saba), seashell, salmon roe (Ikura) and living squid sashimi (Yariika Ikizukuri).
Apart from seafood, Kassui has done a great job with meat dishes too. We had beef tongue steak. These thickly cut slices were served on heated stone with grilled vegetables and sizzling sound.
This is another impressive dish we have ordered. Saga beef, one of the famous beefs of Kyushu , topped with sea urchin. Beef and seafood may sound like an unlikely couple. However, from our actual tasting, both blended so well.
During the meal we have tried tasty side dishes. This is mashed potato salad with grilled Salmon. The special thing about the mashed potato is that they put chunks of cheese into mashed potato. That made potato even more delicious.
This side dish is my favorite. It is Kanimiso (paste-like crab innards) served in crab’s shell. It had such a rich taste that made me wanted to order for more.
Female member in our group was amazed by this dish, shrimp mayonnaise (Ebi Mayo). The special feature of this dish was that the shrimps were covered with a net made from some kind of sauce (Tartar sauce, perhaps). The beautiful decoration could well reflect how skillful the chef at Kassui was.
Right before we moved on to the dessert, we had Mizutaki, which is Fukuoka’s famous chicken hotpot. The soup gave a gentle taste, and vegetables were crunchy.
For sake lovers, Kassui offers a wide range of famous local sakes from all over the country. On the menu, there is a map indicating each kind of local sake available at the restaurant.
The meal remained interesting even at its conclusion. This is what we ordered for dessert, Salt ice cream. It might sound scary, but surprisingly, the taste of salt blended well with smooth, gentle taste of ice cream and resulted in refreshing taste.
In life, taking the road less travelled by can make all the difference. The same applies to dining. If you want to have an impressive dining experience, visiting Kassui at the back alley of Shintencho will be one great idea.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you want to learn more about new places to dine in Fukuoka, feel free to stop by our facebook page. New contents are coming!
https://www.facebook.com/yokabaifukuoka/
We also launched our “Yoka Map,” the free guide map to restaurants in Fukuoka’s downtown. It is distributed at guesthouses and hotels in Fukuoka. Thank you!
