Fukuoka winter delicacies at a classy antenna restaurant in Tokyo.

by Philbert Ono, updated: Dec. 15, 2025

I recently had the pleasure to dine at Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei (麹町なだ万 福岡別邸) in Hanzomon, Tokyo and enjoyed autumn-winter delicacies like fugu blowfish, Hakata wagyu beef, and sake from Fukuoka Prefecture.

It’s an “antenna restaurant” for Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu in southern Japan. Many Japanese prefectures have an “antenna restaurant” and “antenna shop” (アンテナ ショップ) in Tokyo to promote their prefecture’s food, drink, products, and tourism.

The word “antenna” originally refers to the test marketing of local food and products to gauge customer reception and feedback. For us, it’s good to visit an antenna shop or restaurant before visiting that prefecture. It gives you a good idea of what the prefecture has to offer. They also have tourism information. Feel free to ask for travel advice.

Most prefectural antenna shops/restaurants in Tokyo are usually clustered around central locations such as Tokyo Station, Yurakucho, Ginza-Shimbashi, and Nihonbashi. This makes it convenient for us to visit multiple antenna shops/restaurants.

In the case of Fukuoka, there’s an antenna shop called “The Hakata” in the Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan building near Yurakucho Station. It’s together with other prefectural antenna shops such as Akita, Toyama, and Hokkaido. This building used to have many more prefectural tourism offices/shops including JNTO.

Then there’s Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei in a relatively isolated area. I shouldn’t say “isolated” since Hanzomon is still a central location with a convenient subway station at Hanzomon Station. But there are no other shops or restaurants around. I’m told they are located here because the land was owned by Fukuoka Prefecture.

I first thought maybe it was the former site of the Fukuoka samurai (Kuroda Clan) daimyo’s Edo residence during the Edo Period (1600–1868). But no. This area across from Hanzomon Gate was actually machiya merchants’ quarters near Edo Castle (now Imperial Palace). The Kuroda Clan’s Edo Period yashiki residences were located elsewhere such as Kasumigaseki and Nagatacho.

Contents

• Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei
• Fukuoka food
• Fukuoka sake
• Yame-cha tea
• Koishiwara-yaki pottery
• Visit Fukuoka
• Acknowledgements
• Restaurant directions

• About Fukuoka Prefecture (separate blog post)
• Getting around Fukuoka Prefecture

Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei

Splendid traditional decor and kaiseki cuisine.

I’ve been to a number of prefectural antenna shops/restaurants in Tokyo, but Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei really stands out for its beautiful interior featuring traditional designs, art work, and handicrafts from Fukuoka. It’s quite elaborate and I recommend asking the staff to explain it to you here and there so you don’t miss anything.

Even inside the front entrance, you’re welcomed by a warm decor of wooden lattice. Also notice the ceiling light fixture made of Yame washi paper (over 400-year history) framed by Chinaberry wood (a type of mahogany 栴檀) giving a soft illumination. It’s an aesthetic and pleasant entrance, a hint of what awaits. The city of Yame (八女市) is noted for traditional handcrafts (and tea as explained below).

More traditional crafts from Fukuoka are displayed in corridor showcases and sold in the small gift shop. They include pottery, folding fans, wooden toys, and Hakata ningyo dolls.

From the entrance, go left for the main dining hall or go right for a few private dining rooms which can be reserved (four to six people per room).

The dining hall entrance has a door with an openwork design called Okawa kumiko (大川組子). An assemblage of intricate wood pieces forming diamond patterns within the lattice frame. They look fragile, but together they are strong and sturdy.

Also notice the coffered wooden ceiling with recessed squares commonly found in important Japanese-style rooms.

The dining hall’s right wall has Hakata-ori fabric in a glass frame. This fabric is usually used as the obi sash for men’s traditional wear.

This must be the most aesthetic antenna restaurant I’ve been to in Tokyo. The interior designer did a splendid job. The dining hall can also be rented for private parties and events (maximum 12 tables with 44 seats). We were there for a Fukuoka Prefecture PR presentation and dinner.

Of course, the food and drink did not disappoint (read on). The restaurant specializes in Japanese kaiseki cuisine. Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei is just one of many upscale NADAMAN Japanese restaurants found in luxury hotels and department stores in other places in Tokyo and major Japanese cities. There are branches even in China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. But it seems only Fukuoka Bettei specializes in Fukuoka food.

Lunch menu prices range from ¥1,800 to ¥6,500. Dinner starts from ¥9,000 and centers on kaiseki cuisine. Private rooms are available for a few thousand yen depending on the size.

NADAMAN restaurant was started in Osaka in 1830 by NADAYA Mansuke (灘屋 萬助). The name NADAMAN is apparently an abbreviation of his name. This was still during the Edo Period when the Tokugawa Shogun ruled Japan.

Before going any further, you might want to know a few basic things about Fukuoka Prefecture to better understand the food and geography. Click here for a basic introduction to Fukuoka Prefecture.

Fukuoka food

Kaiseki cuisine with winter delicacies.

At Kojimachi Nadaman Fukuoka Bettei restaurant, we were treated to a full-course of Fukuoka’s winter delicacies complemented by three brands of sake, dessert, and Yame-cha green tea before and after the meal.

Much of our dinner came in this Kobako box (小箱) or Small Box with an exquisite Kurume kasuri fabric design (久留米絣) developed during the Edo Period in Kurume, Fukuoka. Different boxes had different fabric designs. The prettiest dinner box I’ve ever seen.

Our special Kobako dinner box was filled with a variety of Fukuoka’s autumn-winter delicacies. A bit of everything: Fish (including fugu), beef, chicken, vegetables, noodles (later on), fruits, and sake. They were meticulously prepared with high quality ingredients from Fukuoka Prefecture and elaborately presented. This is Japanese kaiseki cuisine.

The large compartment on the left was Fukuoka Spanish mackerel (winter-fattened sawara) grilled with buttered soy sauce and served with Hakata broccoli. The restaurant’s head chef Takahashi Akio explained all this food.

*Ingredients in boldface are from Fukuoka Prefecture.

Left to right top row: Fukuoka Amawi kiwi fruit with prosciutto ham and egg-yolk vinegar and chervil parsley, Fukuoka persimmon and walnuts with sesame sauce and blue cheese, and fried sesame tofu in dashi sauce topped with Hakata green onions and red grated daikon radish.

Left to right bottom row: Kanezaki natural fugu (blowfish) deep-fried together with ume-shiso plum basil leaf (from Dazaifu famous for ume) served with green chili pepper and lemon, lightly seared Kanezaki natural fugu (blowfish) with tuna sashimi, and Hakata eggplant dengaku (roasted and coated with miso) with roasted chestnut.

Kanezaki fugu refers to blowfish caught in the Genkai Sea which is the ocean off Fukuoka’s northern shore. Fugu is in season in winter.

The cities of Yame and Ukiha in southern Fukuoka Prefecture are Japan’s major kiwifruit producers. The premium variety called Amawi (甘うぃ キウイフルーツ) is big and sweet with yellowish flesh. The size is at least 1.5 times bigger than regular kiwifruit sold in Japan.

The outer skin is less fuzzy than regular kiwifruit. The Fukuoka Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Research Center (福岡県農林業総合試験場) took eight years to develop this variety in 2016. The brand name Amawi combines the Japanese word amai (sweet) and kiwi.

The Amawi kiwifruit we had was harvested in October and ripened until November. It cannot be eaten right off the plant (too hard). It has to be ripened. Farmers ripen the harvested kiwifruit in storehouses filled with ethylene gas which softens the fruit and maximizes the flavor. Amawi is available only in November and December.

And more…

Main dish was roasted Hakata wagyu beef with Itoshima vegetables. Very tender and delicious. Itoshima (糸島市) is a city in western Fukuoka Prefecture.

Thin ramen made of ra-mugi wheat noodles (ラー麦) developed in Fukuoka in 2007 especially for Hakata ramen. This homegrown wheat aimed to replace the imported wheat flour used to make Hakata ramen. It was to encourage local food production and consumption.

Ra-mugi wheat is favored for its firm texture, resistance to sogginess, and sweet flavor. The name ra-mugi is also a trademark. It was served with a piece of Hakata local chicken. This was also delicious, not too salty. The perfect filler.

Fukuoka sake

Three different junmai, pure sake.

Fukuoka Prefecture is blessed with a good number of clean rivers, making it ideal to grow rice and brew sake. It actually has one of Japan’s highest concentration of sake breweries (50+).

Sake brewers in Kyushu pretty much use the same rice and yeast. The differences lie in their blending and fermentation steps and brewing intuition and skill.

Fukuoka sake is known to be light and dry or sweet and spicy, depending on the water and brewing technique. This diversity matches Fukuoka’s diverse Japanese cuisine.

Our dinner was complemented by three different brands of sake from Fukuoka Prefecture thoughtfully selected to match our dinner. All three were junmai sake (純米酒) which is traditional or pure Japanese sake made with rice, koji mold, and water. No distilled alcohol added. The rice is milled down to about 60 percent, resulting in a fuller and higher umami flavor. All three sake had an alcoholic content of 15% to 16%.

The three junmai sake had these qualities:

Yama-no-Kotobuki (山の壽) is a junmai dry sake and hiya-oroshi (冷卸し) which is brewed and pasteurized only once in spring, then aged for about six months until September-October. This makes it mellow and smooth which goes well with a wide variety of food.

Founded in 1818, Yama-no-Kotobuki brewery is in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture’s third largest city (pop. 300,000). Uses Yume-tsukushi rice grown in Kurume. The entire brewery was once destroyed by Typoon No. 19 in 1991. It took two years to rebuild the brewery.

Mii-no-Kotobuki (三井の寿) is a ginjo sake (吟醸酒) brewed with Japanese wine yeast and only slightly dry. The resulting aroma, acidity, and yellow color are similar to white wine. Goes well with traditional Japanese cuisine such as buttered Spanish mackerel (sawara) and deep-fried fugu blowfish which we had for dinner.

An interesting tidbit is that the brewery name in kanji characters is identical to the name of Mitsui Hisashi (三井 寿), a basketball player character in the internationally popular manga/anime Slam Dunk. The manga author liked the brewery, so he named a character after it. In 2013, the brewery started selling its Junmai Ginjo +14 with a sake bottle label designed after Hisashi Mitsui’s No. 14 red basketball uniform.

Established in 1922, the brewery is in Tachiarai Town (大刀洗町). Uses local ingredients such as Yamada Nishiki quality rice grown in Fukuoka (Itoshima). No brewery tours offered.

TAMA feat. Tamade-izumi (玉出泉) is brewed by Oga Shuzo, Fukuoka Prefecture’s oldest sake brewery founded in 1673. Based in the city of Chikushino in southwestern Fukuoka. Uses Yamada Nishiki quality rice grown in Fukuoka (Itoshima) milled to 60 percent. The sake goes well with the Mizutaki noodles which we had for dinner.

Also see the restaurant’s drink menu here.

Dessert was Yame matcha pudding topped with condensed milk (white) and Amaou strawberry ice cream with a dried slice of ripe Amaou strawberry chip. Amaou (あまおう) is a premium strawberry grown only in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Compared to other strawberries, the Amaou is bigger, sweeter, and redder even inside the flesh. It was developed by Fukuoka Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Research Center from the 1990s and marketed from 2003. Called the “King of Fruits,” they are in season in winter and spring. Fukuoka Prefecture is also one of Japan’s major producers of strawberries.

When in season, Amaou strawberries can be found in high-end pastries like these milk cream tarts. Saw these in a Tokyo bakery. Looks yummy!

Amaou strawberries are also used in confections such as strawberry pudding (left) and these Bourbon (famous confection maker) chocolate-covered Mini millefeuille chocolate wafers with Amaou strawberry cream. I found these in my neighborhood supermarket in Tokyo. Sold during strawberry season.

On the back of the millefeuille package, the Amaou name of the strawberry is explained:

• A: Stands for Akai (赤い) meaning “red.”
• ma: for marui (丸い) meaning “round.”
• o: for okii (大きい) meaning “big.”
• u: for umai (うまい) meaning “delicious.”

Yame-cha tea

Yame-cha tea (八女茶) is grown in the rural city of Yame (pop. 57,400 八女市) in southern Fukuoka Prefecture. It’s Japan’s sixth largest tea region. Yame’s climate is highly suited for growing tea on the southern Chikushi Plains since the early 15th century. It’s also blessed with clean water from the mountains, fertile soil, and highly skilled tea farmers.

Yame-cha is famous for hon-gyokuro tea. Unlike the more common sencha tea leaves, gyokuro tea leaves (玉露) are grown in the shade to give it a more umami savory sweetness and less bitterness.

More about Yame-cha tea: https://www.crossroadfukuoka.jp/en/articles/yame_tea

More about Yame: https://photoguide.jp/log/2025/11/yame-fukuoka/

Koishiwara-yaki pottery

Some of our dinner was served on Koishiwara ware from Toho Village in Fukuoka. The restaurant gift shop also sells Koishiwara pottery.

Koishiwara-yaki pottery (小石原焼) originated in Koishiwara Village in southeastern Fukuoka Prefecture. The village is now part of Toho Village (東峰村) in Fukuoka.

It’s still a major pottery center where there’s the Koishiwara Ceramics Museum and the Koishiwara Pottery Festival (小石原 民陶むら祭り) held every spring (May) and autumn (October).

The signature design of Koishiwara-yaki is the spiraling patterns of small pits on the plate made with the tobi-kanna metal tool (飛び鉋) or brush edge patterns stamped on the surface.

Visit Fukuoka

Our dinner was preceded by a Fukuoka Prefecture tourism PR presentation. Besides explaining about our food and drink, they spotlighted two cities: Dazaifu (太宰府市) and Ukiha (うきは市).

I haven’t been to either city, so I can’t speak from experience. But I’ve written about them for my future self as reference when I do visit. Read my separate blog posts about Dazaifu and Ukiha here.

Also read my introduction to Fukuoka Prefecture here.

Fukuoka Prefecture has 29 cities (in purple and pink), 28 towns (mustard), and 2 villages (light green). Major ones are labeled in the map above.

You may have noticed food labeled as “Fukuoka” or “Hakata.” If you’re wondering what the difference is between “Fukuoka” and “Hakata,” read my explanation

For basic information about public transportation in Fukuoka Prefecture, read this.

Many thanks…

Dinner at Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei was a real feast for both our eyes and palate. Compliments to Chief Chef Takahashi Akio, Sake sommelier Suzuki Katsunori, Restaurant Manager Katayama Miki, and other staff. ご馳走様でした！とても美味しかった！

ありがとぉね！ Fukuoka Prefecture Tourism Association (for photos too), Kojimachi Nadaman Fukuoka Bettei, Kyushu tourism influencer Shiraishi Arisa (白石ありさ), and Fukuoka Prefecture Tokyo Office.

スタッフの皆さま、ありがとうございました。とても美味しいお料理と楽しい時間でした。また招待してくださいね。

Restaurant directions

Kojimachi NADAMAN Fukuoka Bettei (麹町なだ万 福岡別邸)
Address: Sumitomo Fudosan Fukuoka Hanzomon Bldg. 1st floor, 1-12-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan (東京都千代田区麹町1-12-1 住友不動産ふくおか半蔵門ビル1F)
Getting there: Short walk from Hanzomon Station, Exit 4 (Hanzomon subway line)
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5bRooLTWA3QNt3X89
Lunch (menu here): 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. (Last call 1:30 p.m.)
Dinner (menu here): 5:00 p.m.–9:30 p.m. (Last call 8:00 p.m.)
Phone: 03-6380-8421
Website (English): https://www.fukuoka-bimi.com/eng/

The company also operates a chain of takeout outlets in major department stores and malls under the name Nadaman Chubo (なだ万厨房) which means “Nadaman Kitchen.” Takeout bento box lunches, drinks, soups, desserts, dressings, and more.

Other Fukuoka blog posts:

• About Fukuoka Prefecture
• Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine
• Ukiha, Fukuoka
• Astronaut Ellison Onizuka and Ukiha, Fukuoka
• Yame, Fukuoka

Links

Visit Fukuoka (Prefecture): https://www.crossroadfukuoka.jp/en

https://www.instagram.com/fukuoka_yokayoka.tokyo

Fukuoka City tourist info: https://gofukuoka.jp

Fukuoka Airport Tourist Information Center: https://www.fukuoka-airport.jp/en/service/information-office07.html
https://tic.jnto.go.jp/eng/detail.php?id=1285

Fukuoka City Tourist Information in Hakata Station: https://tic.jnto.go.jp/eng/detail.php?id=1287

Fukuoka City Tourist Information in Tenjin: https://tic.jnto.go.jp/eng/detail.php?id=1286