Menya Gaga Tenjin: Tonkotsu ramen in Fukuoka

Fukuoka is known for so many foods but its top may be Hakata or Tonkotsu ramen 🍜. Even the famous ramen chain Ichiran started in Fukuoka!

What exactly is hakata ramen? Hakata is a district of Fukuoka and in this area, the ramen has a rich creamy pork bone broth and they use thin straight noodles.

I am a fan of Ichiran, but while in Fukuoka I did want to try other ramen restaurants (you can try Ichiran all over the country, after all). We ended up having a ramen dinner at Menya Gaga in the Tenjin area of Fukuoka. Menya Gaga also specializes in tonkotsu ramen and here was our experience as 2 foreigners.

Menya Gaga Tenjin
Japan, 〒810-0021 Fukuoka, Chuo Ward, Imaizumi, 2 Chome−5−6 1Ｆ-B

The vibe

It was a little tricky to find this restaurant because it was like walking through someone’s backyard. But once we got there, it was a clean and modern space with a quiet little courtyard area outside.

Most of the seating is individual or for 2, with a large table at the back that can seat 4+. Staff were quick and attentive, offering us English menus.

Food review

Prices have been converted from yen to CAD and rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity.

Ramen with soft boiled egg ($9)

My husband ordered their regular tonkotsu ramen with soft boiled egg and 2 slices of char siu for $9.40 (980 yen).

As expected, it came with a delicious pork bone broth that had so much deep flavours to it 🤩! The soft ramen eggs were cooked perfectly – jammy and runny – and the char siu meat was tender. All in all, just a really delicious and authentic bowl of tonkotsu ramen.

Half size ramen ($5)

Don’t judge me but I actually only ordered a half-size ramen and I was actually really happy they had this on their menu. While we travel in Japan, I find we are always eating, snacking or taking a break from all the walking and exploring. I get so full throughout the day and there are so many foods I want to try so this half size ramen was perfect for me!

The ramen is the same except they only give 1 slice of char siu and significantly less noodles. I stole half of my husband’s ramen egg and this portion was just perfect!

Potstickers ($4)

We added on a side of dumplings – 3 for 240 yen or 6 for 460 yen.

These dumplings took awhile to come (not sure if they forgot) but they apologized, and we were hungry to eat it so we already had 2 pieces before I snapped this photo.

The dumpling was decent – thin wrapper and some nice crispiness to it at the bottom. For $4 I am not complaining!

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

We had a delicious dinner at Menya Gaga Tenjin. It really hit the spot as we were craving for some tonkotsu ramen in Fukuoka 👍!

For the price, this place is simply amazing. Everything was under $10 with 2 of our items being $5 or under – crazy 🤯!!

The quality is great, the food tastes so good and there’s just so much flavour to the broth. I also prefer my ramen with thin noodles so this was already set up for success with my taste buds. Again, the half size portion is perfect for me or for a kid or someone with a smaller appetite.

The only downfall is that their menu is quite limited and they basically only sell this ramen and broth – there aren’t other soup bases and you can’t change your noodles to thicker ones. You can, however, add some chili sauce to spice up your broth if you want.

I highly recommend if you are looking for an affordable tonkotsu ramen in the Tenjin Fukuoka area!

Sincerely, Loewe