Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop

Itoshima Shokudo became famous for its Kaisendon (seafood bowl) using plenty of fresh seafood directly shipped from Nagahama Market in Hakata. The restaurant has a short history, having opened on New Year’s Day 2019 along the coast in Fukuoka City’s Nishi Ward, but its popularity quickly spread to the point where there was a huge line even on weekdays.

This time I visited the restaurant after its relocation from Nishi Ward to Kamiari-nishi, Itoshima City in October 2022. Although the location no longer has a view of the sea due to the relocation, it is now within walking distance from the JR station, which is great for travelers like me who don’t have a car…

It doesn’t look so bad on weekdays, but I have a feeling that there will be a huge line on weekends and holidays… Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop is like this…

I visited Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop at around 10:00 a.m. on a weekday. I heard that the line was incredibly long even on weekdays, so I left my hotel to arrive one hour before opening time.

I spent an hour waiting at the storefront while fiddling with my phone before the restaurant opened, but there were not as many customers as I had anticipated. I got the impression that people started gathering in private cars 10 to 15 minutes before the restaurant opened, and when the it opened, there were about 10 people in the line. Well, I guess this is what you would expect before 11:00 a.m. on a weekday. However, I had a feeling that on weekends and holidays, the restaurant would be crowded to overflowing! (In fact, 88 cars can be parked in the parking space of Itoshima Shokudo‘s main restaurant in the first and second parking lots combined.)

Now, when I entered the restaurant, the walls were white, and I felt the brightness of the restaurant to the point of feeling dazzled. The seating space is spread out on the right side of the entrance, with 20 island-style counter seats in the center, and rows of tables and tatami room seats on both sides of the island, with seating for 56 people in a way that can accommodate a wide range of customers from one person to a family with small children.

The menu is based on a system in which a QR code is scanned with a smartphone and displayed on the screen, and using this system, ordering and accounting (credit card payment) can be done at your own pace, making it easy. Of course, the restaurant also accepts cash and electronic payment, so please don’t worry about that…

Kamatoro-don: After 5 minutes of hesitation, I ordered the limited-arrival-only menu item at Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop, and it was a bonanza!

What I ordered this time at Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop was the Kamatoro-don (“Kamatoro” means fatty tuna from around the collar bone), which was listed on the menu as “only available when in stock”. I had a hard time deciding on the menu that day because all the menu items looked really delicious. finally narrowed it down to three choices: Itoshima Shokudo Gozen, a limited-quantity menu, and Kiwami Kaisendon (Super special sashimi bowl), a bowl of rice topped with sea urchin and abalone, but after five minutes of deliberation, I decided on the Kamatoro-don. When it comes to the “limited arrival,” no matter how early I get it, I can’t eat it when I am unlucky.

A couple of minutes after I placed my order on my phone, the Kamatoro-don I had ordered arrived unexpectedly quickly in front of me. The price, including tax, was 2,600 yen for the bowl of kamatoro-don (rice was white rice, not vinegared rice), the fish soup, and a small bowl of Matsumae-zuke pickles. If you like kaisendon, you must be happy that this bowl of rice is only 2,600 yen, right? In the first place, a kaisen donburi specializing in “kamatoro”, a rare part of the fish, is not something you can find all over Japan, and…

I don’t know if you can tell from the image above, but the surface of the sashimi is glistening with fat. When you put it in your mouth and chew it, you feel a little bit of elasticity, and then you can chew it without any resistance, and the sweet fat is dripping from the cross section… There are 12 thick slices of Kamatoro like this! I was so impressed! I can’t think of any other way to describe it. If you are a tuna lover, I strongly recommend that you immediately order the kamatoro-doni from Itoshima Shokudo when you see it in stock on the menu on your smartphone.

Other menu items at Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop (prices include tax)

• Kiwami Kaisendon　4,000 yen
• Itoshima Shokudo Gozen (3 kinds of sashimi, grilled Spanish mackerel with miso, Matsumae pickles, cooked sea bream, fried oysters, steamed egg custard, rice in earthenware pot, miso soup)　2,800 yen
• Crab bowl with rice topped with crab　2500 yen
• Tuna and negima nabe (tuna and leek stew)　2,500 yen
• Salmon and salmon roe bowl　2,200 yen
• Kaisen chirashi-don　1800yen
• Kuroge Wagyu beef bowl　1800 yen

Itoshima Shokudo is also open at Ito Highland Store and Fukuoka Parco Store… Access to Itoshima Shokudo Head Shop is a 7-minute walk from Kaburi Station on the jR Chikuhi Line, the nearest station.

In addition to the main restaurant introduced here, Itoshima Shokudo is also open at the Ito Highland Store and Fukuoka Parco Store, for a total of three locations. The Ito Highland Store offers a spectacular view of the ocean, and the Fukuoka Parco Store is directly connected to Tenjin Station. The Ito Highland store is especially close to the ocean, so take-out seems to be very popular. Sitting on the beach and enjoying a bowl of seafood while looking out at the ocean is sure to be a crazy luxurious lunchtime experience. Why not try it as a highlight of your sightseeing in Itoshima?

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…