Whenever our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma thinks of the many noodle restaurant chains he’d most like to dine at in Fukuoka, Menchanko-tei always comes to mind. So on a recent trip to the prefecture, he made a beeline for the nearest branch, where he was excited to fulfill his noodle dreams. ▼ Menchanko-tei was born in Hakata City, Fukuoka, in 1980 — the same year as Masanuki’s birth.
The name of the restaurant combines the word tei (“restaurant“) with men (“noodles“) and chanko , a traditional hotpot dish eaten by sumo wrestlers, and this combination of foods is exactly what the chain serves up. ▼ Menchanko The idea for the unusual dish came about when the owner-chef, an avid sumo fan who initially operated an udon restaurant, was inspired by the chanko nabe he ate with sumo wrestlers at the training hall of the 53rd Yokozuna (Sumo Grand Champion) Kotozakura Masakatsu. While the sumo wrestlers would usually add noodles to the hotpot towards the end of the meal, Menchanko-tei’s owner didn’t see the need to wait, finding it such a delicious pairing that he decided to serve them together from the get-go, creating a meal that became so popular the restaurant grew to incorporate numerous branches, including one in Hawaii and one at the World Trade Center in New York.
At the Hakozaki branch, where Masanuki visited, they pay homage to the now-lost World Trade Center location with a relic that’s incredibly moving — the cash register, which was pulled from the .
