Pioneering Japanese gyoza restaurant hasn’t changed its recipe in over 70 years, doesn’t need to

A visit to the creator of Fukuoka’s hitokuchi gyoza.

“Bigger is better” is a common philosophy, and especially so when talking about food. But Fukuoka, the largest city on Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu, flips that script when it comes to gyoza.

One of Fukuoka’s culinary claims to fame is “hitokuchi (bite-sized) gyoza.” This isn’t a case of restaurants skimping on portion size to try to squeeze some extra cash out of customers, though, since an order of hitokuchi gyoza comes with a larger number of dumplings than regular gyoza orders elsewhere. Hitokuchi gyoza are instead a reflection of Fukuoka’s special appreciation for gyoza you can pop into your mouth whole. They’ve become an iconic symbol of the food culture, and it’s thanks to one restaurant in particular, which has now been using the same hitokuchi gyoza recipe for over 70 years!

▼ “Birthplace of Hakata hitokuchi gyoza” (博多一口餃子発祥), Hountei’s menu proudly proclaims

The restaurant Hountei opened in 1949, when its founder repatriated to Japan after living in Manchuria. Hountei was the originator of Hakata hitokuchi gyoza (Hakata being the name of Fukuoka’s downtown city center neighborhood), and all these decades later, they’re still serving them up, so we decided to stop by and try the taste that launched an entire sub-genre of Japanese food.

▼ There they are, Hountei’s hitokuchi gyoza!

There’s no hard scientific data codifying the appeal of hitokuchi gyoza, but the common logic is that by nature of being bite-sized, they make a great accompaniment to other flavors. A larger, two-bite gyoza means either having to double-up on gyoza flavor, or coming back to the remaining half after its stuffing has gotten cold from having one end of the wrapping bitten off. With hitokuchi gyoza, you can alternate between gyoza and something else while still enjoying the dumplings at their optimal deliciousness, so while you can order a plate of 10 hitokuchi gyoza by themselves for 600 yen (US$4.05) at Hountei, you can also get them in sets with ramen or other Chinese dishes.

But the other reason to love hitokuchi gyoza? Their one-bite size makes them an excellent snack to have with a nice cold beer!

Taking our first taste of Hountei’s hitokuchi gyoza, we found them excellent, but also a little different from what you might be expecting from gyoza in Japan.

While they’re made with the traditional ingredients of minced pork, onion, and leeks, they don’t contain any garlic. The result is a delicious flavor that’s also mindful about not overstaying its welcome. Between their smaller size and cleaner aftertaste, Hountei’s hitokuchi gyoza really do feel designed to play nicely with the flavors of whatever else you might be eating or drinking. Going back and forth between sips of beer from our mug in one hand and bite-sized dumplings fro our chopsticks in the other, the combination was so satisfying it almost felt criminal.

▼ But being law-abiding citizens we paid for everything we ordered, including the second order of hitokuchi gyoza that we couldn’t resist adding.

Hountei has three branches, with its original location between the Hakatagawa and Nakagawa rivers. The branch we stopped by, though, is located in the Hakata Deitos shopping center that’s attached to Hakata Station, which is also where the Shinkansen stops in Fukuoka, so if you’re pressed for time, it’s a great place to try this part Fukuoka food history (especially since, being bite-sized, hitokuchi gyoza don’t take very long to eat either).

Restaurant information
Hountei (Hakata Deitos branch) / 宝雲亭（博多デイトス店）
Address: Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka-shi, Hakata-ku, Hakata Chuogai 1-1, Hakata Deitos basement level 1 (inside Hakata no Gohandokoro area)
福岡県福岡県福岡市博多区博多駅中央街1-1 博多デイトス B1F 博多のごはん処
Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website

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