A must-try "Jigoku-mushi" in Beppu — cook your own food with steam from hellish hot springs

To experience cooking with hot spring steam, “Jigoku Mushi Kobo Tetsuwa” is the most popular spot in Beppu. Deputy manager Wakabayashi explained that using hot spring steam to cook food in the Beppu area has a history of several hundred years, while Jigoku Mushi Kobo Tetsuwa has been operating locally for about eight years.

“Rather than calling this a restaurant, it’s more like an experience workshop,” said Wakabayashi. He believes that a restaurant is typically where guests sit down and are served by waitstaff who take orders and serve food, but at Jigoku Mushi Kobo Tetsuwa, everything from selecting ingredients to cooking and serving must be done by yourself. Therefore, it’s not defined as just a restaurant, but rather an experiential space where travelers can feel the charm of Beppu’s hot springs firsthand.

▲ You can choose from 0 types of ingredients, and visitors must first purchase meal tickets and hell pot usage tickets.

The experience of hell steamed cuisine at “Jigoku Mushi Kobo Tetsuwa” can be roughly divided into four steps:

1. Select your favorite ingredients and purchase meal tickets
At the entrance ticket machine, choose the size of the jigoku kettle and usage tickets based on the number of people or appetite, and next to it you can select from over 20 types of ingredients. Purchase meal tickets for the desired ingredients.

▲%The ribs are tender and juicy, and using the provided sauce makes them even tastier.

2. Submit the meal tickets and register your number at the counter
Take the purchased meal tickets to the counter and register your number. The kitchen will prepare the ingredients according to the ticket details.

▲Counter for picking up ingredients.

▲%Ji? The music here is really good.

3. Pick up the ingredients and take them to the hell stove
After getting the ingredients, travelers can proceed to the hell stove for cooking. Travelers should note that because the temperature of the hot spring steam is extremely high, gloves must be worn to open the stove and place the ingredients inside.

▲Each hell stove comes with a timer for cooking ingredients.

▲Gloves are required due to the high steam temperature.

4. Cook the ingredients according to the timer time
Each hell stove comes with a basic usage time of 30 minutes. Within those 30 minutes, different ingredients have varying cooking times — for example, vegetables and eggs take about 10–15 minutes to cook, while seafood requires a longer time. Therefore, besides putting ingredients into the hell stove in order of cooking duration, the shop also provides timers and informs you of the finishing time for each layer of ingredients. Travelers can go to the stove when it’s time, remove the ingredients, and bring them to their table themselves.

▲%The fresh ingredients must be kept immersed in the ice water until just before serving, otherwise they must be discarded. Therefore, the freshness of the vegetables is something that must be strictly maintained.

In addition, Jigoku Mushi Kobo Tetsuwa also allows travelers to bring their own ingredients for cooking — simply purchase a “Bring Your Own Ingredients Ticket” at the entrance ticket machine. If you want to add more items midway through your meal, you can do so, but in addition to buying a meal ticket, you’ll also need to purchase an extra “Cooking Time Ticket.”

With the increasing number of overseas travelers visiting Kyushu, the ticket machines at Jigoku Mushi Kobo Tetsuwa now feature interfaces in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Even if you don’t speak Japanese, you can easily enjoy the charm of hell spring cuisine.

▲% Envy about? Rice carved with precision when served.