About Fugu-Matsu
Fugu-Matsu is the city's reference fugu (pufferfish) specialist, in operation since the 1970s on a Kitahama waterfront address two blocks from Beppu Bay. The kitchen works exclusively with wild-caught Bungo-suido fugu. The strait between Kyushu and Shikoku produces some of Japan's most prized pufferfish. And the season runs October through March. Outside the season, the restaurant closes for two months (April-May) for staff training and rotates onto Bungo-Bay seasonal kaiseki for the summer.
The signature is the Fugu Tasting Course at ¥18,000. Fugu-sashi (the famously thin-sliced sashimi arranged in a chrysanthemum pattern, eaten with a citrus-soy ponzu and grated daikon), fugu-karaage (deep-fried), fugu-nabe (a hot-pot in clear seasonal broth), fugu-zosui (a rice porridge made from the leftover hot-pot broth, eaten as the meal's final course), and a small wagashi sweet. The premium Tora-Fugu course (using only top-grade tiger pufferfish) runs ¥28,000.
Fugu requires a licensed chef in Japan. The fish has lethal toxin in specific organs and only chefs who have passed the official Japanese fugu-handling examination may prepare it. Fugu-Matsu's head chef has held the licence for thirty-eight years and the kitchen handles around four hundred fish per winter season. The technique is genuinely an art form; the sashimi alone is one of the visual set-pieces of Japanese cuisine.
The room is built in formal kaiseki style. Pale tatami floors, low zataku tables, shoji panels onto a small inner courtyard, kimonoed staff, an unhurried pace. Capacity is twenty-eight across the main hall plus three private rooms (largest seats eight). Reservations are taken by phone two weeks ahead; the season's most-booked weeks are December-January.
Best Occasion Fit
For impressing international clients with a serious cultural set-piece dinner, fugu is one of the iconic Japanese fine-dining experiences and Beppu-Oita is the country's reference region for the dish. For high-occasion birthdays the multi-course tasting paces the meal over two and a half hours. For proposals in winter, the back private tatami room with the courtyard view is one of the city's most enclosed dining spaces.
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