Kokura's culinary signature is yakiudon — thick wheat noodles fried with pork, cabbage, and bonito flakes, said to have been invented here in the years after the Second World War when buckwheat for soba was scarce. The original Darumado, in the arcade district, still serves it from the same wok-blackened griddle.
Beyond yakiudon, the arcades hide dozens of small izakaya specialising in the cuisine of the Inland Sea — fugu (puffer fish) in winter, sawara (Spanish mackerel) in spring, oysters from nearby Buzen Bay year-round.