Where Dutch Sensibility Meets Kyushu's Rich Ingredients — a New Dish From Hakata
SMAAK, the restaurant led by Chef Director Jacob Jan Boerma, is opening its second location, SMAAK Hakata, in November 2026 (planned) on the 9th floor of City Dining Kuuten inside JR Hakata City, directly connected to JR Hakata Station.
SMAAK first opened in Yokohama's Bashamichi district in December 2022 as the first restaurant in Asia produced by Jacob Jan Boerma, who previously led the Netherlands' three-Michelin-star restaurant De Leest. While respecting the character of each ingredient, the restaurant offers internationally minded, creative cuisine that layers acidity, umami, aroma, temperature, and texture. The Yokohama location has been selected for Tabelog's "Creative/Innovative Cuisine Top 100 Restaurants 2025."
At its second location, SMAAK Hakata carries forward the culinary philosophy and worldview cultivated in Yokohama while engaging with Kyushu's rich ingredients and local character to express a new take on SMAAK, one that could only come from this land.
Another SMAAK, Shaped by the Land of Kyushu
SMAAK is an innovative restaurant centered on course meals that make the most of seasonal ingredients. It combines Jacob Jan Boerma's sensibility, cultivated across the Netherlands and around the world, with Japanese ingredients and food culture to offer creative cuisine that draws out the individuality of each ingredient.
Rather than simply recreating the Yokohama menu, SMAAK Hakata incorporates seafood from the Genkai Sea and other parts of Kyushu, along with vegetables, meat, and citrus fruits grown on the region's rich land, shaping the character of each ingredient with SMAAK's signature sensibility and technique.
Reading not just the ingredients but also the land's culture, seasons, and scenery, and letting delicacy and boldness, familiarity and surprise coexist, forms the foundation of SMAAK's cuisine.
The interior carries forward the bright, refined worldview of the Yokohama Bashamichi location while adopting a simple, warm design reminiscent of Scandinavian spaces. Valuing the texture of materials, light, and negative space, it aims to be a setting where colorful dishes and tableware stand out beautifully.
Sample Course From SMAAK's Yokohama Bashamichi Location
At SMAAK, each course combines amuse-bouche, appetizers, warm dishes, fish dishes, meat dishes, and desserts built around seasonal ingredients.
From one day's course
Three amuse-bouche
Nori, squid, wasabi
Sweet potato, Asian spices, spring roll
Shiso, omelet, chicken liver
Appetizer
Striped jack, cucumber, sriracha, lime
Warm dish
Daikon, kelp, bonito flakes, miso
Fish dish
Flounder, tomato, basil, fennel
Special dish
Squash blossom, shrimp, parsley, kaffir lime
Meat dish
Venison, beets, pommes dauphine, gingerbread
Dessert
Watermelon, lemon, mint, shochu
Coffee, petits fours
The above is a sample course served at SMAAK's Yokohama Bashamichi location. SMAAK Hakata plans to offer courses built around Kyushu's ingredients and seasons.
Chef Director Jacob Jan Boerma
Jacob Jan Boerma
Interested in cooking from a young age, Boerma studied at a hotel school in the Netherlands. After graduating, he trained at Michelin two- and three-star restaurants around the world, becoming a chef at a young age.
In 2002, he opened De Leest with his partner and sommelier Kim Veldman. The restaurant earned a Michelin star within six months, two stars in 2007, and became the fourth three-Michelin-star restaurant in the Netherlands in 2013.
He went on to produce restaurants across Europe, including White Room in Amsterdam and Restaurant Fine Fleur in Antwerp. On December 15, 2022, he opened his own restaurant, SMAAK, in Yokohama's Bashamichi district — the first restaurant of its kind in Asia.
At SMAAK Hakata, he will also serve as Chef Director, overseeing the restaurant's culinary direction and overall vision.
From the Netherlands to Yokohama. And Now, to Hakata.
The name SMAAK means "taste," "flavor," or "preference" in Dutch.
The culinary philosophy cultivated in Yokohama now meets a new encounter with Kyushu's ingredients and culture.
In November 2026, the next chapter of SMAAK begins in Hakata.
Store Overview
Store name: SMAAK Hakata
Opening: November 2026 (planned)
Address: JR Hakata City, City Dining Kuuten, 9F, 1-1 Hakataekichuogai, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Seats: 28
Courses: Lunch course from ¥5,200
Dinner course from ¥9,900
* Details on pricing and course content to be announced when reservations open in October
Reservations open: October 2026 (planned)
Instagram: @smaak_hakata
