Kumamoto is Japan's home of basashi — horse sashimi — and Suganoya raises the horse itself. The house runs its own farm, Senko Farm, on the Aso highlands, and keeps the whole chain in-house: raising the animals and processing the meat under one operation, pasture to plate. That farm sits in a notable lineage, having been the first in the world to earn SQF certification for raw meat for human consumption, in 2002. The Ginza-dori branch was listed in the special Kumamoto and Oita edition of the Michelin guide in 2018.
What you eat
Horse sashimi from a single controlled operation, the animals raised on the Aso farm and the meat handled by the same house, which is the argument for eating basashi here rather than anywhere. It is served across several branches in central Kumamoto, some with modern Japanese private rooms for a quieter meal.
From pasture to plate
The integrated model is the whole point: one company raising the horses on the Aso grassland and preparing the meat, with the food-safety pedigree, that world-first SQF certification of 2002, to stand behind it. Little in Japanese horse cuisine is this joined up.
Go here for
Travelers who want Kumamoto's signature basashi from a house that controls it end to end, and who will book dinner ahead, since the tables fill.