Japanese Restaurants

Giddy Up: I’m So Hungry I Could Eat Horse

March 23, 2012 2 Comments
horse restaurant

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of eating horse and in particular basashi or horsemeat sashimi.

For many years I have yearned to visit Kumamoto and dine on the fine equine delicacies of the area but my schedule has never allowed. Luckily I have stumbled across Bashunro, a specialist horsemeat restaurant that flies fresh horsemeat from the stables of Kumamoto on a daily basis.

chef, bashunro

For those of you wanting to know, horse meat is a little more gamy than beef but not as strong as wild-run venison. In Japan horses are specially bred for meat generally in small farms just like high-end wagyu. If you are REALLY curious, pony up for a plane ticket and giddy up to the nearest on-trend Izakaya.

sliced horsemeat

Bashunro is in an upscale area of Osaka where private bars charge $500 a head just to get a seat.

bashunro

Walking down the dark alleyway a two story backlit image of a stallion leaves no pretence of what lies inside.

bashunro, umeda

I push aside the noren over the doorway happily humming the Mr Ed theme song… “A horse is a horse, is a maincourse of course…”

basashi platter

First course (of course) was a plate of Basashi. The platter included Futa-ego (belly), Toro (fatty belly), Tategami (mane), Jo bara (top belly) and harami (point end brisket). The white somewhat chewy parts of the mane were a challenging and fascinating texture. Although not as intensely marbled as the horsemeat I have tried from Nagano the flavour was delicious.

I love the poster we were given to show which cuts of horse we were eating. This is now my screensaver.

Next up was a steak tartar of the equine variety sliced skilfully with the chef’s yanagiba. A simple dish lightly seasoned with shoyu.

horse meat sashimi

On the counter a thick stone was slowly heated for our Yakiniku course. The stone was seasoned with fatty mane, thin slices of horse shoulder “kurashita” and vegetables grilled at the table. The dipping sauce was a seasoned ira-zake (sake), very different but worked well.

horse meat

Last course was hari hari nabe.

horse meat nabe

Hari hari nabe is a traditional spicy Kansai style nabe (hot-pot) served with Minke whale. It has been adapted in recent times to include horsemeat instead of whale but almost always includes maitake mushrooms and crunchy mizuna lettuce. We finished the nabe with a firmer style udon from Akita prefecture.

horse meat nabe

……..

There was no tongue, heart, intestine or liver on the tasting menu but I guess you can’t always have everything you want.

bashunro restaurant osaka

 

horse cuts poster

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2 Comments

Tim March 24, 2012 at 6:28 am

Cool. This is the controversial blog you were tweeting about. In Sydney, you can fly a horse meat in from Perth for a price that is not too dear. Contact Vince Garreffa (http://www.mondo.net.au/), he’s one of the very few who has a license to sell farmed horse meet.

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pigflyin April 3, 2012 at 12:10 pm

These horses are delicious! These are far cry from the mysterious meats that one got from Brit boarding school.

I have to seek this place out. Fantastic stuff. I was very surprised that they don’t have the inards, esp heart and liver on offer.

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