⚫︎Amakusa seafood bowl (choose from yellowtail, red sea bream, or bigfin reef squid)　1,300 yen ⚫︎Horoyoi Set (karashi renkon, tofu marinated in miso, horse sashimi, Kuma shochu) 1,750 yen ⚫︎十年の転た寝 ⚫︎ 焔の刻印（ほむらのこくいん）　A premium long-aged Kuma shochu made by taking undiluted rice shochu aged over 10 years in oak barrels and further filtering it through bamboo charcoal. It features the rich aroma of white oak and the mellow, deep flavor characteristic of a 10-year aged spirit, with an impactful, whisky-like taste. Available for purchase on the first floor.

I came by for a break while out in Ginza. It's a restaurant on the 2nd floor of the Kumamoto products center. I visited around 5 p.m., and about half the seats were taken. It seemed lots of people were there for tea. ୨୧- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -୨୧ ◆Horoyoi Set ¥1700 A set of three snacks (horse sashimi, karashi renkon, the day's dish/hiyayakko) and a drink. You can choose the drink, so I picked the Hitoyoshi Highball. The karashi renkon has a solid kick and is so good it keeps the drinks coming! The horse sashimi was a little frozen in parts, but it was still nicely marbled and delicious. ◇Shochu on the rocks Of course one glass wasn't enough, so I got another shochu. They have lots of kinds of shochu, so I wanted to try a bunch. ୨୧- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -୨୧ A place to casually enjoy Kumamoto. They also have a proper meal menu, so it seems good for lunch too!

A casual restaurant on the 2nd floor of Ginza Kumamoto-kan. Visited for lunch. Prices are reasonable for an antenna shop, but portions are on the small side. ◇Aso Akaushi stewed hamburger steak A substantial hamburger steak. If you want volume, go with this. ◇Dango-jiru A vegetable-packed miso soup with kneaded wheat flour dumplings, but the version here is close to udon. ◇Abekku Ramen A famous Kumamoto packaged instant noodle with added toppings. More shio tonkotsu than tonkotsu, and pretty tasty. The noodles have a somen-like texture. ◇Nankan-age bowl An egg rice bowl with Nankan-age added (something like a large aburaage with more moisture removed than usual). The dashi-soaked Nankan-age is delicious. By the way, Nankan-age is also in the miso soup that comes with set meals. ◇Takana rice Can be added to Abekku Ramen or dango-jiru.

A restaurant on the 2nd floor of Ginza Kumamoto-kan where you can eat local cuisine made with fresh produce from Kumamoto, like Kuma shochu, horse sashimi, and karashi renkon. I'd been to the antenna shop on the 1st floor of Kumamoto-kan a few times, but this was my first time at the 2nd-floor restaurant; this time I ordered the “assorted 4 kinds of horse sashimi (1500 yen)” and the “horse offal stewed in miso (800 yen)”. The horse sashimi had just the right amount of fat and was lean, but the more you chew, the more the flavor of the horse meat spreads through your mouth; it paired perfectly with beer and was delicious. The horse offal stewed in miso was strongly flavored, but the mild miso and light horse meat were superb. Besides horse meat, you can also eat things like Aso Akaushi stewed hamburger steak and dango-jiru here.

After finishing my first daytime drinking spot, I stopped by Kumamoto-kan to buy karashi renkon to take home, and since there was something saying you could have a drink on the 2nd floor, I had a daytime second round at Kumamoto-kan. With horse sashimi and tofu marinated in miso as snacks, I ended up ordering a shochu tasting flight and such, and got pretty drunk. So I don't really remember the taste, but I think it was good somehow.