{"id":1528,"date":"2011-05-03T10:03:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T09:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insidejapanblog.com\/?p=1528"},"modified":"2016-02-08T20:52:52","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T20:52:52","slug":"matsumoto-restaurant-review-kurekino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/03\/matsumoto-restaurant-review-kurekino\/","title":{"rendered":"Matsumoto Restaurant Review: Kurekino"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Like this post? Help us by sharing it!<\/h4><ul class=\"wpfai-list\"><li class=\"wpfai-list-item facebook\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528&amp;t=\" title=\"Facebook\" class=\"wpfai-facebook wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-facebook fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item twitter\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528\" title=\"Twitter\" class=\"wpfai-twitter wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-twitter fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item pinterest\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528&amp;description=&amp;media=\" title=\"Pinterest\" class=\"wpfai-pinterest wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-pinterest fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item linkedin\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528&amp;title=\" title=\"Linked In\" class=\"wpfai-linkedin wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-linkedin fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item envelope\">\r\n      <a href=\"mailto:?subject=&amp;body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528%20-%20\" title=\"E-Mail\" class=\"wpfai-envelope wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-envelope fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item stumbleupon\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stumbleupon.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528\" title=\"Stumble Upon\" class=\"wpfai-stumbleupon wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-stumbleupon fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item reddit\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528\" title=\"Reddit\" class=\"wpfai-reddit wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-reddit fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><\/ul><p>Matsumoto has lots to offer its visitors: sake breweries, wasabi farms, the world\u2019s largest private collection of ukiyoe (woodblock prints) and not forgetting one of Japan\u2019s best preserved and visually striking castles. But, unfortunately, many visitors are here just for one day. With the time constrained punter in mind, here is a restaurant which offers Matsumoto\u2019s culinary specialities: soba noodles, wasabi, raw horse meat and sake, located next to the train station\u2019s East Exit (Castle Exit).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1536\" title=\"Kurekino Entrance\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-entrance1.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-entrance1.jpg 448w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-entrance1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-entrance1-390x293.jpg 390w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kurekino\u2019s is easily found, with its sake barrels to the right of the entrance and an immured (but visible) soba noodle chef to the left. Inside there are a number of 2 or 4 person tables and also a big wooden counter where one can sit and engage with the other customers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1537\" title=\"Counter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter-300x179.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"178\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter-720x429.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter-390x232.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter-780x465.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter-900x536.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/counter.jpg 967w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The most popular dishes are the soba noodle sets. The noodles will either be in hot broth or cold with a dipping sauce, larger sets come with tempura. Raw horse is also on offer on the \u00e0 la carte menu.<\/p>\n<p>The soba and tempura sets were well presented and large. It doesn\u2019t take a genius to know that the soba is handmade: you passed the soba chef on your way in. But the irregular width of the noodles is also a sign of noodles not processed by machine. The texture of the soba was satisfying (a little denser than wheat noodles) and they had the characteristically nutty buckwheat taste. I opted for the soba in duck broth which was excellent. Duck meat is not very common in Japan so this was an occasional treat.<\/p>\n<p>The cold noodle dishes are also served with a red lacquer jug which contains the hot water in which the soba noodles were cooked (called sobayu, the Japanese word for it sounds a lot better than my English description). This starchy liquid is used to dilute the soy sauce based dip and is drunk at the end of the meal. I\u2019ve come to use the sobayu as a kind of soba restaurant quality yardstick, as I\u2019ve only enjoyed it in better establishments and I enjoyed the sobayu here enough to drink by itself (a habit I\u2019ve never observed anyone else do so don\u2019t necessarily follow my example).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1539\" title=\"Basashi\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi.jpg 968w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi-720x432.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi-390x234.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi-780x468.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/basashi-900x540.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The horse meat here was tender and of good quality. But because raw horse is quite a lean meat don\u2019t expect the delicious fatty flavour associated with good Japanese raw beef. This dish is often served with a little grated ginger, crushed garlic, shredded onions and soy sauce which are added to the thin slices of meat to taste. An ideal accompaniment to the horse is a bottle of cold sake and the staff were more than happy to recommend one from their range of local brews.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1540\" title=\"Kurekino Drinks\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks-720x540.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks-390x293.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks-780x585.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kurekino-drinks-900x675.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurekino Ekishaten\u3000\u6991\u6728\u91ce\u99c5\u820e\u5e97\u3000<\/strong>(next to\u00a0the Matsumoto East Exit (Castle Exit), Shimadachi 859, 390-0852, <a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps\/ms?ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;msa=0&amp;msid=201348155797332238871.0004a1ca5f42379fad675&amp;ll=36.231089,137.964678&amp;spn=0.002428,0.004801&amp;z=18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here for location<\/a>)<br \/>\nTel: 0263-38-0803<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kurekino.co.jp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.kurekino.co.jp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sets under \u00a52000 and the raw horse is \u00a5870. Sake from \u00a5400.<br \/>\nOpen Daily<br \/>\nLast Order 20:40.<\/p>\n<h4>Like this post? Help us by sharing it!<\/h4><ul class=\"wpfai-list\"><li class=\"wpfai-list-item facebook\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528&amp;t=\" title=\"Facebook\" class=\"wpfai-facebook wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-facebook fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item twitter\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528\" title=\"Twitter\" class=\"wpfai-twitter wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-twitter fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item pinterest\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528&amp;description=&amp;media=\" title=\"Pinterest\" class=\"wpfai-pinterest wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-pinterest fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item linkedin\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528&amp;title=\" title=\"Linked In\" class=\"wpfai-linkedin wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-linkedin fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item envelope\">\r\n      <a href=\"mailto:?subject=&amp;body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528%20-%20\" title=\"E-Mail\" class=\"wpfai-envelope wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-envelope fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item stumbleupon\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stumbleupon.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528\" title=\"Stumble Upon\" class=\"wpfai-stumbleupon wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-stumbleupon fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item reddit\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F1528\" title=\"Reddit\" class=\"wpfai-reddit wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-reddit fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like this post? Help us by sharing it! Matsumoto has lots to offer its visitors: sake breweries, wasabi farms, the world\u2019s largest private collection of ukiyoe (woodblock prints) and not forgetting one of Japan\u2019s best preserved and visually striking castles. But, unfortunately, many visitors are here just for one day. With the time constrained punter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2366],"tags":[1472,1520,1855,2375,2376,2377,2378,2531],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japanese-food-and-drink","tag-drink","tag-food","tag-matsumoto","tag-food-drink","tag-kurekino","tag-matsumoto-restaurant","tag-kurekino-ekishaten","tag-liam-chawdhary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9250,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions\/9250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}