BANIKU BARU Shinmiyoshi

Soba depends on your taste... But you can try all the famous dishes of Nagano prefecture! So especially we recommend this restaurant to people who visit here for sightseeing!

Extremely delicious horse sashimi, as well as fried horse meat. There was a recommendation on applying certain sauces, ginger or shallot to different cuts of sashimi, but naturally it was fresh and good enough to not have any. But having the recommended sauce/condiments style does bring a slight unique taste to it. Staff was extremely friendly and helpful, decor was very very interesting and atmosphere was definitely very relax and welcoming. Don't let the outside menu intimidate you, they have English menu for people who don't speak Japanese. Would definitely come back to this place in the future.

One of our traveling group wanted to try horse meat and this place was recommended by the hotel reception staff. It seems popular, as all tables were filled and it was lucky that we had a reservation. We ordered two sets of shabu shabu, and the meat came in long strips that were not gamey at all. We also had horse sashimi with apple, and grilled horsemeat in skewers. In addition, we ordered mushrooms cooked in butter, as well as pork tonkatsu, which was tasty. I highly recommend the cold soba, while the onigiri or grilled rice was so so. Prices are not cheap and we ended by paying almost 20000 yen, including a glass of excellent sake, two beers, and two ume with sofa.

Wasabi leaves appetizer dish is amazing. I really recommend Soba course (but it’s quite a large portion of starch). The veg soup is delicious and light. And Highly recommend the wasabi, it’s authentic wasabi. Sweet and no spicy at all.

Meat quality is not up to expectation. Sashimi is ok, very blend tho. But the cooked horse meat were too tough. Price is relatively high. Skewers were ok, nothing surprised me. The best dish was potato salad. We have tried horse meat way better in other places. This place is not recommended, it’s a shame for somewhere that specialises in horse meat.

Horse meat is traditionally consumed in this area. Served with many other Japanese izakaya food and local Sake breweries. Great service. Highly recommended!

Get the Sakura set menu. Delicious raw and cooked horse meat, plus dessert I forgot the nabe picture. Oops.

Delectable sashimi. Who would've thought that a stallion could taste so succulent? The sashimi platter was an assortment of horsemeat of varying cuts (heart, liver, etc). Some cuts are certainly better than others, but I enjoyed the diverse tastes and textures. Shoyu was an excellent complement to the horsemeat.