You know there’s something odd when the tourist guide says, “eat the famous Higa beef!” and you can’t find a restaurant with any Higa beef. I just spent $99 eating dinner. But first things first.
There’s good news and bad news about last night. The good news is that I finally powered through my 4AM wakefulness and didn’t get up until my 6AM alarm! The bad news is that I had a stomachache during the night (maybe I shouldn’t have had that saké at dinner) and I woke up with a headache. I’m guessing the headache was from my allergies and all the smorkiness from the wood fire they had to heat up the cooling room (what a contradiction). There’s usually a spot in an onsen where you can rest and rehydrate and Yamashinobu had theirs outside with a traditional Japanese wood fire. A smoldering wood fire at that. But it didn’t stop me from eating breakfast.
Advil took care of the headache and I headed back down the mountain to Kumamoto. The bus service didn’t have my reservation (which I looked at online and had printed out) and the bus was packed.
By the time we got to Aso I figured I had no reason to stay on the bus and decided to take the train the rest of the way. It was a quaint two car train and one of the most interesting things was that there was a switchback where the driver stopped the train and had to walk to the other end to reverse direction, and did the same again at Tateno station.
When I got to Kumamoto I got to the JR Kyushu Hotel Kumamoto, a brand new clean hotel with FAST INTARWEBS. I had to call home and then the credit card company to see why it kept getting declined and was on the phone FOREVER without much resolution. They’re sending a new card to the hotel in Osaka.
In any case, I went to see Kumamoto Castle which is one of the most impressive I’ve seen. Lots of levels and turrets and stairs. Lots and lots of stairs which made for a great view from the top.
I got back after walking through the shopping arcade and wanted to try the Higa beef since that’s one of the things highlighted in the tourist guide. The front desk had suggestions but further research didn’t seem to recommend those places. The only thing I could find is a restaurant nearby, in the New Otani Hotel which was expensive. But what the heck, if the steak was as good as the Matsuzaka beef I’ve had in the past, it would be worth it.
Dinner started out promising (the flattened shrimp head is hiding the tail meat).
The chef was fun to watch and did a great job.
But in the end the meat was great but it wasn’t life-changing like the matsuzaka beef tends to be. I was also promised the best garlic rice in Japan, and it needed salt.
In the end it was an excellent, though slightly disappointing, dinner with a surprise end. One of the wait staff knew a lot about Nikka whiskey and I had a drink of the Single Malt Yoichi (which is no longer being produced) at the adjoining bar and it was quite tasty.
