URL: https://kumamoto-yataimura.com/

The Kumamoto Food Stall Village is a narrow alleyway lined with 18 small yatai (food stalls) offering a variety of tasty dishes. The food stall village is located just across the street from City Hall and is a convenient place to get dinner and drinks after visiting the castle.

These food stall alleyways are common in Japan and are great spots to hop from stall to stall and meet new people, so we decided to check out what this new Kumamoto landmark has to offer.

The entrance is adorned with sake barrels and huge lanterns, lending the alleyway a festive vibe. There is a touch-screen sign to the right of the entrance with information on each of the shops, although the information is only in Japanese (as of January 2023). In addition to the yatai, there is a self-serve shochu station serving 27 different kinds of shochu!

We visited a stall called Ilfo, which is centered around a large traditional Japanese hearth used to cook both Japanese dishes as well as interesting takes on Italian dishes.

For food, we started off with an akaushi wagyu steak. The beef is kept on a shelf about a meter above the fire where it slow roasts. When an order comes in, the chef slices off a steak and cooks it closer to the fire, creating something that straddles the line between roast beef and rare steak.

The steak was simply seasoned with only flakey salt and was absolutely sublime. Akaushi beef is much leaner than other types of wagyu, giving it a much more pronounced meaty flavor that pairs wonderfully with red wine.

We finally ordered something called a “rotorino:” a stick of pizza dough stuffed with sauce and cheese and topped with prosciutto. The rotorino was so good we ordered another!

In conclusion, if you’re in town for a night and looking for a good spot to try different kinds of food while rubbing elbows with the locals, the Kumamoto Food Stall Village is a great place to visit.