Italian wood-fired cuisine in Gunma

Kawaba, home of the Italian restaurant-inn Ventinove, is a village of about 3,000 people in Gunma Prefecture’s Tone district. The small number of residents may evoke the image of a depopulated village in decline, but with its location at the foot of Mount Hotaka, one of Japan’s “100 famous mountains,” Kawaba is actually a vibrant tourist destination. From Tokyo, visitors can take the Joetsu Shinkansen to Jomo-Kogen Station, followed by a 30-minute taxi ride. The area abounds in sightseeing attractions, including the roadside station Kawaba Denen Plaza, which receives as many as 2 million visitors per year, in addition to skiing and golf facilities and five hot springs.

Ventinove’s chef-owner, Yusuke Takeuchi, was born in Tokyo but lived in Kawaba from the age of 10. His father, Shigemitsu, an independent early childhood education specialist, relocated to the area in order to provide educational programs in a natural setting.

Takeuchi said: “Every summer, my dad takes city kids camping for two weeks in an area deep in the mountains without electricity, running water or gas. I went along with the group every year until I was 18. Each day we’d make a wood fire and use it to cook rice and heat bath water. At home, too, we used firewood for cooking and baths.”

In 2006, while training as a chef, Takeuchi went to Italy, where he spent three years honing his skills. In the final year he worked at Cecchini, a 250-year-old business in the Chianti region of Tuscany that has been called the world’s most famous butcher shop.

“In the morning, I’d cut up the meat. From noon, at the attached restaurant, I’d grill the specialty, bistecca (Tuscan-style steak),” said Takeuchi.

After returning to Japan, he worked for a year at Osteria Enoteca da Sasino in Aomori Prefecture, and in 2011 he opened Trattoria 29 in the Nishiogikubo area of Tokyo. Though the restaurant flourished, an eviction notice from the landlord came in 2019, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Takeuchi returned to his family home to take stock, and it was then that he became aware of the wealth of ingredients produced in Kawaba. He decided to create a restaurant there, and in 2022 he opened Ventinove.

“There are wild mountain vegetables, of course, and also an abundance of mushrooms,” said Takeuchi. “You can even forage for black truffles. I also go along on hunts, and as soon as I return, I butcher the hunted game in the meat-production facility at our family home.”

These mountain gifts and all the other ingredients used in the course menu (except seasonings) are sourced in Gunma Prefecture. Menu prices start at ¥15,500 ($100), and a night’s stay in Ventinove’s only guest room, with two meals, starts at ¥36,000 (prices include tax). All the cooking, including the Akagi beef bistecca — crisp on the outside and moist and tender on the inside — is done with wood fire, either on a grill or in an oven. Takeuchi’s wife, Mai, is in charge of service.

This small restaurant will undoubtedly play a big role as a new destination in Kawaba, a town that has survived and prospered through tourism.