Pure southern flavors at Italian restaurant Senti.U.

The Italian restaurant Senti.U is located in the southern Kagoshima Prefecture city of Kanoya, on the Osumi Peninsula, which is connected by a land bridge to the volcano Sakurajima. From Kagoshima Airport, it is about 90 minutes by car. While some guests choose to stay at a hotel nearby, another suggested option is to make a lunch reservation and book accommodations in the city of Kagoshima. Either way, Senti.U’s location is quite far from public transportation — but that actually gives visitors a strong sense of the area’s special character.

The eight-seat restaurant occupies a detached house in a residential area surrounded by ocean and mountain scenery. When he decided to open his own restaurant, owner-chef Yasuhiko Uchida, who is originally from Saga Prefecture, had a reason for choosing Kanoya as the location.

“This is my wife’s hometown,” he said. “Over the years, my father-in-law would introduce local producers whenever we came for a visit. I was really drawn to the ingredients produced on the Osumi Peninsula and decided I wanted to create dishes here.”

With its rich natural environment, Kagoshima Prefecture abounds in distinctive varieties of vegetables and fish. And because this is Japan’s second-largest livestock region, with livestock accounting for about 60% of the prefecture’s agricultural production, excellent locally raised beef, pork and chicken are also available.

Uchida said: “Meat is at peak umami flavor in the same winter period as game meat. But the condition of domestic livestock is very good here, so I use meat from trusted producers.”

That is why Purebed Saddleback pork from Fukudome Small Farm, a family-run pig farm that Uchida discovered through his father-in-law, plays a leading role at Senti.U throughout the year. The farm is the only producer in Japan raising Purebed Saddleback pigs, a rare British breed similar to Italy’s Cinta Senese that at one time was close to disappearing. The pork is quite fatty and has a rich flavor. On a recent winter day, it was served charcoal-grilled as the main dish in the course menu, which is priced at ¥12,100 ($80) for lunch and ¥17,600 for dinner. Additionally, lardo (dry-cured ham made from back fat) and back-fat sausage are used in other dishes.

Uchida’s creation process is unique as well. In 2018, when he reopened the restaurant after relocating, he discarded conventional concepts of Italian cuisine such as red wine sauce with meat and cheese with pasta. His dishes’ pure flavors, from which extraneous tastes are eliminated to the greatest possible extent, are even praised as being akin to Japanese cuisine. The Osumi Peninsula is still uncharted gastronomic territory, but its culinary future will surely expand from this spot.

■Sustainable Japan Magazine (Sustainable Japan by The Japan Times)
https://sustainable.japantimes.com/magazine/vol54/54-04