Italian restaurants open at Shiroyama Hotel – Directed by chef-owner of Ristorante Hamasaki
Interior of Ristorante Holt
On May 10, the Western-style buffet restaurant Garden Restaurant Holt at Shiroyama Hotel Kagoshima reopened as two new restaurants: Ristorante Holt, a full-course Italian restaurant, and Italian Holt, which serves freshly baked pizza and other dishes.
The hotel has 11 restaurants, including Japanese, French, and Chinese. Since there was no full-course Italian restaurant and the hotel celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, it added Italian restaurants to provide guests with a richer culinary experience.
Ristorante Holt was directed by Ryuichi Hamasaki, owner and chef of Ristorante Hamasaki, an Italian restaurant in Tokyo. Born in Ichikikushikino City in Kagoshima, Hamasaki trained in Italy and Tokyo before opening Ristorante Hamasaki as owner-chef in 2001. He is also vice president of the Associazione Cuochi Cucina Italiana and has supervised wedding receptions at Holt’s banquet hall since 2020.
Chef Hamasaki and Holt’s head chef, Yoshinobu Kunigo, worked together to develop the menu through a series of trials and evaluations. The completed course menu is filled with seasonal ingredients from Kagoshima Prefecture. The three lunch courses are Pranzo A at 3,960 yen, B at 4,730 yen, and C at 6,490 yen, while the dinner courses are Giardino at 9,922 yen, Castello at 12,705 yen, and Chef Special at 19,000 yen.
The Italian Holt offers an “Italian Half Buffet,” where each diner can choose one pizza (Margherita, quattro formaggi, and so forth) cooked in a pizza oven and a buffet of soup, salad, dessert, and bread. The price for adults is 2,970 yen for lunch (3,300 yen on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) and 4,070 yen for dinner (4,400 yen for the same).
Ristorante Holt is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Italian Holt in two sessions: lunch from 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.; dinner from 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (up to 90 minutes each session).