Executive Chef and owner of the Nobu chain of restaurants, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa is known for his new style Japanese dishes influenced by cooking styles he experienced from his trips to South America and Peru. His cooking style has made him a celebrity chef on demand. During one of his world trips, he shared time in Dubai to talk about his restaurants.
“We have been operating for two years in the Middle East and it’s getting better and better and I would say that the restaurant in Dubai is one of the top five in the group,” he said. “We chose Atlantis hotel in Dubai because we also collaborated with the one in Bahamass. We like our connection with the management and we found that we work too well with each other.”
Nobu said he recently opened a Japanese Garden in the Atlantis hotel in Dubai because the weather there was amazing. “In summer time people like to stay outside and that’s why we opened an outdoor section where we offer the same menu but with different seating,” he said.
Chef Nobu and his business partners that include actor Robert De Niro, operate 29 restaurants around the world. He recently revealed their new plan on opening Nobu Hotel in Vegas and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“By the End of next year, my clients in Saudi Arabia will witness the opening of a Nobu Hotel in Riyadh. The hotel will include a Nobu restaurant, sushi bar and Japanese garden as well,” he said. “We are opening Hotel Nobu in Vegas in August 2012.” He said he was excited about opening the hotel even though it would be a great challenge for him and his partners.
Having a big team that helped him manage all the restaurants around the world. “I have faith and trust in my team, they helped me manage the restaurants when I’m not there and they will help me manage the hotels as well,” he added.
Nobu started his career creating only Sushi but after he moved to South America and Peru he got the chance to be exposed to different cooking cultures. “I like to experiment local markets wherever I go. I love using their local products in our cooking and menu. You will always find me in the spice market and the fish market looking for new inspiration and try to involve their famous ingredients in my old recipes,” said Chef Nobu.
Nobu spend his childhood admiring Sushi; he was not your normal child who followed football matched and played with action figures. “Every child has a dream, some was to be baseball players, singers, actors but my dream was to be a sushi chef after my brother took me to a sushi restaurant when I was younger and I admired the energy and good food,” he said.
A successful chef should be passionate about cooking; food and recipes said Chef Nobu. “What made me succeed as a chef is because I was never tired of the kitchen and I loved creating new dishes and trying out new food,” he said. “Without passion one will never accomplish anything in their career. Passion means quality and excellence, this will later reflect on the costumer who will always leave your restaurant with a smiley face,” he added.
One of the signature dishes at Nobu was created after a rejection of one of Nobu’s diners. “I was in LA and a lady asked me to choose her order and I made her a beautiful dish of mixed sashimi and sent it to the table only to find the waiter bringing it back to me and informing me that the lady did not eat raw fish,” said Nobu. “Because the dish looked beautiful I was looking for ways to keep it that way and that’s when I decided to heat some olive oil and pour it over it. It was only 10 percent cooked and I explained that it was 90 percent raw and she should try it, then she tried one bite, two bites and finished it all,” he added.
“I later came up with the idea of adding this new style sashimi to the menu and it became very popular,” he said.
Nobu created two flavors especially for his restaurants. “I created soy sauce flavored salt and miso-flavored salt. Those two products adds so much flavors to our dishes and that’s one of the secret to our unique seasonings that characterize our dishes,” he said.
Privately, Nobu likes simple food made by his private chef, his wife. “Her food is not fancy, but it’s cooked with love. This is what makes her cooking special and my kids love her food because it’s balanced and cooked with her heart,” he said. “I love steamed rice and grilled fish with lemon; simple cooking is what I crave the most,” he added.
3 Important kitchen tools to the Chef:
Knife
Pan
Griller
3 important ingredients to the Chef:
Soy Sauce
Miso
Dashi (Japanese Stock)
3 important dishes that can be found in Nobu Atlantis:
Alaskan black trout
Yellow tail sashimi with Jalapeno
Rock shrimp tempura
“We have been operating for two years in the Middle East and it’s getting better and better and I would say that the restaurant in Dubai is one of the top five in the group,” he said. “We chose Atlantis hotel in Dubai because we also collaborated with the one in Bahamass. We like our connection with the management and we found that we work too well with each other.”
Nobu said he recently opened a Japanese Garden in the Atlantis hotel in Dubai because the weather there was amazing. “In summer time people like to stay outside and that’s why we opened an outdoor section where we offer the same menu but with different seating,” he said.
Chef Nobu and his business partners that include actor Robert De Niro, operate 29 restaurants around the world. He recently revealed their new plan on opening Nobu Hotel in Vegas and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“By the End of next year, my clients in Saudi Arabia will witness the opening of a Nobu Hotel in Riyadh. The hotel will include a Nobu restaurant, sushi bar and Japanese garden as well,” he said. “We are opening Hotel Nobu in Vegas in August 2012.” He said he was excited about opening the hotel even though it would be a great challenge for him and his partners.
Having a big team that helped him manage all the restaurants around the world. “I have faith and trust in my team, they helped me manage the restaurants when I’m not there and they will help me manage the hotels as well,” he added.
Nobu started his career creating only Sushi but after he moved to South America and Peru he got the chance to be exposed to different cooking cultures. “I like to experiment local markets wherever I go. I love using their local products in our cooking and menu. You will always find me in the spice market and the fish market looking for new inspiration and try to involve their famous ingredients in my old recipes,” said Chef Nobu.
Nobu spend his childhood admiring Sushi; he was not your normal child who followed football matched and played with action figures. “Every child has a dream, some was to be baseball players, singers, actors but my dream was to be a sushi chef after my brother took me to a sushi restaurant when I was younger and I admired the energy and good food,” he said.
A successful chef should be passionate about cooking; food and recipes said Chef Nobu. “What made me succeed as a chef is because I was never tired of the kitchen and I loved creating new dishes and trying out new food,” he said. “Without passion one will never accomplish anything in their career. Passion means quality and excellence, this will later reflect on the costumer who will always leave your restaurant with a smiley face,” he added.
One of the signature dishes at Nobu was created after a rejection of one of Nobu’s diners. “I was in LA and a lady asked me to choose her order and I made her a beautiful dish of mixed sashimi and sent it to the table only to find the waiter bringing it back to me and informing me that the lady did not eat raw fish,” said Nobu. “Because the dish looked beautiful I was looking for ways to keep it that way and that’s when I decided to heat some olive oil and pour it over it. It was only 10 percent cooked and I explained that it was 90 percent raw and she should try it, then she tried one bite, two bites and finished it all,” he added.
“I later came up with the idea of adding this new style sashimi to the menu and it became very popular,” he said.
Nobu created two flavors especially for his restaurants. “I created soy sauce flavored salt and miso-flavored salt. Those two products adds so much flavors to our dishes and that’s one of the secret to our unique seasonings that characterize our dishes,” he said.
Privately, Nobu likes simple food made by his private chef, his wife. “Her food is not fancy, but it’s cooked with love. This is what makes her cooking special and my kids love her food because it’s balanced and cooked with her heart,” he said. “I love steamed rice and grilled fish with lemon; simple cooking is what I crave the most,” he added.
3 Important kitchen tools to the Chef:
Knife
Pan
Griller
3 important ingredients to the Chef:
Soy Sauce
Miso
Dashi (Japanese Stock)
3 important dishes that can be found in Nobu Atlantis:
Alaskan black trout
Yellow tail sashimi with Jalapeno
Rock shrimp tempura
By: RIMA AL-MUKHTAR http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/food_health/article537404.ece
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