From a young age, the now 77-year-old Japanese-born Chef Nobu Matsuhisa always dreamt of going overseas, running his own chain of sushi restaurants, and making his late father proud. He shares, “My passion for food started when I was just 10 or 11 years old, when my older brother took me to a sushi restaurant for the first time. We sat at the counter and watched the chefs prepare the fish and hand it to us, piece by piece. I ate it in one bite, and I said ‘wow’. At this time, I hadn’t started cooking yet, but knew immediately that I wanted to be a chef.”
Matsuhisa was so impressed by the energy of the sushi chefs, the choices of fish, and the entire creative process behind the craft, he ended up training to become a sushi chef in Tokyo straight after graduating from high school at 18. He often says that for him, making sushi was akin to taking piano lessons – it only gets easier with practice and your fingers finally start to glide more smoothly.
While the celebrity chef is often associated with fusion cuisine that blends Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients, he reveals: “I don’t say fusion, I think it leads to confusion. When I started my career, I was just cooking based on experience. My upbringing (and training) was in Japan, but I opened my first restaurant in Peru. This allowed me to experiment with Peruvian flavours and techniques, and I discovered that the ingredients and styles worked very well together.”
Today, Matsuhisa is famous for his new-style Japanese cuisine, with signature dishes like Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeño, Black Cod Miso, and White Fish Tiradito. “My style of cuisine is all about using the best products, cooked simply, clean, and tasty. I don’t like it complicated. I find that this philosophy is popular even when food trends and tastes change.”
But having a successful career only came much later in life. After his training, he ran his first restaurant in Lima for three years. It was there that limited access to traditional Japanese ingredients led him to innovate, blending raw fish with local Peruvian ingredients, such as the aji amarillo chilli pepper, cilantro, and lime, setting the foundation for his Japanese-Peruvian calling card. But that restaurant failed at the time.
Matsuhisa then moved back to Tokyo temporarily, before moving to Anchorage, Alaska to open another restaurant. However, after a mere 50 days, the restaurant burnt down due to an electrical fire. Beaten, but determined, the young chef moved to Los Angeles to work in a small restaurant. “Finally, in 1987, I opened my first namesake restaurant, Matsuhisa, in Beverly Hills. My dreams were coming true,” he said. Shortly thereafter, (Hollywood actor) Robert De Niro became a regular at Matsuhisa and eventually asked the chef to open a restaurant with him in New York. Four years later, the first Nobu opened in New York in 1994.
(Related: Chef André Chiang's 1887 is a culinary love letter to Singapore)
In differentiating the two eponymous brands, he says, “Matsuhisa was my first restaurant. These restaurants are very personal to me – more intimate and neighbourhood-driven. Meanwhile, Nobu grew into a global lifestyle brand that runs on a much larger scale. Nobu restaurants are designed to be consistent across the world while still reflecting the culture of each city they’re in. I am still actively involved in both. Today, I have 58 Nobu restaurants and 14 Matsuhisa restaurants.”
Matsuhisa has also noted that Nobu is all about fun, freedom, and variety, breaking away from expectations that Japanese fine dining restaurants ought to be serious and quiet. Step into Nobu Singapore at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore (which opened in June 2024), and you’ll feel just that.
His favourite signature dish? “Choosing one dish is difficult. However, the Black Cod with Miso is the most famous. I came up with it at Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills, but New York made it popular. Traditionally, in Japan, fresh fish would be marinated in sake lees and miso, so that it keeps for longer. It's a traditional Japanese curing method and that’s where the idea first came from. The dish is practical too – black cod was very affordable in 1994, it keeps well in its marinade, which minimises spoilage, and broiling is a very simple preparation. Everyone, even the Italian restaurants, the French restaurants, suddenly started using black cod,” he says.
(Related: Andrew Ing – The business of designing experiences)
“I am always a chef first,” Matsuhisa shares. “I did not have a big plan; just seeing people smiling as they enjoyed my food made me happy. However, I have always been open to new opportunities and I have been fortunate to have the right business partners. Robert De Niro waited four years for me to say yes to opening a restaurant in New York. We were successful and had opportunities to open in more locations. The expansion into (Nobu) hotels was very important.”
Shortly thereafter, De Niro suggested that instead of opening restaurants in other people’s hotels, they should open restaurants in their own hotels. And that is how Nobu evolved into a true lifestyle brand. “My dream now is to continue to grow Nobu into a global lifestyle brand and pass on my philosophies and learnings to the next generation of our team. Although I have had a successful career, I am always motivated by new goals and benchmarks.”
Back
