The nobu experience

Making sushi is an art, and experience is everything.

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa is probably the most well-known Japanese chef in the world today.

The famous and highly influential chef and proprietor of Nobu and Matsuhisa restaurants whose operations span five continents, has remained humble and kept his feet firmly on the ground despite his accomplishments — an admirable trait especially now that his Nobu restaurant empire has translated into hotels, including Nobu Manila at City of Dreams Manila. His business partners happen to be no less than Hollywood acting legend Robert de Niro and producer Meir Teper.

Born and raised in Saitama, Japan, chef Nobu underwent a rigorous apprenticeship at a sushi bar in Tokyo. He was trained so well in the classical art of sushi-making and became so good at his craft that he started looking beyond Japan, found his way to Peru and opened his own sushi bar there. He thrived in Peru, where diners loved his sushis and where he also took the time and effort to learn Peruvian cooking. His classical training as a sushi chef combined with the Peruvian culture and ingredients that he was exposed to led chef Nobu to develop his own unique and inventive cooking style, which is now known as Nobu Style.

From a successful three-year stint in Peru, chef Nobu moved to Argentina, then went home to Japan. Before long, he was off again, this time to Alaska, but it was in Los Angeles, United States, where he decided to finally settle. There, he made a big name for himself and laid out the foundation for his business empire. He opened his first restaurant in the United States, Matsuhisa, in Beverly Hills in 1987. It was an instant success and paved the way for him to meet De Niro and Teper, with whom he teamed up to establish Nobu Hospitality and open the first Nobu restaurant in 1994. Restaurant operations now span five continents, and Nobu Hotels, the first of which opened within Caesars Palace Las Vegas in 2013, can now be found in different parts of the world.

Despite these, however, chef Nobu has maintained his personalized approach to the business. He lends his presence to the restaurants and hotels that bear his name, making rounds to continuously extend his leadership especially in the kitchen and staging exclusive dining events where he still gets to personally cook for guests.

Just recently, Chef Nobu was in Manila to helm an exclusive sushi demonstration and luncheon with the press, as well as a one-night-only eight-course Omakase dinner at Nobu Restaurant, Nobu Manila, City of Dreams Manila. Flying in with Nobu Restaurants chief operations officer Hiro Tahara and regional director for Nobu Restaurants-Asia Pacific Ichibaku Kobayashi, chef Nobu took charge of the kitchen, assisted by Nobu Manila’s head chef Michael de Jesus, head sushi chef Keiichi Hirukawa and the entire Nobu culinary team.

During the exclusive sushi-making demonstration, the celebrated Japanese chef taught the press how to properly prepare sushi, nigiri and other Nobu-style dishes.

“Making sushi is an art, and experience is everything,” says chef Nobu, who stressed that only the freshest ingredients should be used when making sushi, particularly when it comes to the fish.

He adds, “The sushi rice should be prepared in advance and fresh soy sauce should be made available.”

He conducted a step-by-step sushi-making demonstration, where he stressed the following points:

Slice the fresh fish with the sharpest knife you can get your hands on.

Take a slice of fish with your left hand and rub a small amount of wasabi on one side.

With your right hand, shape a small ball of sushi rice into the desired nigiri shape.

With your right hand, gently bring the shaped sushi rice to the slice of fish on your left hand and form them into a rectangular-shaped sushi.

Check if you have done this step correctly by looking at the rice. If you can still see the light in between the carefully composed grains, then you’re on the right track.

Once you have composed your sushi, you can start on your next piece.

Wagyu Beef with adobo sake mirin reduction, nasu and roasted garlic.

Chef Nobu also showed the press the proper way of eating a nigiri. First, you eat it either with your hands or with a pair of chopsticks. After picking up the sushi, dip the fish, not the rice, in soy sauce and then eat the sushi in one bite.

After the sushi demonstration, media guests were treated to a special six-course lunch, which highlighted the use of Japanese techniques and Chef Nobu’s signature style and flavors combined with select local ingredients. The menu was composed of kinmedai with wasabi soy cream and oyster mushroom; sushi cup selection made up of ika “koi fish”, hirame XO salsa, tuna, tachiuo sakura petal and tamago; field green salad with shaved root vegetable and Matsuhisa dressing; black cod with calamansi den miso and hajikami; miso soup with negi and tofu; and coconut pandan kakigori.

Ending the Nobu Omakase Dinner was an impressive Nobu Chocolate “Zen Garden” with Green Tea Sponge and Chocolate “Soil” dessert.

On this trip to Manila, chef Nobu also impressed diners with a one-night-only, eight-course Omakase dinner at Nobu Restaurant, City of Dreams Manila. Priced at P8,888 net per person, the Omakase dinner featured an impeccably curated menu, some of which were infused with Filipino flavors. It started with octopus ajillo with red onion salsa and olive oil for zensai; followed by Norwegian salmon with karashi su miso. The next course wowed guests, as it showed chef Nobu’s high respect for Filipino cuisine by putting his interpretation of a Filipino staple side by side with Japanese flavors in the sushi cup selection of tuna adobo, tachiuo with sakura petal, ika noodle, and white fish XO salsa and tamago.

Guests also got to enjoy yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño and yuzu soy; butter lettuce salad with yuzu truffle dried miso, parmesan and kizami yuba; mixed seasonal mushroom soup with lime and negi; umami seabass with green papaya salsa; and wagyu beef with adobo sake-mirin reduction, nasu and roasted garlic. Completing the dinner menu was the Nobu Chocolate “Zen Garden” with Green Tea Sponge and Chocolate “Soil.”

Chef Nobu’s short but sweet and impressive Manila visit formed part of his Asia-Pacific tour, which included Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Each visit of his is something that Filipinos look forward to because he always takes time out to share his culinary talent before going back to his home base in the US.

Meanwhile, his Nobu empire has expanded to 41 restaurants and 10 hotels worldwide, and it continues to grow with new hotels slated to open in Europe, North and South America and Asia.