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Guest chef - Nobu
DINING & ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE - JULY 2006
Guest chef - Nobu
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa at Nobu
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa did not dream of becoming a fireman or a basketball star like other boys. Nobu - as he is hailed around the world today - knew from the age of "11 or 12 that I wanted to be a sushi chef."
In true Rodgers and Hammerstein style, ("If you don't have a dream... ") Matsuhisa's dream did come true, and in spectacular fashion.
The diminutive Japanese chef is in a class by himself with 16 highly acclaimed restaurants in a dozen cities around the world from London, Tokyo and Milan to New York, Las Vegas and Miami Beach.
Matsuhisa, his restaurant in Beverly Hills, was chosen by The New York Times as one of the top 10 restaurant destinations in the world. And that's only one of dozens of top awards.
Similar accolades will doubtless accrue to his latest restaurant, Nobu, an oasis of elegant but casual charm adjoining the lively casino at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island.
Here, as everywhere, Nobu's chefs prepare sushi and sashimi, along with salads, steaks and cooked fish entrees - not to mention extravagant desserts -to the superstar's stiff standards.
When he visited Nassau recently to launch Nobu, Nobu graciously took time out of a busy day to chat with Dining & Entertainment Guide.
Nassau changes Nobu
"When Nobu comes to town, the town changes," Madonna has been quoted as saying. But the town also changes Nobu. In The Bahamas, for example, he integrates Bahamian conch, grouper and fresh local produce into the dishes on his menu.
Nobu even makes a "deconstructed conch salad," which is arguably the quintessential Bahamian dish. He uses thinly sliced conch (instead of chopped), fanned out on a plate (instead of served in a bowl with onions, peppers and tomatoes), topped with his own special sauce (instead of mixed with lime and orange juice). "This is a different presentation [of conch salad], right?" We had to agree.
Now a screen star as well as a television celebrity (he's appeared in several movies), Nobu recalled that he started on the road to sushi stardom at the age of 18, beginning an arduous seven-year apprenticeship in Japan that, at first, taught him more about patience and humility than how to slice and present raw fish.
His first gig as a chef came when he was 24 at a restaurant in Tokyo. Nobu's distinctive style quickly earned him a dedicated following. One customer was so impressed he invited Matsuhisa to headline a restaurant in Lima, Peru.
While his engagement there lasted only three years, Nobu became fascinated with South American cuisine, something that influences his signature dishes to this day.
His favourite dish is still tiradito, which he describes as "a Peruvian-style sashimi... my way: fresh fish, sliced thin, a little bit of chili paste with cilantro, lemon juice, citrus juice and sea salt."
A lifetime of sushi
Despite his fame, Nobu remains in many ways the boy who became enamoured with sushi at an early age.
At his homes in Beverly Hills and in the mountains of Japan, he has constructed intimate sushi bars where he prepares food for close friends, which happen to include celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and actor Robert De Niro - a business associate who encouraged him to open a restaurant in New York. Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio are also among his fans.
At these intimate gatherings, and in his restaurants around the world, "I always put something special into my food - my heart, or kokoro, as we say in Japanese...
"For me, cooking is most about giving my customers little surprises that will lead them to make discoveries about their own tastes. It?s about communicating my kokoro through every single dish I make."
There is more to infusing "heart" than designing delicious and attractive dishes, says Nobu. It's also about treating customers as honoured guests, rather than patrons, and making them comfortable.
First impressions are important, he says, and anyone walking into a Nobu restaurant immediately sees an inviting room where one can be at ease.
At home alone with his family, Nobu takes a break. His wife Yoko is in charge of the kitchen. While Yoko is not a professional chef, "I love her cooking," Nobu says with a smile, adding that Yoko also has "a very big kokoro."
Here are three of Nobu's favourite dishes with heart.
Yellowtail with jalape~no
(serves four)
6 yellowtail fillets (3.5 oz each)
4 sheets okiuto (seaweed, optional)
1 tsp garlic, finely grated
Cilantro leaves, stems removed
2 jalapenos, sliced into thin rounds
8 tbsp yuzu juice (a Japanese citrus)
4 tbsp soy sauce
Slice the yellowtail as thinly as possible, 1/8 inch or 3-4 mm thick. Line plates with okiuto, if used, and arrange yellowtail over it. Top each slice with a dab of grated garlic, a cilantro leaf and a jalapeno round. Mix the yuzi juice and soy sauce and pour the mixture around the fish.
Black cod with miso
(serves four)
4 black cod fillets, about 1/2-pound each
3 cups Nobu-style saikyo miso
1 stalk hajikami (pickled ginger shoot)
Nobu-style saikyo miso
3/4 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 cups white miso paste
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
Mix the mirin, white miso paste and granulated sugar. Reserve.
Black cod
Pat the fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with Nobu-style saikyo miso and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in the refrigerator for two to three days.
Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Preheat a grill or broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off. Place the fish on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown. Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
Arrange the fillets on individual plates and garnish with hajikami. Add a few extra drops of Nobu-style saikyo miso to each plate.
Bento box desserts
Bento boxes are traditionally used in Japan to carry lunches to school or work, with compartments for rice and side dishes. One of Nobu's elegant bento box desserts includes chocolate souffle, along with a special syrup and sesame ice cream. Here's the recipe for Nobu's special ice cream.
Sesame ice cream
(serves four)
Sesame toffee
4-1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted
1 tbsp black sesame seeds, toasted
Mix the sugar and water in a small saucepan and boil over medium heat until the syrup turns a light caramel color. Add the sesame seeds. Mix well with a wooden spatula. Spread the mixture out thinly on a baking sheet and leave to cool at room temperature. Once hardened, break up the toffee into small pieces. Shake the pieces in a sieve to remove dust.
Ice cream
9 tbsp granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
4 tbsp white sesame paste
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
Whisk together the sugar, egg yolks and white sesame paste in a medium bowl and set aside.
Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it boils. Add the sugar-egg-sesame mixture and cook together over medium heat, scraping around the pan with a spatula to keep the bottom from burning.
When the mixture has reached about 175 degree F strain it quickly into a medium bowl and leave to cool.
Mix in the fresh cream and complete churning in an ice-cream maker.
Just before the ice cream sets, add the sesame toffee pieces.
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