Words matter. These are the best Nobu Matsuhisa Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I don’t go out much.
What I relish most is when a member of my staff, who has worked with passion and patience towards achieving their dream of owning a restaurant, walks up to me and says, ‘Nobu! I have done it!’
I like Mercedes because my wife has been in two big accidents and emerged without a scratch, thanks to the safety of these cars.
Some hotels have a lot of mirrors, chairs, you can’t find the plugs, the music is complicated. But the Nobu concept is beautiful, simple.
Chefs are artists, and I couldn’t be happy with my art if I was forced to use cheap ingredients.
Napa cabbage is very beautiful, all those long, pale leaves with ruffled edges.
I grew up in the countryside in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Making sushi is an art, and experience is everything.
The first jolt I received in my life was when I lost my father in a motorcycle accident when I was eight. I would have been with him if he hadn’t turned down my request to go out with him that afternoon.
If I am at home in L.A. on a Saturday or Sunday, I like to start the day with a hot bath and then do an hour of stretching.
I am very lucky to consider many of my business associates friends. Some are closer than others, but I respect and value all of them.
When I’m home in L.A., I go to La Brea, a bakery which does artisan breads, excellent sourdoughs primarily, but also patisserie and cakes.
A sushi chef has to spot the best-quality fresh fish instantly.
You know how kids dream of being soccer players or actors? Well, my dream was to be a sushi chef.
One of my great loves is golf. When I am in L.A., I like to play with a few close friends: no phones, no distractions, the great outdoors and the chance to bet some money to keep it interesting.
My favorite knife is from Miyakoya in Japan – I have one in each of my restaurants.
One evening, Mike Myers and Steven Spielberg were discussing ‘Goldmember,’ and I just happened to joke, ‘If you need a Japanese character, let me know!’ The next day, they called me for audition! I find it’s always helpful to maintain a sense of humour.
I love big shrimp, like Japanese botan shrimp and the meaty ones from Santa Barbara, Calif. In classic Japanese cooking, shrimp like these would be dropped into a broth or boiled as served with sushi. But I think boiling dilutes their great flavor, and they are better when stir-fried.
Swimming keeps me fit and flexible, and it helps that I have a large pool at my house in Beverly Hills.
I used to watch my mother cooking when I was a child; she influenced me a lot.
Dashi remains unfamiliar to most French and American cooks, who tend to reach for a bouillon cube to do many of the same things. But dashi is worth preparing and using the way the Japanese do: for poaching fish, as a soup base, and in simmered dishes.
I feel like I owe something to America, as it is where I found success.
One of my favorite ways to use cilantro is in a beautiful clear soup with monkfish and lime. It’s a great dish for cooler weather, especially because monkfish is very good in fall and winter. Also, I like the meatiness and rich texture of monkfish.
I like to keep healthy physically and mentally, too.
My flight time is important to me; I actually prefer a longer flight to a short one. That way I have time to read a book, watch movies, and think about new dishes.
I want to always keep going. I don’t want to ever stop.
When I’m in L.A., I go to Spago because the chef is a friend of mine.
I’m a lucky person because the company keeps growing, and that means my team keeps growing.
Eating a lot on the plane is not good for jet lag.
Of course the Japanese and Peruvian fish are different, but it’s the same Pacific Ocean. They are different, but I know fish.
Peru was the Incas; it has 3,000 to 4,000 years of history.
My business partner Robert De Niro knows a lot about hotels; he opened the Greenwich Hotel in New York City.
I have a restaurant in Milan, and Paper Moon is five minutes away from my hotel, so I always go there for lunch. It’s a casual place that serves good salad, pizza and pasta; the space is tight with tables close together, and it feels buzzy. Food comes out fast, too.
When I’m dining out privately, I tend to avoid fine-dining venues; I like things to feel casual.
With sushi, it is all about balance. Sometimes they cut the fish too thick, sometimes too thin. Often the rice is overcooked or undercooked. Not enough rice vinegar or too much.
Many chefs are either technically or artistically better than me, but I know my food has soul.
I like both potatoes and rice. You can do a lot with both of them. But if I could eat only one carbohydrate for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t choose bread, potatoes or even noodles. I’d go for rice instead; I eat more of that than anything else.
I cannot bring myself to wear the Nobu hats, or the Nobu T-shirts. But the chef’s jacket, that is mine. And when I wear it, I am very proud of myself.
Los Angeles is my home – I have my wife and two daughters growing up there.
I was a bit of a wild boy – always swimming and exploring the mountains.
People who make mistakes but try their best, other people will support. But people who make mistakes because they’re lazy, nobody supports.
I enjoy people who have passion, whether it is as a musician or whatever they do. All people who have success keep it very basic. Try your best. But without passion, you will not have success.
When I was 11 or 12 – a young boy in Japan – one of my older brothers took me to a sushi restaurant. I had never been to one, and it was very memorable. Back then, sushi was expensive and hard to come by, not like today, when there’s a sushi restaurant on every street corner and you can buy it in supermarkets.
Sushi is something very exclusive. It is not like a McDonald’s, not like a hot dog, not like a French fry. It’s very high-class cooking in Japan.
