Nobu traces the beginnings of his professional ambitions to the day his elder brother took him to a sushi restaurant for the first time. Everything in this new “adult” environment fascinated him, from the aroma of the vinegar-ed rice and fresh fish, to the enthusiastic welcome-calls by the chefs. From this day, becoming a sushi chef became his dream.

After high school, Nobu began working at Matsuei, a well-respected sushi restaurant in Tokyo, as a live-in apprentice. Though he was not permitted to make sushi until completing three years of intensive training, he developed the discriminating eye to distinguish, and the culinary skills to slice, the finest fish, during this time. Eventually, Nobu began polishing his skills as a master of traditional sushi.

When he was 24, Nobu accepted an offer from one of his customers to open a restaurant in Peru catering to the Japanese businessmen and diplomats. It was during these years that Nobu began weaving foreign influences into his cooking. In Peru, Nobu discovered he could not find key Japanese condiments at the stores and was forced to use local spices to create the tastes he desired. This period of trial and error gave birth to a great number of his current recipes and sauces. More importantly, the experiences opened Nobu to the world of international cuisine.

Following Peru, Nobu traveled to Buenos Aires, where he briefly worked at a Japanese restaurant, before returning to Japan. However, determined to open his own restaurant abroad, he again left his homeland, this time to Alaska. Tragically, his restaurant burned to the ground fifty days after opening. Distraught and burdened with a heavy debt, Nobu remembers this time as the hardest in his life.

Supported by his family, Nobu moved to Los Angeles to start over. He worked at a local sushi bar for nine years to pay back his debts. Once liberated from these obligations, he secured a loan to start up what would be the first of many restaurants, Matsuhisa.

From the start, Nobu was determined to pursue the hearts of customers, not profits. Matsuhisa would be dedicated to serving the finest food, using only the finest ingredients from around the world. This dedication won the hearts of the customers, and Matsuhisa soon became one of the most popular restaurants in Los Angeles.

It was during the early days of Matsuhisa that Robert De Niro invited Nobu to join him in opening a restaurant in New York. After much thought, however, Nobu declined, as both he, still suffering from the nightmares of his experiences in Alaska, and Matsuhisa, still a young business, were not ready. However, when De Niro called Nobu at his home four years later and again offered his partnership, Nobu, moved by the actor’s determination, agreed. With the guidance of renowned restaurateur Drew Nieporent, owner of Myriad Restaurant Group, Nobu New York opened in 1994.

Since Nobu New York, Nobu and De Niro have expanded the Nobu restaurants to nine locations across three continents - in New York, Los Angeles, Malibu, Aspen, Las Vegas, Miami Beach, Tokyo, London and Milan.

Currently, Nobu spends most of his time at his current restaurants with his staff and customers. Nobu is opening four more restaurants in 2005 (New York, London, Dallas, and the Bahamas) and has received numerous offers from other cities from around the world.

In 2001, Nobu published his first book, Nobu the Cookbook (Kodansha International) and will be releasing his second book, Nobu Now in October of 2005 (Clarkson Potter).

His latest New York restaurant, at 40 West 57th Street is in its grand opening.

© 2005 www.nobumatsuhisa.com All rights reserved.