Latest news with #Matsuhisa
The Star
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Chef Nobu serves famous miso cod with a side of inspiration in a new documentary
Chef Nobu in a scene from the documentary Nobu. - Photos: AP World-famous chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa– has been tantalising foodies for decades as he built his empire to include more than 50 upscale restaurants and several luxury hotels. The new documentary, Nobu, reveals the man behind the cuisine in an intimate look at how he found success, despite several major setbacks. The film traces Matsuhisa's journey to creating his unique fusion cuisine, blending traditional Japanese dishes with ingredients discovered while living in Peru. Matsuhisa, now 76, was driven to run his own restaurant but faced obstacles, including financial woes, doubters and a devastating fire at one of his first spots. Candid and sometimes emotional interviews with Matsuhisa are interspersed with mouthwatering shots of his "Nobu-style' culinary treats, made with a precision and standard of excellence his diners have come to expect. Nobu released widely on July 1. Director Matt Tyrnauer and the chef himself sat down to discuss his perseverance, creativity and influence on the culture. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. The documentary chronicles the struggles that Chef Nobu overcame to build his global brand. TYRNAUER: Nobu started as a graphic designer, and you can really see it in the plates. The totality of his vision for creating a new type of cuisine, which he calls "Nobu style,' or the signature dishes, was really interesting, but also the beauty of the presentation, which is so important. We had cameras everywhere - on the ceiling, we had them over the shoulder, and anything to kind of get the precision and the detail. At a certain point in the film, you see him correcting some of the chefs who work for him and it's a pretty tough process because he's a perfectionist. I wanted to show that. MATSUHISA: Even though my life was pain, but I learned from this pain. Also I learned lots and lots of love from people who supported me. So nothing is losing, in my experience. I'd like to say, at my age, I can say, I did my life. TYRNAUER: When he broke down on camera and couldn't stop crying, it was a big surprise. I didn't understand the true wound of the loss of Nobu's best friend, Sakai. I've interviewed a lot of people. I've never had anyone really be so emotional. I thought it was extraordinary and very beautiful, actually, and very honest. Nobu invited me to go see the grave of his dear friend who had taken his own life and the pain and the suffering that we see on camera is unexpected in a movie that you think is just going to be about great food and the artistry of being a chef. There's a soulfulness to it. MATSUHISA: I made the Nobu corporate teams. These teams that are traveling with me... they stand by at all the locations, and they set up, then they're training for the next generations. The Nobu teams keep growing like a family, and they (are) working there long times so they understand Nobu's quality, philosophy, the passions, how to do service. We have good teams. TYRNAUER: What I wanted to do was show the process and put that on display. Part of the secret to his success is that he's actually created a very civilised culture, and it comes from the top down. I think that's why he goes around the world like he does and visits all these restaurants and trains the chefs personally in his own style. But his own temperament is exemplary. MATSUHISA: I'm very glad because I didn't give up on my life. That's the message. Even (when) the young people has a problem, I like to say, "Don't give up. Just don't forget about the ambitions, passions and go step by step.'– AP
Japan Today
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Chef Nobu serves his famous miso cod with a side of inspiration in a new documentary
By BROOKE LEFFERTS World-famous chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa has been tantalizing foodies for decades as he built his empire to include more than 50 upscale restaurants and several luxury hotels. The new documentary, 'Nobu,' reveals the man behind the cuisine in an intimate look at how he found success, despite several major setbacks. The film traces Matsuhisa's journey to creating his unique fusion cuisine, blending traditional Japanese dishes with ingredients discovered while living in Peru. Matsuhisa, now 76, was driven to run his own restaurant but faced obstacles, including financial woes, doubters and a devastating fire at one of his first spots. Candid and sometimes emotional interviews with Matsuhisa are interspersed with mouthwatering shots of his 'Nobu-style' culinary treats, made with a precision and standard of excellence his diners have come to expect. 'Nobu' releases widely July 2. Director Matt Tyrnauer and the chef himself sat down with The Associated Press to discuss his perseverance, creativity and influence on the culture. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: One of the most dynamic things about the film is the gorgeous food. How did you approach it, Matt? TYRNAUER: Nobu started as a graphic designer, and you can really see it in the plates. The totality of his vision for creating a new type of cuisine, which he calls 'Nobu style,' or the signature dishes, was really interesting, but also the beauty of the presentation, which is so important. We had cameras everywhere — on the ceiling, we had them over the shoulder, and anything to kind of get the precision and the detail. At a certain point in the film, you see him correcting some of the chefs who work for him and it's a pretty tough process because he's a perfectionist. I wanted to show that. AP: There are many difficult moments in the film and you have to relive some pain from your past. How was that process for you Chef Nobu? MATSUHISA: Even though my life was pain, but I learned from this pain. Also I learned lots and lots of love from people who supported me. So nothing is losing, in my experience. I'd like to say, at my age, I can say, I did my life. AP: Matt, were there any surprises when you were shooting the film? TYRNAUER: When he broke down on camera and couldn't stop crying, it was a big surprise. I didn't understand the true wound of the loss of Nobu's best friend, Sakai. I've interviewed a lot of people. I've never had anyone really be so emotional. I thought it was extraordinary and very beautiful, actually, and very honest. Nobu invited me to go see the grave of his dear friend who had taken his own life and the pain and the suffering that we see on camera is unexpected in a movie that you think is just going to be about great food and the artistry of being a chef. There's a soulfulness to it. AP: Your world travel helped you develop your Nobu style. You're still traveling and visiting restaurants. Can you talk about that? MATSUHISA: I made the Nobu corporate teams. These teams that are traveling with me ... they stand by at all the locations, and they set up, then they're training for the next generations. The Nobu teams keep growing like a family, and they (are) working there long times so they understand Nobu's quality, philosophy, the passions, how to do service. We have good teams. AP: From 'The Bear' to reality TV, there is high interest in what goes on in restaurant kitchens in pop culture now. Did that play into the film? TYRNAUER: What I wanted to do was show the process and put that on display. Part of the secret to his success is that he's actually created a very civilized culture, and it comes from the top down. I think that's why he goes around the world like he does and visits all these restaurants and trains the chefs personally in his own style. But his own temperament is exemplary. AP: What do you want people to take away from the film? MATSUHISA: I'm very glad because I didn't give up on my life. That's the message. Even (when) the young people have a problem, I like to say, 'Don't give up. Just don't forget about the ambitions, passions and go step by step.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Los Angeles Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Nobu' strains to showcase a humble man at the center of a sexy global brand
It takes a little over an hour for 'Nobu' to marinate long enough to approach a point of complexity, not exactly bitter but no longer cloyingly sweet. Nobu Matsuhisa, the celebrated sushi master, is running quality-control checks in one of his restaurants. A poor chef is sweating the test so badly, he won't need soy sauce soon enough. His dish keeps being sent back: Chop the chives finer. Why is this pile of raw crudo smaller? Why did you paint a line of salt instead of a dot? The scene goes on, excruciatingly. A few minutes later, Robert De Niro — an early investor and co-founder — dominates a private board meeting with concerns about too-rapid growth. It's not quite the ominous Waingro showdowns of 'Heat' but in the ballpark. Fastidiousness, precision and a kind of reputational exclusivity are at the heart of Matsuhisa's enterprise. These are hard things to make a documentary about. But it's also why Nobu needed to come to Beverly Hills for his concept take root — not just any Los Angeles but the '80s-era boomtown of power lunches and spend-to-impress dining. Spago's Wolfgang Puck makes an appearance in director Matt Tyrnauer's half-interesting film, fawning over his longtime friend sitting next to him but not quite articulating the essence of their revolution: high-end branding. You wish more time was spent on that conceptual idea, enabled by celebrities throwing around money on food they barely ate. The kind of doc that 'Nobu' more often resembles (as do most foodie-targeted profiles) is a gentle chronology of a humble genius and everyday guy who just happens to fly private. Matsuhisa bows to euphoric local fishmongers, does a lot of hugs and selfies with his staff, visits his roots in Japan and Peru. There are family interviews and a detour to Alaska, where, years before he had a 300-person nightly waitlist, an early restaurant of his caught fire — in the bad literal way (Tyrnauer cuts to the Anchorage newspaper headline). These false starts are somehow exhausting, lacking in suspense. He contemplated suicide, then came to California. The food sails by: wedges of black cod with miso, delicate plates of thinly sliced fish adorned with tweezer-manipulated herbs. All of it is crazy-making and delicious. Still, apart from former Los Angeles Times food editor Ruth Reichl, who witnessed the rise of Nobu as it happened, there are few on-camera voices who speak directly to Matsuhisa's gifts and experimentation with form. 2011's 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi' does a better job of delivering the intimate discipline of cutting and shaping. More testimony to the experience of eating at Nobu would have helped this feel less like a commercial. 'Nobu' is a film oddly unconcerned with the communal experience of dining. We hear about the way his sushi workstations are elevated (a 'stage,' Matsuhisa calls them) and that's central to the performance going on here, also the remove. Something clicks when the film heads to Nobu Malibu and visits the table of supermodel Cindy Crawford, whose 'Cindy rice,' a dish he invented for her, adorns the menu. There's a deep mutual gratitude between them that goes back years. An appreciation of the finer things? No doubt. Game recognizing game? Definitely.
New York Post
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
This is the only celebrity who has a dish named after her at Nobu
She's so nice — this dish was named twice. Cindy Crawford is the one celebrity who has ever been honored with a menu item at the famed sushi hotspot Nobu. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa affectionately renamed kakiage — a Japanese tempura dish — 'Cindy Rice' after the supermodel, who was a regular at Matsuhisa, his first restaurant in Los Angeles, which opened in 1987. 'One day, at lunchtime she came and said, 'Make me anything,'' the celebrity chef told The Post ahead of the nationwide release of his documentary 'Nobu' on July 4. 'I used to do photoshoots in LA all the time, and I wanted Nobu always for lunch, but . . . if I didn't have a chance to eat right away . . . I wanted something that could maybe sit for one hour or two hours,' she explained in the film, which was directed by Matt Tyrnauer. 3 Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, who got his start as a dishwasher and delivery boy in Tokyo, now has an empire of 56 restaurants and 45 hotels around the world. Courtesy of Nobu Soon after the entree was crowned Cindy Rice, Crawford requested her namesake dish at the New York location of Nobu. The staff was baffled. 'The New York people didn't know . . . So the manager called me and asked, 'What's Cindy Rice?'' Matsuhisa, 76, recalled, laughing. The famed cook — who got his start as a teen-aged dishwasher and delivery boy in Tokyo — said his first A-list customer was Robert De Niro, even though he didn't know it then. The Oscar-winner was so impressed with the food, he approached Matsuhisa about opening a restaurant with him in New York. 'I did not know what he did. Never saw his movies,' Matsuhisa confessed. 3 Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber, pictured here leaving Nobu Mailbu, are featured in the documentary 'Nobu,' which will be released nationwide on July 4. / The actor is now a partner at Nobu — an empire of 56 restaurants and 45 hotels everywhere from Malibu and Maui to Budapest and the Bahamas. It was De Niro's idea to name the eatery Nobu. 'He said, 'Matsuhisa is too long. How about your first name, Nobu?'' Matsuhisa explained. 'He's a great idea man.' The first Nobu opened in Tribeca in 1994. That location closed in 2017, but there are still two in Manhattan — Nobu Downtown in FiDi and Nobu Fifty Seven in Midtown West. This year, the brand will be debuting its first hotel in Manhattan — in the Plaza Athenee hotel on the Upper East Side, which closed during the pandemic. 3 Matsuhisa called Robert De Niro, a partner at Nobu, 'a great idea man.' Dave Allocca/Starpix / Shutterstock Matsuhisa has since welcomed a who's who of celeb customers, including Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, David and Victoria Beckham, and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, who made their debut as a couple by kissing outside its New York location in 2002. (And when they got back together in 2021, their first public smooch was at Nobu Malibu.) With all his brushes with fame in his nearly 60-year career, Matsuhisa didn't hesitate to name his favorite customer — Princess Diana, whom he cooked for in Nobu's London Old Park Lane location in 1997, just months before her death. 'I was really nervous . . . She said to me, 'Chef Nobu, I read about your history.' I was so surprised and impressed. And then I cooked for her . . . tempura, black cod. She liked it,' he fondly remembered.
Winnipeg Free Press
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Chef Nobu serves his famous miso cod with a side of inspiration in a new documentary
NEW YORK (AP) — World-famous chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa has been tantalizing foodies for decades as he built his empire to include more than 50 upscale restaurants and several luxury hotels. The new documentary, 'Nobu,' reveals the man behind the cuisine in an intimate look at how he found success, despite several major setbacks. The film traces Matsuhisa's journey to creating his unique fusion cuisine, blending traditional Japanese dishes with ingredients discovered while living in Peru. Matsuhisa, now 76, was driven to run his own restaurant but faced obstacles, including financial woes, doubters and a devastating fire at one of his first spots. Candid and sometimes emotional interviews with Matsuhisa are interspersed with mouthwatering shots of his 'Nobu-style' culinary treats, made with a precision and standard of excellence his diners have come to expect. 'Nobu' releases widely July 2. Director Matt Tyrnauer and the chef himself sat down with The Associated Press to discuss his perseverance, creativity and influence on the culture. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: One of the most dynamic things about the film is the gorgeous food. How did you approach it, Matt? TYRNAUER: Nobu started as a graphic designer, and you can really see it in the plates. The totality of his vision for creating a new type of cuisine, which he calls 'Nobu style,' or the signature dishes, was really interesting, but also the beauty of the presentation, which is so important. We had cameras everywhere — on the ceiling, we had them over the shoulder, and anything to kind of get the precision and the detail. At a certain point in the film, you see him correcting some of the chefs who work for him and it's a pretty tough process because he's a perfectionist. I wanted to show that. AP: There are many difficult moments in the film and you have to relive some pain from your past. How was that process for you Chef Nobu? MATSUHISA: Even though my life was pain, but I learned from this pain. Also I learned lots and lots of love from people who supported me. So nothing is losing, in my experience. I'd like to say, at my age, I can say, I did my life. AP: Matt, were there any surprises when you were shooting the film? TYRNAUER: When he broke down on camera and couldn't stop crying, it was a big surprise. I didn't understand the true wound of the loss of Nobu's best friend, Sakai. I've interviewed a lot of people. I've never had anyone really be so emotional. I thought it was extraordinary and very beautiful, actually, and very honest. Nobu invited me to go see the grave of his dear friend who had taken his own life and the pain and the suffering that we see on camera is unexpected in a movie that you think is just going to be about great food and the artistry of being a chef. There's a soulfulness to it. ___ If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at ___ AP: Your world travel helped you develop your Nobu style. You're still traveling and visiting restaurants. Can you talk about that? MATSUHISA: I made the Nobu corporate teams. These teams that are traveling with me … they stand by at all the locations, and they set up, then they're training for the next generations. The Nobu teams keep growing like a family, and they (are) working there long times so they understand Nobu's quality, philosophy, the passions, how to do service. We have good teams. AP: From 'The Bear' to reality TV, there is high interest in what goes on in restaurant kitchens in pop culture now. Did that play into the film? Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. TYRNAUER: What I wanted to do was show the process and put that on display. Part of the secret to his success is that he's actually created a very civilized culture, and it comes from the top down. I think that's why he goes around the world like he does and visits all these restaurants and trains the chefs personally in his own style. But his own temperament is exemplary. AP: What do you want people to take away from the film? MATSUHISA: I'm very glad because I didn't give up on my life. That's the message. Even (when) the young people has a problem, I like to say, 'Don't give up. Just don't forget about the ambitions, passions and go step by step.' ___ This story has been corrected to report that 'Nobu' releases widely on July 2, not July 1.
