Nobu Matsuhisa Quotes

Large fish such as tuna are shown already cut into fillets and bought by the block. Fillets should be almost transparent. Avoid tuna that looks rainbow-colored or black.

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.

Shellfish is better to buy live. In the U.S., because we eat oysters and clams raw, it is very important that they are alive before we prepare them. It's important to look for a closed shell. If a clam is alive, the shell will be closed. Never buy clams if the shell is open.

People who make mistakes but try their best, other people will support. But people who make mistakes because they're lazy, nobody supports.

Making sushi is an art, and experience is everything.

It's true that cilantro has a strange, strong flavor. People seem to love it or not like it at all. Even I didn't like it at first when I had it in Peru. But I got used to it - it's hard not to in South America - and now I can't live without it.

I don't go out much.

The fine art of preparing sushi is something that you watch and learn.

I'm not perfect. I am not Iron Man.

My cooking is very simple, so I don't really use machines at all. A knife, cutting board, frying pan and strainer are my essentials.

In my generation, there was no sushi school, no cooking school, so people have to learn from working.

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.

A sushi chef has to spot the best-quality fresh fish instantly.

My business partner Robert De Niro knows a lot about hotels; he opened the Greenwich Hotel in New York City.

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.

Every year, I do a New Year's day party at my home. I invite my staff and my friends and their kids. Around 40-50 people come by, and I do a barbecue and salads, steak and sushi, and also lots of cheese.

Have you ever been to Mexico City and haggled with the locals over souvenirs? Well, in Peru, you had to negotiate like that to get the freshest fish at the market.

I like Mercedes because my wife has been in two big accidents and emerged without a scratch, thanks to the safety of these cars.

It's not unusual for me to wake up in the middle of the night and not know where I am. I take sleep medication to deal with all the flights. But I find it helps to eat at the same time every day.

In Tokyo, we have more three-star Michelin restaurants than Paris.

Cooking is like fashion. Always, I like to try to change. If I'm traveling in a different country - to Australia, the Bahamas, Budapest, Moscow - and I see a new ingredient, I like to try it in a new dish.

Chefs are artists, and I couldn't be happy with my art if I was forced to use cheap ingredients.

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.

I can live without a computer. My assistant checks my e-mails.

Any kind of vision needs people.

I grew up in the countryside in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo.

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.

Napa cabbage is very beautiful, all those long, pale leaves with ruffled edges.

One day, the people who work in my kitchen stir-fried chopped Napa cabbage to serve with some meat or fish for their own dinner. I got to thinking: 'What if the cabbage was the most important thing on the plate?'

In Japan, I have my own line of dinnerware, but I'm not aggressive about pursuing those projects.

I travel all over the world, usually 10 months out of the year. I stay at a lot of hotels, and the ones I like best are clean and not complicated. You go to bed and say, 'Wow, I feel comfortable.'

I learned from my first restaurant: Make customers happy, make sure the customer comes back again. And automatically, success has followed me.

Cooking and film are completely different - but I'd rather stay in the kitchen than be in movies.

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.

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.

When I'm in L.A., I go to Spago because the chef is a friend of mine.

I used to watch my mother cooking when I was a child; she influenced me a lot.

I always eat a meal at home before I leave for the airport, so I only eat the soup and salad on the plane.

I remember watching steak being cooked on TV and wanting to try it. As a special treat, my mother cooked it for me, and I thought this would be the time I would eat with a knife and fork. Alas, I ate it with chopsticks!

I exercise every morning, no matter what. Sometimes it's tough to do right when you get off the plane, but after ten minutes you start sweating, and you always feel better.

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 can't imagine Japanese food without dashi, a broth made with kelp and dried bonito flakes. It has the aroma of the sea, tinged with a subtle smokiness, and adds a very important, distinct flavor.

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.

Whenever possible, buy a fish whole. With tuna, this isn't practical; with smaller fish, it is.

Eating a lot on the plane is not good for jet lag.

You know how kids dream of being soccer players or actors? Well, my dream was to be a sushi chef.

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 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.

I feel like I owe something to America, as it is where I found success.

Los Angeles is my home - I have my wife and two daughters growing up there.

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.

My cooking is simply ingredients plus umami.

My favorite knife is from Miyakoya in Japan - I have one in each of my restaurants.

Many chefs are either technically or artistically better than me, but I know my food has soul.

People eat the chicken, people eat the beef, they still say, 'Don't kill the fish.'