NOBUYUKI MATSUHISA looks surprisingly rested for a man who spends about 25 days a month on the road, keeping tabs on his world-famous restaurants.
There are now 16 in total, sprinkled around Europe, Asia and North America. The 56-year-old father of two (he has been married for 33 years) was recently in Hong Kong on a whirlwind trip to close the deal on Nobu InterContinental Hong Kong, due to open in November.
He stayed in the city for just two nights, the visit squeezed between trips to Japan - where he has a restaurant in Tokyo - and Australia - where he doesn't yet (although his visit suggests one may be opening there soon). Then he flies home to Los Angeles, then back to Tokyo, before New York, the Bahamas and Miami. He also has outlets in London, Milan, Mykonos in Greece and Dallas.
All this jetting about comes with the territory. 'Maintaining consistency [at all the restaurants] is hard work but it's my job,' he says. 'Communication is important - that and a lot of flying.'
To maintain the definitive Nobu style of cooking in the new restaurants, long-serving chefs from some of Matsuhisa's existing eateries are given the opportunity to take the reins. 'I send the chefs from LA, New York, Miami. They work with me for a long time, but one day, they're going to want to get out on their own. A chef is always working towards the next step. I like to keep them in the Nobu family and give them the opportunity.'
He has yet to decide which chef will be given the opportunity to spearhead the Hong Kong branch, but he says 'there's a lot of interest'.