Most restaurants just bring in one guest chef at a time, but when you're a high-end hotel like the Grand Hyatt you fly over two top chefs for your Japanese eatery Kaetsu.
Arriving from Tokyo's famous Roppongi Hills Club are sushi master Hirokazu Nakazato and Hideyuki Kano (pictured left and centre), who works with all other ingredients equally fresh. Accompanied by Kaetsu's own chef Ito Hiroyuki, (pictured right) the trio served up a lunch for the media yesterday in the hotel's intimate comfortable setting. However, both masters admitted they didn't start in such fancy surroundings.
Nakazato, who previously served sashimi to UN ambassadors in New York, recalled his Edo-style training began at home. 'My mother's cooking was so-so and she was always working so my older sister and I had to prepare dinner from time to time.'
Working in kitchens for more than 30 years, he admitted the restaurant apprenticeship in Japan was not easy at all. 'It took me more than 10 years cleaning in the kitchen before I can really learn how to cook.'
Likewise, Kano - who began cooking as a college student - suggested that those who can't stand the heat (or fear the knife) should stay out of the kitchen.
'Many experienced chefs do not teach you cooking skills so I had to work from one restaurant to another to steal the skills from the masters,' Kano revealed. 'When I was a newcomer, the chefs would hit me with the cooking utensils when they weren't happy. And there were knives flying in the kitchen, too. Even so, I love being a chef especially now that I get the chance to talk to my customers.' Hopefully, no blades will be hurled by the two at Kaetsu. They are there until November 1.
