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SCMP Reporter

IT still happens. Small-town boy-cum-immigrant makes it big in a foreign city. Experience and hard work hone natural ability and confer an education superior to book-learning.

  It still happens and chef Kazuto Matsusaka can claim to be one of these success stories.

  Today, the native of Kyushu, who fled that Japanese island as a teenager for Tokyo, runs Zenzero, his fashionable restaurant in Santa Monica outside Los Angeles. Among his friends and colleagues is Wolfgang 'Father of California Cuisine' Puck, a former employer and long-time mentor.

  By nature, Mr Matsusaka is quiet, even shy; sternly self-assured, dedicated, disciplined and impatient with vacuous conversation and situations. He describes his food as Californian/Asian.

  With little formal education and no formal culinary training, Mr Matsusaka cooks by instinct developed over 20 years in kitchens and by sensitivity sharpened by early years of hunger.

  Why he became a cook, he says, 'At least, I could be sure of two meals a day and a place to sleep.' At age 23, he emigrated to California, and ended up in Wolfgang Puck's kitchen.

  From Wolfgang Puck, he learned that laughter makes hard work worthwhile and that, to be a great chef, you 'have to make something (about your food) stand out.'   Good taste is not enough, there must be an element of surprise and mystery. 'You want people to go away asking, 'What was that flavour? How did he do that?' Then they will remember your dish.'   His creations typically feature unusual ingredients in classic combinations. For example, the Japanese serve fish with horseradish (wasabi), the French serve it in pastry; Mr Matsusaka serves seared mahi-mahi with a wasabi-flavoured crust.

  The Japanese serve eel in the summer; Mr Matsusaka serves his chilled in a salad. The Chinese serve pork with black beans, the Germans serve it with apple; Mr Matsusaka serves his with black bean glaze and apple salad.

  Where does Mr Matsusaka find inspiration? 'From other restaurants, other chefs, in other cities - never from books.' And from his staff. 'I like to have a mixed kitchen - men, women, Chinese, Hispanics, Americans. I can't work with Japanese chefs, because they think like me, so I learn nothing.

  Kazuto Matsusaka's promotion at the Napa Restaurant in the Kowloon Shangri-La runs until Sunday.



Master chef who never fails to surprise