The best Japanese beef: yakiniku chef on why he chose Hong Kong for his first overseas restaurant
- Norimitsu Nanbara on why he eats meat every day, ‘Beef gives me energy when I am tired’
- The owner of Yakiniku Jumbo has been working with beef since he was just 15, in his father’s restaurant
Why did you choose to open the first overseas branch of Yakiniku Jumbo in Hong Kong? “I’d always wanted to expand my business overseas, but couldn’t find the right partner. When I came to Hong Kong, I found Global Link, which has a lot of experience in fine dining and understands how to work with the Japanese [all its other restaurants, including Ta Vie and Tenku RyuGin, also have Japanese chefs]. Hongkongers travel to Japan a lot, so they know Japanese cuisine well.
“We can also ship fresh ingredients to Hong Kong and make it available on the same day as our Tokyo restaurant because the two places are so close.”
What do you look for in the beef you use? “First is the colour:lean meat should be dark red, like adzuki beans, because darker-coloured meat tastes better. The colour of the fat is also important. It should be slightly yellow. Next, I look at how springy the meat feels, the shine and the thickness. Then, the proportion of lean meat to fat.
“Our meat is sourced from all over Japan. It does not matter if it is from Kobe or Miyazaki, there will be times when the quality of meat is lower. So I pick whatever meat is good quality at the time.”
How did you come to specialise in beef? “My father was also a yakiniku chef. He opened his restaurant when I was 11. After I started helping him out, at age 15, I realised there was a lot of knowledge behind beef and my interest grew. In the beginning, I was not allowed to touch the meat. Instead, my father would give me bits of beef to taste.