Profile | Two-Michelin-star Japanese chef on serving Sprite with lobster jelly, his favourite ingredient and dying his hair pink
- Hiroki Nakanoue, the chef and owner of Sushiyoshi in Hong Kong, Osaka and Taipei, constantly changes his menu because he loves thinking of new dishes
- He says his Michelin stars give him a lot of pressure but have also elevated him to another level
What made you choose cooking as your profession? “My father had a casual sushi restaurant in Osaka. I learned the basics from him, but when I was in high school, I met a charismatic Tokyo chef named Yukio Morooka, who sparked my motivation to become a chef. My father served traditional sushi, but what I wanted to do was different.
I am from Osaka, and the style of sushi there is different from that in Tokyo. With the Osaka style, the ingredients are cooked or cured, but chef Morooka-san’s style is edomae sushi, where the focus is on one ingredient. To me this was a new world.”
Did you work with him? “I wanted to go to Tokyo and apprentice under him, but when I was 18 years old, my father died suddenly. I wasn’t quite prepared to take over yet. I still had to practise how to make sushi, and I had yet to learn how to manage the restaurant and order ingredients.
I wasn’t nervous because I had confidence, but I didn’t have the technique yet, so I would ask other chefs for pointers. I didn’t sleep much and just studied chef Morooka-san’s book and taught myself how to make his style of sushi, and I ate at other restaurants to figure out what I wanted to do.”
Sushiyoshi’s menu changes constantly. What’s your reason for doing that? “I like to think of new dishes; I don’t like to do the same menu for long. Some Japanese chefs are traditional and have lots of rules they follow and can’t waver from. But with that format you can’t learn new things. I want to break away from this traditional thinking and learn other cuisines and ingredients, which is why travel is important for me. I love France – everything about it, the culture, food and art. I like Hong Kong, too, particularly the business aspect, and everything is speedy.”
The Osaka branch of Sushiyoshi has two Michelin stars. How have you benefited from that? “I had one star for nine years. Getting a star is a lot of pressure. But in my 10th year I got two stars. Michelin gives me lots of pressure and I need to look after many things, but at the same time it has elevated me to another level where I can learn different things. When guests know a restaurant has two stars there are greater expectations, and I must meet those expectations, so that is hard work.”