CUISINE FOCUS: Japanese

The popularity of Japanese food in the Middle East is soaring, yet many of its offerings are overwhelmingly traditional. Renowned figures in the industry explain why

If you were going to label anyone as the modern-day godfather of Japanese cuisine, it would be Nobu Matsuhisa. He opened his first restaurant, Matsuhisa, in Beverley Hills in 1987, and his first Nobu restaurant with Robert DeNiro (who has provided creative direction for all of the owned Nobu Restaurants) in New York in 1994.

He now owns 29 restaurants around the world, including one at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, all of which are highly regarded for their exquisite design and high standard of food.

Matsuhisa is keen to reinforce the strong link between food and fashion in his restaurants, some of which have been designed by award-winning American designer, David Rockwell, and understands that Japanese cuisine must constantly evolve to do this.

“Food is like fashion,” he explains. “It’s like clothing – somebody makes it, but then the next year they change the materials. Food is always changing – we change the presentation, or use new ingredients.

“I started sushi training in Japan, then travelled to South America,” Matsuhisa explains. “I opened a restaurant in Peru, then Argentina, then Alaska, then I opened my first own restaurant in Beverley Hills and the concept was Japanese food with Peruvian influences like chili paste, garlic, olive oils and salsa. The main signature dishes however were all the same – traditional.”

Today, Matsuhisa is still experimenting with cuisine in a way far different from a lot of his peers. His newest favourite technique is to freeze-dry miso to turn it into a flake, rather than use it as a soup or a paste. “I wanted to create a very unique taste, and also the umami,” he explains.

Nobu describes umami as a ‘fifth taste’, and it is also described by Japanese chefs as ‘savouriness’. “It comes from the glutamate [derived from kombu, or edible kelp] or the inosinate [from dried bonito, or dried skipjack tuna] to make dashi – kind of like a stock, which makes all Japanese food taste good.”

Nobu travels for 10 months of the year, making sure his restaurants are kept on-trend, and even though he’s based in Los Angeles, he makes sure he visits Japan at least once a year.

“I don’t change much of the restaurants’ menus when I visit. Basically we change the presentation, or add new ingredients.

“But there are some things in the Japanese dining industry that must always be kept the same,” he says.

“It used to be that Japanese food would never use caviar, never use foie gras, never use these western products, but now more and more even the top chefs are. But they still always use traditional presentation, and restaurant decorations are traditional.

Japanese cuisine has two sides: very traditional dishes and more modern dishes.”

Article continues on next page ...

Changing times
Jack Zhang, the restaurant manager at Kiku, Le Meridien Dubai admits that Japanese is very fashionable right now, but believes it’s the traditional offerings that diners want more than anything, especially Kiku’s Japanese clients.

“Most of our Japanese guests want traditional food because they’re away from Japan and miss it,” he says.

“It’s become a fashion for people to eat Japanese food though,” he continues. “Everybody knows that Japanese food is healthy, and that’s the reason it’s booming. Also, people have started to take an interest in Japanese culture, and through that they find the food.”

Whereas Nobu restaurant sources its food from many different markets, including its fish, Kiku imports 90% of its food from Japan – everything from the soya source to the fish.

“We only serve traditional food,” Zhang explains. “We want to be authentic.” However, when it comes to recruiting Japanese chefs, he says it’s difficult to be truly authentic.

“It’s not easy to get a good chef,” he admits. “We have to go through an agency to find one, then we interview him and do a food tasting. We usually try a couple of chefs and after that take one. It’s not easy to get a good Japanese chef though.

There’s a language barrier: most of the Japanese chefs don’t speak English and we do need it here really for team communication. And then, the really good Japanese chefs, they want to stay in Japan because they have all the ingredients, they can cook good food there.

I’m not saying that there are no good Japanese chefs in the country, but they’re not easy to get.”

Article continues on next page ...

Further afield
Outside of the UAE, some prominent Japanese restaurant chefs are frustrated by the lack of ingredient supply.

“In Egypt we don’t have too many Japanese suppliers – there are only two companies and some individuals who work as a suppliers,” says Hassan Saeed, restaurant manager of Sakura Sushi in Cairo. So it’s a good thing customers are asking for very simple sushi: “they don’t like strong flavours or sauces that some of the chefs add”, says Hassan. “Most people just want nigiri, sashimi and rolls.”

Although, this is not the case in Saudi Arabia, where Mohamed Benamar, general manager at Radisson Blu Riyadh, says they have no difficulties with supply, and the Shogun restaurant does a healthy 1600 covers a month, mainly from non-hotel guests.

“The Japanese cuisine scene in Riyadh has became popular due to a hike in quality, and the fact that it’s a healthy, trendy food. Although guests want to have quick service delivery, we find they are more inclined to relax in the restaurant while enjoying the interactions and entertainment here.”

Article continues on next page ...

Quick and easy solutions
Quick-service restaurants are also experiencing good trade both in and outside of Dubai, according to Marek Maitland-Walker, head of marketing at Hotbrands International. Sugoi! is one of six quick-service restaurant concepts developed and operated by Hotbrands International (HBI), the first opening at Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai 2005.

There are now a total of five Sugoi! outlets located in mall food courts in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, which account for approximately 10% of HBI’s turnover. Although, this is expected to grow, says Maitland-Walker, as Japanese cuisine continues to increase in popularity.

“The food offered by Sugoi! is quick and convenient and can be perceived as a healthier, innovative option for customers,” he explains. “The market has grown due to the entrance of new restaurants targeting the casual dining and quick service segments, making it much more accessible to a wider market.”

“Sugoi! serves a range of dishes including robatayaki (a Japanese style barbecue menu offering meats and seafood on skewers), which is most popular, as well as authentic teppanyaki and teriyaki dishes, sushi and sashimi, soups and starters,” Maitland-Walker explains.

But Sugoi!’s success hasn’t come without its challenges.

“Since the earthquake in Japan last year, supplies have been erratic and we have had to source ingredients from around the world to compensate for this shortfall. This said we have managed to do it successfully without much impact on the menu offered to guests,” he says.

Roy Matanguihan, specialty outlet chef at Benihana restaurant, Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi experienced a similar problem.

“We had to be extra careful to procure the correct and safe product for our guests,” he explains. “We made sure that every ingredient we bought was certified free from radiation, and we paid a premium price to get it.”

Benihana first opened in 1964 in the US, and since has become a world famous brand. It’s the teppanyaki table theatre that the restaurant is most renowned for, Matanguihan explains.

“Our main goal is to maintain the reputation of being one of the most hospitable services – we’re not just serving or entertaining our guests, we make sure we host them like one of our family members, serving good quality of food by trained teppanyaki chefs, who are something like modern ninjas when it comes to working with knives, spatulas and forks.”

So while Japanese dining continues to have its roots embedded in tradition, it seems its soaring popularity, the availability of international ingredients and the importance of restaurant theatre will prompt the emergence of new, forward-thinking concepts.