Inside the Kitchen: Nine Questions with Nobu Matsuhisa

I grew up in Japan. I like Japanese culture. I like rice and miso soup. And sashimi.

I opened Nobu London in 1997 and I cooked for Princess Diana. I said, “Pleasure to meet you, Princess.” And you know what she said? “Chef Nobu, I read about you.” She knew me. A couple of months later, I saw on the news that she died, and it was a shock.

Good service. Make the customer feel comfortable. I don’t care about Michelin stars. Just quality food. Quality service. I want to see the customer eating, drinking, smiling, laughing. For me, that’s luxury.

I’ll open a sushi bar in heaven.

Nothing I can think of, but I want to tell you about this restaurant in Milan that I went to with Giorgio Armani: Da Vittorio. It’s luxurious, but it’s very homey. In the back garden, a couple of chefs were cooking antipasti and we were drinking champagne. Then we went into the restaurant. We drank three or four bottles of nice wine. Good food. Warm service. We went out to the garden after for dessert and gin and tonic. It was a five-hour lunch. If you’re in Italy, I recommend this restaurant.

The most important thing is passion. Then quality food. Quality service. Food shouldn’t be complicated. Simple, clean, and zero-waste.

Noodles. Any kind. In Japan, soba noodles, udon noodles. Or Hong Kong noodles. Egg noodles. Any noodle dishes.

Normally I never eat hamburgers, but In-N-Out has a protein burger. No bun. Wrapped in lettuce. I just ate it for the first time. It was great!

At Spago in LA, the smoked salmon pizza with caviar. I like to eat a piece before dinner with champagne.

Any seafood dish at Le Bernardin.

Make sushi rice and put it in a sake cup. Don’t push. Don’t press. Then slice a piece of fish and put it on the rice. Serve it just like that. Sushi in a cup. Sushi is just rice, wasabi, and fish.