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" With sushi, it is all about balance. Sometimes they cut the fish too thick, sometimes too thin. Often the rice is overcooked or undercooked. Not enough rice vinegar or too much. "

Nobu Matsuhisa

Fish

Enough

Balance

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" Chefs are artists, and I couldn't be happy with my art if I was forced to use cheap ingredients. "

" You know how kids dream of being soccer players or actors? Well, my dream was to be a sushi chef. "

" When I set up my first restaurant, I was so inspired by Wolfgang Puck, who is also based in L.A. and is now a good friend of mine, and the way he would engage with his customers and greet them personally. "

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" A different spice is the most interesting thing to me. "

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" I can't imagine Japanese food without dashi, a broth made with kelp and dried bonito flakes. It has the aroma of the sea, tinged with a subtle smokiness, and adds a very important, distinct flavor. "

" I exercise every morning, no matter what. Sometimes it's tough to do right when you get off the plane, but after ten minutes you start sweating, and you always feel better. "

" People eat the chicken, people eat the beef, they still say, 'Don't kill the fish.' "

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" I was a bit of a wild boy - always swimming and exploring the mountains. "

" When I was 11 or 12 - a young boy in Japan - one of my older brothers took me to a sushi restaurant. I had never been to one, and it was very memorable. Back then, sushi was expensive and hard to come by, not like today, when there's a sushi restaurant on every street corner and you can buy it in supermarkets. "

" Dashi remains unfamiliar to most French and American cooks, who tend to reach for a bouillon cube to do many of the same things. But dashi is worth preparing and using the way the Japanese do: for poaching fish, as a soup base, and in simmered dishes. "

" I'm a lucky person because the company keeps growing, and that means my team keeps growing. "

" Businesses that run well are almost like marriages. Everything has to be up for discussion, or there will be real problems. "

" My flight time is important to me; I actually prefer a longer flight to a short one. That way I have time to read a book, watch movies, and think about new dishes. "

Nobu Matsuhisa

Book

Movies

" Many chefs are either technically or artistically better than me, but I know my food has soul. "

Nobu Matsuhisa

Better

Either

" I can live without a computer. My assistant checks my e-mails. "

" In my generation, there was no sushi school, no cooking school, so people have to learn from working. "

" I learned from my first restaurant: Make customers happy, make sure the customer comes back again. And automatically, success has followed me. "

Nobu Matsuhisa

Customer

Restaurant

" I cannot bring myself to wear the Nobu hats, or the Nobu T-shirts. But the chef's jacket, that is mine. And when I wear it, I am very proud of myself. "

" Every morning when I woke up, my mother was already in the kitchen making breakfast. It was always the same: steamed rice, pickled vegetables, grilled fish and miso soup. Each day there was something different in the soup such as tofu or potatoes. "

" Some hotels have a lot of mirrors, chairs, you can't find the plugs, the music is complicated. But the Nobu concept is beautiful, simple. "