Nobu Matsuhisa [Photo by Fan Zhen/China Daily]

Nobu Matsuhisa [Photo by Fan Zhen/China Daily]

"It starts from teaching my chefs, mentoring them like sons. Then they go out to the restaurants, and they start teaching the other chefs. It is like that with my Beijing restaurant. The current executive chef worked with me in Las Vegas, and now he is here to build up his team."

"It is not just skills, it is attitude. It is heart."

Nobu sketches the process like it was an easy task, but it must have started early with his first restaurant in 1994 and is happening to this day. The chef does not loosen the reins, hence his globe-trotting inspection tours.

But even as he travels almost non-stop, there is one restaurant he regards as "home" – the original Matsuhisa he started in Los Angeles, where his partner is his wife. The three Matsuhisa restaurants belong to the family, unlike the Nobu global chain, which is already expanding into hotels, with the first just opened in Las Vegas.

Nobu leaves the interview with a message for Chinese food producers. Quality cannot be compromised if you want to go out into the world, and he happily points to the example of caviar produced in China.

"Every year, we create little luxury gift items for hampers during Christmas. Last year, we sold more tubs of Chinese caviar than chocolates or truffles."

Many Nobu restaurants in the chain use caviar from China now, and it is because a Nobu chef from Hong Kong had taste-tested it and paid visits to the farms to verify the quality. He found the farmed Chinese caviar as good, if not better, than those produced elsewhere. Now, Chinese caviar is used regularly in Nobu restaurants worldwide.

Now that is best testimonial you can get.

You can contact the writer at paulined@chinadaily.com.cn