KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — For a man who turned a restaurant venture into a world-renowned empire, attracting a number of celebrity admirers along the way, Nobu Matsuhisa only had two people in mind when penning his memoirs; mum and dad.
The revered Japanese chef made the revelation when asked if there were any star pals, in particular, he would have liked to have read Nobu: A Memoir, which was recently released in English.
& It was his folks that he wishes could have read his book, an account of their son’s titanic achievements in the culinary industry.
“Only my parents I hoped could have read this book,” the 69-year-old said.
“My parents have already passed away.”
Nobu, as he is popularly known by the first name, was just eight-years-old when his father died in a motorcycle accident while his mother passed away in 2006, according to a New York Times article.
His chain of Japanese-Peruvian restaurants is synonymous with a high-profile celebrity following.
Chief among them is Robert De Niro, a Hollywood actor who became a business partner when the very-first Nobu restaurant opened in New York in 1994.
According to the book, De Niro was the one who convinced Nobu to open a restaurant in Manhattan after dining at his eponymous sushi bar Matsuhisa in Los Angeles six years earlier.
“I’m going to meet him soon so I’ll ask him then,” Nobu replied, asked if his friend ‘Bob’ had any thoughts on the memoir.
The book tells the story of the chef’s rise to fame, his philosophy and global success of Nobu restaurants.
“A lot of people asked me about a memoir. I said ‘no, no, no’, because I don’t want to show myself in a book. I wouldn’t like a TV show about myself.
“But I’m getting old. People working around me want to know how I train other chefs. That’s why the book explains how I became a chef.”
Nobu ruled out any suggestion of a film being made on the back of the book.
There are 38 Nobu restaurant around the world along with six hotels.
The Kuala Lumpur establishment, the first in Southeast Asia, opened to the public in 2014 before Nobu and De Niro came down to mark its official opening in May the following year.
Nobu arrived in Malaysia earlier this week for the launch of his memoir.
He said it took two years to write, and it was first published in Japanese in 2014. The English version was released in November last year.
As well as checking in to his KL outlet, the celebrity chef has been exploring other parts of the country which included a trip to Malacca yesterday.
A photo of Nobu trying nyonya food was shared on Instagram.
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