This is Hal Yamashita, a MasterChef famous in Japan for his kobe inspired fusion style cooking called Shin-Washoku.
Which means that new Japanese cuisine and he's just arriving at his Roppongi Midtown office, and I'm just waiting upstairs to greet him.
All right, Hal-san should be coming around the corner any second now.
Good morning.
What time did you wake up?
So, his day doesn't start at the kitchen, but instead with an internal staff meeting.
Although, Hal has established several high-end restaurants in Japan.
He also runs a popular cupcake shop called Tokyo Entotsu.
And, in preparation of the new shop opening, he has to review the shop Implementation details with his staff.
At this level, it's not enough to simply make delicious food.
There's a lot of people involved in the creation of each restaurant.
Finally! All finished! I guess by exciting meeting; you really meant long meeting!
So, now they're hitting halt to his flagship restaurant, Hal Yamashita Tokyo. It's also located in Roppongi Midtown.
Time to taste some food.
Part of being a master chef is to create new menu items in order to keep the shop relevant.
Especially in Tokyo. Apparently, each batch of cupcakes are made with different ingredient amounts.
But Hal says he relies solely on taste instead of the batch recipe as final judgement.
If all prepared correctly, Hal says
He can usually approve new menu items within three tastings, but damn! That's a lot of calories!
So, basically they just finished the taste to see now.
And then they're just going over some more stuff for the different restaurants he has.
It's been what four hours so far, and it's all been meetings.
He's very much involved in the business process, the planning process, the quality process.
It's quite amazing. It's like that adage: more money, more problems. I guess more restaurants, more food tastings.
I think it's gonna be quite a long day.
Another aspect of being a master chef is a celebrity.
Now, he has a photoshoot with a famous Japanese photographer, Shin Yamagishi.
Known for his portrait gallery of public figures: which now, Hal is gonna be a part of.
Damn, that's a lot of bowing. I can feel the respect from here.
Although, most people in Tokyo use public transit,
Hal must be judicious on how he uses his time. Running as many business as he does.
Traveling by car is the only practical solution.
So, in the culinary industry, what do you think is the difference between Japan and the rest of the world?
He says, that for example, in the States, talented young chefs are able to find investors to help start their restaurant businesses.
So, even if they fail, they can find another investor to start a different restaurant.
Whereas in Japan, investors are rare. So succeeding the first time is critical.
In fact, when he started his first restaurant in Kobe, he had to take on a high interest loan to get the restaurant started.
So, this is his udon restaurant in Hibiya.
Uh oh, I think something has caught his eye at the storefront.
Looks like he's telling the manager to take it down. I guess it's all in the details.
Even the sign presentation has caught his attention.
Hal, how does it taste?
So, to maintain the quality of food and service at each of his restaurants. He must schedule periodic visits.
I asked if you can simply hire someone to do these checks for him.
But Hal says it's difficult for someone to completely know for how each dish is to taste, so he has to do it himself.
So, it's getting a little bit intense over there as he teaches the staff how to prepare the udon noodles.
I think it was like the fifth time they brought it out and still not coming out right.
Luckily, Hal's been nice enough to prepare some udon for me.
So, I'm just gonna eat while he's over there instructing them how to make a proper udon noodles.
The curry sauce is amazing.
It's a little bit spicy. It's a super, super thick. This is like the best curry udon I've ever had.
Noodles hard or not.
Okay, we're getting hands on now.
Hal mentions it's actually common for preparation and flavors to change over time.
It's not the cook's fault as this naturally happens.
But rather, it's a master chef's responsibility to routinely taste the food to ensure that each dish is prepared correctly.
Hal, what's wrong with the pork katsu?
Wow, how many times have you asked them to remake the noodles?
Damn, that's a lot of bowls.
Well, now that the quality has been restored,
Time now to update the menu specials.
In Japan, it's common to be written by hand.
Well, we're ready to move on. I think it took longer than expected.
You were working by yourself at first, right? Can I ask if it was easier alone or in a large team like now?
So, on our way back, Hal has decided to stop by two of his other shops to see how the staff are doing.
Oh, this is their cupcake shop.
And this is his lounge restaurant.
It even has a sushi counter, he's really in everything.
Finally, back to Roppongi.
While many workers in Tokyo are clocking out at this time. Hal is just getting started.
Born in Kobe known for its mountains, oceans, sake, and Kobe beef as well as traveling the world.
All helped influence Hal to create a new style of cuisine called Shin-Washoku,
which utilizes modern techniques to bring out the full potential of Japanese ingredients.
One of Hal's specialties is his signature rolled Kobe beef filled with sea urchin and topped with smoked caviar.
But as a master chef, he's able to prepare Kobe beef dishes in many different ways.
So, what would you say the most important thing is when you cook?
Wow, so this is what it's like being behind the kitchen!
I've never been behind it before.
And it's actually pretty tight.
It's like four or five different chefs in this like narrow space, but they're all working together.
And they don't seem to like bump in to each other.
Everyone works together so well. Looks like Hal's going to be here for the rest of the night.
So, I guess we're just gonna wait until he finishes. How long have you been working here for?
So what's the most difficult thing?
Are you not going home yet?
Hal, what time do you usually go home?
Alright, so that's the Day in the Life of a Japanese Master Chef.
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Yeah, that's pretty much it.
He's still working and I think it's time to go home.