Sushi Awards 2009: Seven Sushi Samurai: Taiji MARUYAMA

Sponsored by

Supported by:
Embassy of Japan, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) and All Japan Sushi Association

Special thanks to:
ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS, FENG SUSHI, GEKKEIKAN SAKE, JAPAN CATERING, MOSHI MOSHI, SASAKI GREEN TEA, SHINMEI CO.,LTD. and T&S ENTERPRISES (ATARI-YA FOODS)

Organized by:
EAT-JAPAN, MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)

Taiji was destined to be a sushi chef. Born into a family that ran a sushi restaurant in Fukushima, in the north east of Japan, as soon as he graduated from high school he set off to Tokyo to start his apprenticeship in Sushi Kappo in the rapidly regenerating Shinagawa district.

Training as a sushi chef is notoriously difficult. Taiji, however, showed distinct talent from the very beginning, and by 2001, at just 20, he gained his chef’s license. Even more impressively, in 2002, at 21, he became the youngest person ever to gain the Fugu (poisonous blowfish) Preparation License from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

In 2005, Taiji came to the UK and, as is only becoming for an ambitious and talented young sushi chef, started to work at Nobu Berkeley. Nobu Berkeley received its Michelin star in January 2006, after being open for only five months, and Taiji has very much contributed to the success of this glamorous restaurant, which has rapidly carved out a name for itself as a must-visit on the London restaurant scene.

The philosophy behind Nobu is to use Japanese techniques, honed over centuries, to prepare food with ingredients from other countries, steeped in the essence of international culinary traditions. We work to present our customers with food that is both delicious and visually stunning. This is the secret behind Nobu’s global success, and I am extremely proud to call myself a Nobu chef.

My ambition is to communicate my vision as a chef to the entire world – just as Nobu Matsuhisa has done. I think that it is sushi’s very simplicity that makes it such a versatile and interesting cuisine; and that makes is so difficult to prepare well.

A decade has passed since I started to work as a sushi chef, but I’ve still got a lot to