SERVICE
Robert de Niro joined forces with Nobu Matsuhisa in 1994
Nobu Hotel Los Cabos in Mexico Photography: © Jeffrey Mosier Photography
“When we thought about going into hotels eight years
Nobu Ryokan Malibu may well be the most beautiful hotel
ago, we were apprehensive because we already had a great
on the planet; with only sixteen rooms, it’s the place for the
business, which was running incredible numbers,” he says,
celebrity staycation. “The Nobu restaurant in that hotel is still
recalling the discussions they had about branching out into
doing the same numbers, in fact better, than 20 years ago,”
accommodation. “Some of the restaurants would do 200,000
remarks Horwell. “That’s longevity. To me, that’s timeless.”
covers a year, and each cheque was about US$120. If you have these numbers, you think, why go into hotels?
But aren’t they worried about diluting the brand? “We don’t like to be predictable,” he says. “We have different designers, the one in Shoreditch has won major design awards. The menus have some things that are the same, but each chef
”I don’t ever want to cook without heart, without passion. It’s about making people happy.” Nobu Matsuhisa
has created local specialities.” Now Matsuhisa rejoins the conversation, and it soon becomes apparent that he doesn’t really get me, and certainly doesn’t get my jokes. De Niro is curious to watch this play out. The tension builds further as Matsuhisa gets more and more frustrated that I can’t follow his recipe for miso black cod. “Why does everyone like their mother’s food?” he asks. “Because the mother cooks for the kids with heart. I’m a chef
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“It was really because we didn’t want to put a restaurant
now, but I don’t ever want to cook without heart, without
in every city of the world, which commoditises the brand. If
passion. It’s about making people happy.” Was his mother a
you go into a secondary city, you might not get the volume,
good cook? “Oh yes. She would always be asking what I’d want
you might be spending too much on the ones that aren’t
to eat tonight, tomorrow. Always with heart.”
doing well. We didn’t want to go into secondary cities, so we
I wonder if this is his big secret. Was Matsuhisa inspired
thought about doing hotels. We also had a lot of customers,
to create a successful hospitality empire because he had a
three million going through the doors of Nobu, so why not
mother who cooked from the heart? I ask De Niro if his mother
get them to stay? For instance, there was a Nobu restaurant
was a cook. “Not great.” He sees where this is going, more
in Malibu before there was a hotel.”
possible conflict with Nobu. “Get some sleep.”