A FINE BALANCE OF JAPAN By Melissa Walsh Photo Gary Sissons
H
ikaru Orita has one philosophy – success is ensured when you follow your passion. For Hikaru, chef and owner of Orita’s2 Balnarring, that passion has always been cooking since the time he was a small child in Japan and food was a scarcity.
“I grew up in the southern part of Japan in a village on the mountain called Miyazake, said the 66-year-old. “It was just after the war and food was in short supply; we were always hungry. After the war, we had lost everything and the whole country was upside down. Every day I was hungry so we went and got food naturally out of the trees and from the ground. It has made me very sensitive to my surroundings which is why I have always used only natural foods in my restaurants. I don’t use any artificial flavouring or colouring as these things are very negative to me,” said Hikaru who felt that a chef ’s job was a way to make beautiful food and earn a living. “At the age of 14 I already decided I wanted to be a chef and didn’t want to be hungry any more. In fact my two brothers and I all became chefs,” said Hikaru, who did his apprenticeship in Tokyo and Osaka and studied with the founder of Teppanyaki. “I have been fortunate enough to learn from the best and travelled extensively with my career. I set up restaurants in the Hyatt
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Hotels all over the world, including the Middle East.” In a serendipitous turn of events, this world-renowned Japanese chef found his home on the Mornington Peninsula and is now finding the perfect balance of work and home. “After travelling the world for many years, I decided to make my home in Australia. My family and I moved over here after I was sent to Sydney in the late '80s to do market research for the hotels. I soon discovered this country was the place I wanted to live and raise my family,” said Hikaru. After opening restaurants in Adelaide and then Toorak, Hikaru was able to finally do what he had dreamed of: own and run his own restaurant exactly the way he wanted. Now, with the opening of Orita’s2 in Balnarring, his full dream is realised with a smaller, more intimate restaurant that offers top quality Japanese cuisine with the Hikaru twist. “My dream since day one of starting my apprenticeship was to have my own restaurant. My restaurant is not a typical authentic Japanese restaurant. It is based on traditional Japanese with my own food creations that you will not get in any other restaurant,” said Hikaru, who uses a fusion of meats like lamb and pigeon with Japanese elements. “I use all the Japanese ingredients with