00:00On this edition of The Dialogue, we're celebrating all things food.
00:04What's better than one Michelin-starred chef?
00:07Two, Chef Noble became famous for adding Peruvian ingredients to traditional Japanese dishes,
00:14while Chef Jean-Georges made his name through Thai-inspired French cuisine.
00:1975-year-old Japanese Chef Noble is a rock star as crowds flock to his namesake restaurants all over the globe.
00:26And world-renowned French chef Jean-Georges added his trademark flair to casual dining
00:31by introducing new flavors to the American palate in the 1990s.
00:36Hello, I'm Chef Noble. I'm still cooking cookies all my life.
00:40Hello, I'm Chef Jean-Georges, cooking for 52 years now.
00:44With more than 100 global restaurants between them,
00:47Chef Noble and Chef Jean-Georges are masters of fusion cuisine
00:50and have turned their names into international brands.
00:56Hello, Chefs.
00:59How lucky am I to meet two of the most famous chefs in the world?
01:03It's an honor to have Noble at Kiryoza.
01:06What are we preparing today, gentlemen?
01:11Chef Noble, it's nice to see you again.
01:13We met last year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Noble restaurant.
01:18Now, all over the world, the Noble brand is a hotspot for celebrities and food lovers alike.
01:25How incredible is it for you that in many parts of the world,
01:29a restaurant with your name on it is the It Plays to Beat?
01:33I'm very much proud of myself because Noble is my first name.
01:38Noble start like a kind of like a papa mama restaurant, you know, if it's small.
01:44Now it's inspired to all over the world.
01:46My dream was chefs and I tried it, not success, but learn from that mistake.
01:52You know, it's still like I step by step, one by one.
01:57And, you know, now it's over seven years old now.
02:01And I feel like I did it, you know.
02:03And every restaurant, I feel like my kids are there, you know.
02:08I'm the father.
02:09You said that you always felt you were destined to be a chef.
02:13Why do you think this was your calling?
02:14My father persuades I was kids.
02:18They were always my stay, my mother and my grandmother.
02:21So every morning, and my mother and my grandmother said the kitchen make the breakfast for the family.
02:29So slice, like use a cutting board, the sounds, so make the miso soup, so smell.
02:35So education is very important to what I'm doing right now because everything is from my grandmother, mother.
02:43Now, sushi making is an art form, but a trip to Peru changed your whole philosophy around the practice of that.
02:49You even opened your first restaurant there.
02:51How do you think that experience changed the way you were perceived as being a traditional Japanese chef?
02:57Well, I started traditional Japanese styles, and especially sushi, you know.
03:05But if I stay in Japan, never like here now because, you know, went to Peru.
03:14So see, Peru is a different cultures, complete, and food and lifestyles, you know, it's everything that different.
03:23Try the seafood dishes, especially the ceviches.
03:28You know, Japan, like a fresh fish, eat a slice, soy sauce, and the wasabi.
03:34So Peru, it's the same fish.
03:37It's like a, with the lemon juice, chili, cilantro, garlic, onion.
03:43After I tried this, it's like my open eye myself.
03:47Wow.
03:47So it means like a, same fish can make the different way.
03:52Chef Nobu, you've got 60 restaurants all over the world.
03:55The Nobu brand is internationally known.
03:59What's the legacy you want to leave for aspiring chefs or entrepreneurs?
04:03Don't fret about the mistake.
04:05Try to challenge, not the success, but without the challenge, never go the next step.
04:11Don't give up.
04:13Always with passions.
04:14Chef Nobu was in town along with another famous chef, Jean-Georges von Juristen, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic Four Seasons Doha.
04:25And what better place to meet than the kitchen?
04:28Chef Jean-Georges, you kind of just stumbled into the kitchen.
04:31School wasn't for you.
04:32In fact, you were even nicknamed Jojo the Terror.
04:35But then everything changed one day when your parents took you to a three-star Michelin restaurant to celebrate your 16th birthday.
04:42What happened that day that would change the rest of your life?
04:45I went to an engineer school that my parents sent me to, and I hated every minute of it.
04:50I didn't know you could do a living out of food.
04:54You know, for me, food was at home, a pot at the middle of the table, and people just serve themselves, and enjoy, and family style.
05:03On going to a restaurant of this caliber, seeing the ballet of the service, looking at the plate of the food, the stencil, the glassware, I said, oh my God, this is a dream.
05:15It was a big eye-opener.
05:17Yeah, my father saw that.
05:19He said, on the end of the meal, the chef came to the table.
05:22My son is good for nothing.
05:23If you need somebody to wash dishes, it looks like he has an interest.
05:27On a couple weeks after, I was in the kitchen, running around, and tried to help everybody.
05:32On a couple months after, I got the job.
05:34It was a life-changer.
05:35You clearly found your path.
05:36That was surprisingly the beginning of an incredible career.
05:39You worked with a host of renowned French chefs.
05:41Then you moved to Thailand, and then ultimately settled in the U.S., where you opened your first restaurant in New York.
05:47Tell us about that journey.
05:48I mean, the journey was, you know, I was lucky to start in a three-star mission with Paul Ebanas, who teach me everything.
05:54So, arriving in Thailand in 1980, you know, I never heard about coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger, chilies, galangal, all the spices, curry.
06:05I was like, oh my God, this is like a whole new world of, you know, going to the market and seeing different things.
06:10I'm like absorbing like a sponge, you know, when I was only 23 at the time.
06:14And I decided to use my, you know, my traditional background, French cooking and home cooking, and try to incorporate a little bit of those spices.
06:24And I felt what a better place in New York to really introduce this cuisine of French, slash, uh, Southeast Asia, slash, you know, but, so I realized that traveling was my inspiration.
06:41I feel the role of a chef is really to, uh, to, uh...
06:45Experiment?
06:46Yeah, you put, you put a little licorice on top of chicken, it's a new chicken, transforming to something that people never tested before.
06:52Now, we're sitting in Curiosa, one of your 62 restaurants worldwide. What's next for you? What do you still have to accomplish?
06:59Cooking for 52 years now, and, uh, you know, there's more things I haven't seen yet.
07:03I come into the door, I go out, I see a little bit of what's going on here.
07:06I go to the date market, I come back with some spices I never saw.
07:10And, uh, I come back with, like, 20 new ideas as well. I can learn more. I like to follow Nobu's path, maybe do some hotels, some residences.
07:18I like, uh, I enjoy lifestyle as well in, uh, in this business, you know, the, I'm involved in every design, plates, silverware, glassware, the comfort, uh, the lighting.
07:29I'm crazy about lighting, and lighting has to be so perfect. And now I'm into, into JG lifestyle.
07:34So you tried it all, but you clearly found your calling.
07:37Food is my life.
07:37Thank you so much for your time, Chef John and George.
07:40Thank you so much. It was great.
07:41Thank you for joining us on The Dialogue.
07:42Thank you for sharing some thoughts.
07:44Despite their incredible success stories, these two chefs are still happy to learn, even after almost half a century spent in the culinary trade.
