Chef’s cutting board

David Bouhadana’s six weeks in Japan

 

Cultural News, December 2007

 

By Andy Matsuda

 

   David Bouhadana of Boca Raton, Florida, finished a two-month course at the Sushi Chef Institute this summer and was sent to Japan for an internship at Matsu-ya restaurant in Nishikawa city in Hyogo prefecture, Japan, for six weeks in August and September.

 

   The morning after his arrival in Japan, David found himself in the kitchen at Matsu-ya, an authentic Taishu-Kappo-style restaurant, at 9 a.m. with 50 eels to fillet.

 

   “The first time I filleted the 50 eels, it took over four hours. During the last week, it took me only 45 minutes,” David remembers. “Even cutting cucumbers, I couldn’t do them the same size on the first day in Japan.”  At Matsu-ya, having veteran Japanese chefs watch him made things challenging for David, but he also had a lot of time to stand behind the chefs, take many pictures, and ask endless questions.

 

    During the internship, David was given multiple duties, from busboy and dishwasher, to filleting fish and vegetables that allowed him to observe how a Japanese restaurant operates. To work on his consistency, each week, David was given a box of 50 anago (sea eels) and another box with 50 eels.

 

   David also observed the Japanese restaurant work ethic first-hand as he saw the chefs work from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. with one 45-minute break a day, six days a week. David remembers, “The one day they had off a week, they would call it a vacation.”

 

   Eventually David was asked to make original rolls for the restaurant staff, so he served a roll that included cream cheese which turned out to be such a hit, the staff repeatedly asked  him to share some of his other original rolls.

 

   While most of his work at Matsu-ya was behind the scenes, he also had the chance to serve customers and even be the main sushi preparer for customers.

 

   “There was a lot of pressure serving and filleting in front of the Japanese chefs because they were all masters,” David explains. “But customers would ask me to sit down and talk with them.”

 

   Upon completing his six-week internship at Matsu-ya, David went to Tokyo before leaving Narita for Los Angeles. The main stop for David in Tokyo was Tsukiji to experience the world famous fish market.  He went in the afternoon to scout the area and checked into the closest hotel.  He returned the following morning to observe the market at its busiest, including the 5:30 a.m. tuna auction.

  

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  As an outreach activity, Sushi Chef Institute will participate in the Asian American Expo at the Pomona Fairgrounds on January 19 and 20. Nearly 100,000 visitors are expected.

 

   Andy Matsuda is founder and Chief Instructor of the Sushi Chef Institute in Los Angeles. For more information about the school, visit

www.sushischool.net.

 

(This text was completed by Gavin Kelley.)