I was at a local sushi restaurant last night, with my wife. It is one of those passably good "all you can eats". It's definitely worlds apart from a Korean/Japanese I went to last week, but still not bad to quench my craving.
Halfway through the dinner we were given a beautifully sliced and very nicely presented plate of salmon sashimi.
I took a closer look at the chef and he was busy making sauces. I looked to his left, and there was a teenager cutting away to make order after order.
When there was finally some down time, the young guy walked to the back and grabbed a 1k, a 6k and a piece of heavy cardboard. He began to sharpen his knife, off to the side instea of taking a few minute break like everyone else.
I went up and chit chatted to discover he was using a Suisin 300mm Shiro-niko yanagi.
I learned he's a super nice kid, with a huge passion for knives who wants to learn some skills at a joint like the one I was in, and then start all over at a well respected restaurant. I thought this was really cool and his knife was just beautiful! AND over a month's worth of wages for him.
The funny thing was, when I realized how much he cared about his knife, it explained why the food was getting better as we were there longer- he was making it, instead of the chef!
Do you agree that often, pride in your knife and knife skills = a quality chef?
Halfway through the dinner we were given a beautifully sliced and very nicely presented plate of salmon sashimi.
I took a closer look at the chef and he was busy making sauces. I looked to his left, and there was a teenager cutting away to make order after order.
When there was finally some down time, the young guy walked to the back and grabbed a 1k, a 6k and a piece of heavy cardboard. He began to sharpen his knife, off to the side instea of taking a few minute break like everyone else.
I went up and chit chatted to discover he was using a Suisin 300mm Shiro-niko yanagi.
I learned he's a super nice kid, with a huge passion for knives who wants to learn some skills at a joint like the one I was in, and then start all over at a well respected restaurant. I thought this was really cool and his knife was just beautiful! AND over a month's worth of wages for him.
The funny thing was, when I realized how much he cared about his knife, it explained why the food was getting better as we were there longer- he was making it, instead of the chef!
Do you agree that often, pride in your knife and knife skills = a quality chef?