Sushidokoro Kazuya

As the number of restaurants that are particular about their ingredients increases, chefs too are becoming more selective about what kitchen knives they use to bring the most out of these ingredients. We believe that restaurants and chefs that carefully choose their knives and maintain them can make delicious food.

Our "Connecting with Taste: Chef Interviews" series is dedicated to introducing restaurants that create amazing cuisine through the charm of their chefs, greater than the sum of their parts which gourmet review websites cannot give justice to.

These places value technology, philosophy, tradition, and look at food from the perspective of not only themselves, but the kitchen knives they are wielding. Read along and step into the inner side of these chefs, and enjoy their stories.

Our 11th volume takes us to Sushidokoro Kazuya (すし処 和屋) in Osaka's Nipponbashi to speak with chef-owner Asada Kazuo (朝田 和夫), who has dedicated his career to Japanese cuisine, and is incredibly focused on using fresh ingredients.

Table of Contents

1. A Chef's Path, Decided by a Teacher's Words
2. Admiration for Chefs and Fun in Training
   
3. Independence While Keeping Technique and Taste
4. Handling a Knife and Not Cutting Corners
5. Every Item Without Compromise
6. Restaurant Information
7. Watch our Documentary
8. Chef Asada's Recommended Kitchen Knives

Born and raised in the Kanmon Straits port town of Moji, Fukuoka, he often went fishing with his father during his childhood days.

His first year in high school introduced him more to the world of sushi, through the invitation of a friend of his. He was surprised to see his friend casually tell the chef with an air of condfidence and familiarity with this situation, "As always, I'll leave it up to you."

It was Asada's first time eating sushi in a counter setting, and a truly memorable experience for him. From then on, whenever he received his part-time allowance from delivering newspapers, he would invite his friends to go eat sushi.

Asada was thinking about learning a practical trade for the future. At the time, he enjoyed cooking and was considering becoming a ramen chef. Even during his senior year of high school when he was more formally deciding his future path, Asada was looking into which ramen shop to apprentice at.

One day his homeroom teacher asked, "Asada, what are you planning to do after graduation?" When he replied, "I'll apprentice at a ramen shop," the homeroom teacher stated, "If you love cooking that much, why not try becoming a sushi chef (itamae)?"

This short conversation was the turning point that led Asada to become the chef he is today.

Asada first trained at a catering service in Kyoto. This company was extremely busy, and Asada worked there as a live-in employee for five years. When the company's proprietor fell ill, Asada was offered the opportunity to take over the business. However, Asada felt like he wanted to study and improve a little bit more, so he turned the offer down and moved to Osaka, renting an apartment there.

However, while he now lived in Osaka, he had zero connections there. Needing work, he found a nearby map then went to the local employment office. While jobe in food service were available, the salaries for most of them were often under 50,000 yen (approx. 110,000 yen adjusted for inflation). This was incredibly low given the difficulty of the work.

One job did stand out to him though on the office's bulletin board in the latest job postings section - a listing to work at sushi restaurant Ei-chan Fukuzushi. For the time the salary was decent, so he immediately took the job posting and had the employment office staff contact the restaurant. Ei-chan Fukuzushi asked Asada to come in right away, which turned into a 12 year career training and improving there.

Asada's time at Ei-chan Fukuzushi taught him fundamentals he still uses today, such as proper ginger preparation and how to correctly blend a good ponzu sauce. As an experience very different from his catering apprenticeship, he enjoyed it immensely.

At the catering service, the team worked in areas away from customers' eyes. As someone who admired itamae, also sometimes called itaba in Kansai, who stand right in front of the customers, it was rewarding for Asada to see their reactions more directly.

As Japan's bubble economy burst, the now 34-year-old Asada made the mature decision to start his own business.

His first location was a small restaurant near Kuromon Market, with only eight seats available for customers. To avoid causing any trouble for his former employer, he started this restaurant without any form of advertising. This meant for the first year the restaurant struggled, as there simply weren't many customers coming through his doors.

This changed one day when the owner of a Japanese casual-style (kappo) restaurant happened to visit him. From there, word of mouth spread, and gradually more customers started visiting Asada's shop.

In addition, a written article in popular Kansai gourmet magazine Amakara Techo (あまから手帖) caused a boom of new customers to start flocking to his location.

As the small restaurant wasn't designed for this influx, Asada moved to a new location in the famous Dotonbori area. His restaurant thrived here for ten years, but due to aging infrastructure he moved once more to where he is now in Nipponbashi.

What did not move though is Asada's daily visit to Kuromon Market to carefully select seasonal ingredients. As he has many regular customers, he likes to also occasionally source unusual fish and create improvised dishes, all to great fanfare.

A particular food preparation style he is proud of is how he prepares his gari (picked ginger), which is cut into pieces instead of sliced. Originally done as a time-saving technique as he worked alone, his customers liked the satisfyingly crunchy texture so much it became a mainstay technique.

Whether it is his gari or other additions like soy sauce, Asada strives to convey the techniques and flavors he has cultivated through his career to his customers as best as possible.

Amongst the many shops located in Dōguyasuji, Asada chose and started using Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide knives due to their wide variety. He has been using them and been a customer of ours for approximately 35 years, almost half the time we have been operational as a knifemaker!

When he started properly using our knives, he found the steel quality to be incredibly good. That said, Asada believes that a kitchen knife's limits truly depend on how the user handles, sharpens, and maintains it. He keeps the condition of his knives best by sharpening them every day without fail.

Asada worries about the rarity of such handmade knives though, as the number of knife craftsmen is decreasing more and more.

To Asada, the most important belief with his food is that his customers leave satisfied. Even if it is only a single dish it happens with, it's simply not good enough if the customer is left wanting. His aim is for 100 points out of 100, perfect every time.

His son, Takanori, runs Sushidokoro Kazuya with him. We asked Asada what he thinks of his son also choosing the path of a chef.

"I thought he was crazy! He probably doesn't understand how stressful this path can be. But if he's going to take over, our customers will welcome him very happily."

Asada laughs after this answer, and we see the chef's expression beam the joy of being a father, accented with a hint of embarrassment.

Takanori then stepped in to add his thoughts.

"When I was a student, I didn't talk with my father much, and thought he was just a quiet person. But, working in the same kitchen as him has helped me gradually understand the pride he took in protecting his food's flavour and the restaurant as a whole.

'Treasure only the people who understand.'

That attitude has allowed my father to continue running a restaurant where warm relationships between people flow freely, and now I have the utmost respect for him."

Our Japanese YouTube team also filmed a mini video documentary on Asada and Sushidokoro Kazuya. Enjoy the video below.

Please note it only officially has Japanese audio and subtitles, but automatic translations are available. Nuance and meaning may be lost though, so please refer back to the original Japanese as fact over any translations.

Chef Asada Kazuo knows our knives well, having used them for around 35 years now!

Take a look below at two of his favorites. You might even see him use them in his restaurant when you visit!