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A native to Ibaraki prefecture in
Japan, Chef Noriyuki Sugie's entry into cooking was serendipitous. A budding
musician at the age of 15, her took a job in Tokyo at at California style
restaurant in order to support his passion as a guitar player in a rock band,
which was heavily influenced by American and British music. Upon completing
high school, he entered Japan's prestigious Tsuji Culinary School in Osaka.
Sugie soon discovered he was as fervent about cooking as he was about music.
Sugie
found many similarities between cooking and music, all about harmony.
Orchestrating a meal is like creating an unforgettable score. Presentation is
like a mesmerizing solo. Like any performance, you have to put on a good
show.
In the beginning, Sugie was also strongly influenced by the traditional
Japanese cooking as well as frequent forays with his family into fine dining
establishments that offered Chinese, Japanese, French and Euro-Western
cuisine. He recalled that dining in Tokyo had a sense of occasion, getting
dressed up, seeing and being seen, and the food presentation was pure
theater.
Sugie melded his traditional Asian-style techinique with classic
French training while furthering his studies at Tsuji Culinary School in
Chateau de l'Eclair, France. He perfected his French culinary skills and
knowledge of French wines over a five year period while working at three
Michelin-starred restaurants in Bordeaux, the three-starred L'Aubergade, the
one-starred Le Moulin de Martorey and the two-starred Hostellerie de Vieux.
In
1996, Sugie's culinary curiosity was piqued by the arrival of American
cuisine to the forefront of the global culinary pantheon, thus inspiring the
next destination on his culinary odyssey: the world-famous Charlie Trotter's
in Chicago. There he served as chef de partie.
After two years, Sugie was
ready for a new adventure and headed to Sydney, Australia to work at one of
the city's top establishments, Tetsuya's, as sous chef. During his two-year
tenure, Tetsuys's was named "Restaurant of the Year" twice by the
widely read Sydney Morning Herald.
Over a 10-year period, Sugie's culinary
scope continued to evolve and he grew eager to venture beyond the kitchen.
Opening Restaurant VII in Sydney as chef and partner exposed him to
restaurant management and provided a stage to showcase a culmination of his
culinary talent with complete artistic control. Restaurant VII, with its
amazingly intricate, sumptuous French-Japanese cuisine and theater-like
service, brought Sugie rave reviews, celebrity status and capacity crowds.
Shortly after opening, the establishment was named "Best New
Restaurant" by the Sydney Morning Herald.
After the success at
Restaurant VII, Sugie continued to satiate admiring food enthusiasts while
participating in Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group's guest chef program, where he
cooked numerous promotional dinners at the Bangkok, Hong Kong, London and
Bermuda properties. After a world wide search, Sugie was selected by Mandarin
Oriental Hotel Group as chef de cuisine for Asiate, the 90-seat signature
restaurant located on the 35th floor sky lobby of Mandarin Oriantal, New
York.
Sugie's approach for Asiate was artistic and modern, yet elegant and
subtle. His eclectic dishes captured the elements of French and Japanese
cuisine and his presentation style reflected the harmony inherent to every
aspect of the hotel.
After 4 years at Asiate where Sugie earned numerous
praises and marvelous reviews during his time, the success led him to
contemplate about starting up his own venture and spread his creative works
even more in the global scene, both various projects under a unique brand of
IRONNORI which is IRON + NORI with "IRON" being the backward
spelling of "NORI"...
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