Arts
Cooking up a dish for one’s eyes and taste buds
Chef Kenjiro ‘Hatch’ Hashida loves looking at people’s faces when they eat his food. The celebrity chef is known for chatting up patrons and educating them about their meals. “Chefs shouldn’t be behind the counter,” he states adding “they should talk to the customers and try to learn what the customer wants.” Operating behind the kitchen counter is Hatch’s own personal “hell” he laughs.
Creating a work of art: Chef Hatch. Pix by Kushan Pathiraja
We meet Chef Hatch at the Shangri-La, Colombo on May 10, where he’s making his first appearance in Sri Lanka, straight after a five-day stint in Sydney and 10 days in Indonesia. With only one chef to assist him here, Chef Hatch has brought the best seasonal produce with him along with his family’s secret sauce. The sauce has 40 variations of which Hatch has brought three with him.
On May 10 and 11, Colombo Supper Club diners were to be treated to an evening of Japanese haute dining, with a selection of family recipes that have been in the Hashida family for years, with Shangri-La Colombo’s Executive Chef, Paul Lenz, working alongside Chef Hatch.
Chef Hatch was invited to Sri Lanka by founder of the Colombo Supper Club (CSC) Singaporean Naserah Tyebally. “This will mark the first time I brought a Japanese chef of his stature to Colombo,” she remarks. It’s also her first partnership with Shangri-La. The idea behind this venture will be to allow people to have a personal relationship with the hands behind their food.
A second generation celebrity chef from Tokyo, Chef Hatch (pronounced Haa-chi) is the son of Master Chef Tokyo Hashida from one of Japan’s legendary sushi restaurants ‘Hashida Sushi’.
A graduate of Japan’s top culinary school L’Ecole Tsuji Tokoyo (Tsuji Culinary Institute) with more than two decades of experience, Chef Hatch’s talents extend beyond the sushi counter. He has founded two clothing brands, one in his late 20’s called ‘Girluza’ and ‘Pi’, the other brand, a couple of months back teaming up with a friend Takeshi Nagashima. However his true passion lies in his sushi, which he repeatedly likens to a work of art.
The youngest and only son in his family, he and his older sisters were forbidden from entering his father’s restaurant premises. When he was 12, his father gave him his first job in the restaurant – cleaning tables. Asking his son whether he enjoyed his work, to which Hatch gave a ready “Yes”, his father gave him a permanent job – doing menial labour around the restaurant.
Gradually, Hatch was able to earn the skills of a sushi chef climbing his way up the ladder of his father’s business through hard work.
Although under his father’s stern tutelage, Chef Hatch branched out founding Hashida Sushi, Singapore on the fourth floor of the leading shopping centre Mandarin Gallery. His work over the years has brought him many awards and accolades.
“Travelling is very important to me” he shares, adding “It’s the best teacher of my craft as I can explore a country’s culture, history and people.” When he was 25, Hatch informed his father that he didn’t want a salary instead opting to spend his cheque on travelling and networking.
“The lessons I learnt from my father were very important to me,” he says. These values have stayed with him throughout his career. “At a young age my father taught me the importance of quality over quantity. The creation and idea behind my food is what makes it upscale,” he says adding “I’m technically charging diners based on my life’s work and skills.”
Catering allowed Hatch to network and learn from various people. He recalls catering for an event, surprised when his queue of around 60 people waiting to be served sushi, were suddenly enticed by the dainty macaroons of another chef, a stall away.Curiosity drove him to try his hand at the confection.
“I wanted to make my own version of macaroons,” he stated adding that his are “very soft” and can be broken even with the back of a teaspoon! The process of making the recipe was a “crazy time” he laughs recalling how he sampled around 300 macaroons a week for a period of six months before finally creating a satisfactory recipe.
Hatch now sells around 200 boxes of macaroons a week – his Sakura macaroons and Hojich Tea Macaroon always in demand.
Presenting food that is aesthetically pleasing is exceedingly important to him for he states “People eat with their eyes,” adding that social media is a result of this outcome.
Moreover, the experience of eating Japanese cuisine “starts with the eyes and ends with your taste buds” Chef Hatch informs us adding that the experience of dining at a Hashida restaurant is “like a show”.