Sushi Taste and Technique

Kimiko Barber Kimiko left her native Japan to go to an English boarding school in 1972, and quickly realized that she would have to recall her grandmothers' cooking skills if she was to survive. After over ten years working in finance in Tokyo and London, a chance visit to Books for Cooks, a mecca for foodies, inspired her to change her career and focus on cooking and entertaining. Kimiko now writes books and articles about Japanese cuisine and inspires other with her demonstrations of Japanese cooking at various cookery schools around the UK.

Hiroki Takemura Hiroki completed a sushi chef apprenticeship in Osaka, Japan. To broaden his experience, he then moved to Europe and arrived in a cold and rainy London in February 1982 with just a small suitcase and his sushi knives. For the next ten years he worked in the city's noted Japanese restaurants. In 1996, Nobu Matsuhisa asked Takemura to head up Nobu London's opening team. Takemura accepted, and then worked briefly in Nobu's New York restaurant, to attune himself with the cooking (Takemura still refers to Nobu Matsuhisa as "oyaji" - "honourable father"). Takemura is now Executive Chef at the Sunset Grill & Bar in Istanbul, Turkey.