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DUBAI: Celebrity favorite Japanese chef Hisato Hamada has not one, not two, but three restaurants opening this month in Saudi Arabia, including the members-only upscale Wagyumafia, a concept that started as a pop-up in Tokyo and Hongkong. Kong, created by Hamada and businessman Takafumi Horie.

While the Saudi branches of Wagyumafia and Yakinikumafia, the wagyu barbecue joint, are located on the hip new Via Riyadh, its gyoza and wagyu ramen bar, Mashi No Mashi, is based in Jeddah, where Hamada is pleased to introduce the new dish, wagyu shawarma.

Here he talks to Arab News about his cooking style and the Wagyumafia motto.

Q: When you started out as a pro, what was the most common mistake you made?

A: I don’t make mistakes. I just enjoy cooking. I’m a self-taught chef, right? When you have a teacher, the teacher will say, “This is wrong.” Since I’m the master, I don’t (have that) going down. It all comes from my own inspiration. I think cooking should be freestyle. So, for my concept, there are no errors.

What is your best advice for hobby chefs cooking at home?

Just enjoy cooking. No textbook. Again, I think cooking should be freestyle. Nowadays, you can learn anything from the Internet. Virtually all the information is already available. You can start on YouTube or on social media. It’s totally different from how people learned in the 1980s and 1990s. All the secrets and special techniques are all online. So, you know, being in the kitchen every day. That is probably the best way to become a chef.

What ingredient can instantly improve any dish?

Salt. Many people don’t know how to adjust salt correctly. Even seasoned chefs struggle with it. But when done right, it can elevate your meal.

When you go out to eat, do you find yourself criticizing the food? What is the most common mistake you find in other restaurants?

I try not to go to haute cuisine, those sit-down places or omakase. To me, that’s boring. I go out for street food, and street food is not judged. Either you like it or you don’t like it and there is no point in criticizing.

What is your favorite dish if you have to cook something fast at home?

It depends on my mood. In Tokyo, we can get almost everything from every country. It is a very universal and diversified gastronomic culture. I make a lot of noodles and rice. I make tortillas by myself. I like to make something that you can appreciate and enjoy the ingredients. I try not to overcook. Because whenever I can find the right ingredients, I try to let the ingredients speak for themselves. Cooking at home is probably the best way to understand the value of the ingredients and the quality of the ingredients with your family and friends. I believe that the home is the best kitchen.

What customer request or behavior annoys you the most?

All my guests are very, very nice people. I believe that good food comes from good producers, good farmers, good fishermen, good cooks… and all of this will lead to good diners. So, everything is harmonized. We have a motto: “Come as strangers, leave as family”. Literally, if you’ve had an experience with one of my restaurants, you’ve become family, because I started my home cooking journey with house parties and you don’t have nasty people there. If you are not good people, you are not invited to my house. That’s my whole mindset with Wagyumafia. I just want to see happy people. You will never vandalize my restaurant. Music moves us a lot and we are very noisy. No business meetings. We are too busy to be bad people.

As a chef, what are you like?

I think what sets me apart from other chefs is that I create everything: I do the interior design, I create graphics for the menus, I create the recipes. So basically anything creative, when it comes to restaurants, I do. So it’s not like I’m in the kitchen 24/7. I try to spend 10-12 days a month in the kitchen. The rest of the time I travel, experiment with recipes. When I’m at restaurants, I like to go to the kitchen, see the conditions and also meet my guests. I think being yourself is very important.