Robert De Niro: the Codfather of Shoreditch
ROBERT De Niro and chef Nobu Matsuhisa are a mischievous double act.
“I’m in the kitchen almost all the time,” says De Niro, 74, Academy Award winner, star of Taxi Driver, Cape Fear and the Godfather part II.
“Yes, I do the movies,” says Nobu, 69, arguably the world’s best known Japanese chef, a man who’s cooked for everyone from the Beckhams to Kanye West.
The two old masters have developed a twinkling telepathy while working together to build the multimillion pound Nobu empire; they finish each other’s sentences as often as they do each other’s sushi bowls. Nobu restaurants — and now hotels — are in New York, Milan, Doha and Ibiza. Today they are celebrating the first anniversary of Nobu Shoreditch, in a room on the second floor.
The Shoreditch hotel is what the likes of Donald Trump would call “off-location” — a sleek new-build behind Great Eastern Street that looks from the outside like a postapocalyptic pagoda. De Niro recognises Shoreditch’s new dynamic, like the Meatpacking district in New York.
“When I was a lot younger I used to stay at the Savoy, it had this grandness and English splendour. But everything’s changed now. It’s Shoreditch, other parts of London, it’s just different, like New York.
New generations are coming up and everything changes. I like tradition if it’s kept up. I’m nostalgic. But at the same time life goes on. You’ve got to enjoy what’s present, what’s right there.”
He and Nobu met around 30 years ago — in 1988, recalls Nobu.
“Jeez, when you put it like that it really is a lifetime,” quips De Niro. The actor first sampled Nobu cuisine with Roland Joffé, the director of The Killing Fields, and fell for Nobu’s signature black cod in miso.
“I follow him around,” says De Niro. “If we’re not together, we’re always on the phone.” Nobu adds: “That’s because it’s all fun with him. We have all this history.”
De Niro offered to open a restaurant with Nobu after tasting the cod and his offer was taken up. They’ve been partners since opening Nobu in New York in 1994. Nobu, whose style borrows from his kitchen experience in Lima, Peru, has since had his name bestowed upon more than 30 Nobu restaurants on five continents.
Despite the pivot to hotels, food remains at the heart of the Nobu experience. Surfing the Eighties sushi revolution, the chef conquered hearts and minds with soft-shell crab rolls, rock-shrimp tempura and Peruvian tiradito (like ceviche, but without the onions).
For his A-list legion, he pulls out all the stops: supermodel Cindy Crawford became such a fixture in Malibu that the chef named a bowl of mixed tempura in rice in her honour, Cindy Rice.
Hotel signature breakfasts include scrambled eggs donburi — grilled salmon, seaweed and scrambled eggs done in tomato juice atop rice.
“He can do everything,” says De Niro. “He makes a mean pizza slider which he doesn’t like to talk about.”
“It’s the same as anything,” say Nobu. “You have to do everything with heart: interviews, music, acting, painting. Everyone can cook. But to do it well? Without passion, without heart, people just don’t think it’s good. Cooking is my heart.” Being able to replicate a local plate around the world is the secret to his success, he says. “That’s why the world loves us.”
De Niro remains something of a mono-luncher, relying on Nobu to pick a plate suited to his palate. “I used to call him The Codfather,” says Nobu. “It’s a funny joke. He always eats the black cod.” De Niro interjects: “Maybe you had to be there. But that dish, it’s ... it’s something else. Others have copied it over the years. But with Chef
Nobu it’s a different experience.”
They’ve noticed a difference in the crowds they cater to. Their 20th anniversary party at Nobu New York was a rowdy feast for 600 staff from across the world, with a barbecue and robata grill on their Manhattan rooftop. But everyone was home by midnight. So much for the city that never sleeps. “New York people are healthy now,” says Nobu. “Again, it’s these new generations.” Not that they’re slowing down — the day after we meet, they’re off speedboating in Ibiza. “I feel OK about the pace,” says De Niro. “I don’t feel like we miss out on anything”. Nor does he plan to — not in Cod’s name, anyhow.