SUSHI DREAMS

THE FOCUS AT SUKIYABASHI JIRO, KNOWN FOR BEING THE 'WORLD'S MOST DIFFICULT RESTAURANT RESERVATION' IS SQUARELY ON SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS FOOD

- RAAJ SANGHVI

"IT WAS A perfect day," posted famous Italian chef Massimo Bottura to his 1.5 million Instagram followers recently, along with a selfie with an elderly Japanese man. Bottura is typically on the receiving end of selfies, but this time it was special.

The man standing alongside Bottura was the 97-year-old legendary Japanese chef Jiro Ono. In 2007, his eponymous restaurant, hidden under an unassuming subway stop in Tokyo's Ginza district, became the world's first sushi restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars.

In 2011, American film director David Gelb made Ono the hero of a documentary titled Jiro Dreams of Sushi, using his inspirational life story to showcase the determination and decades of training that Japanese chefs endure to become sushi masters. And in 2014, Ono served 20 pieces of the freshest nigiri sushi to then US President Barack Obama who was promised 'the best sushi of his life' by his host, the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Obama later said it lived up to its billing).

Ono was born in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture and legend has it that he started working at a sushi restaurant at the age of seven. He moved to Tokyo to study as a sushi apprentice, working his way up to become a qualified sushi chef. By 1965, Ono had reached the sushi-master classification and opened his first restaurant, the Sukiyabashi Jiro. With just 10 counter seats and an omakase (dishes decided by the chef) menu that changed daily depending on the fresh catch in the morning.