Star-studded cuisine

HIDEKI Ishikawa is a Tokyo-based chef with three Michelin stars but none of the stern, inscrutable demeanour you would expect from someone of his stature. He hams it up for the camera, teases his young apprentices and chats easily with his guests whether in Japanese or halting English. Add this to his uncompromising approach to Japanese cuisine and you have someone who owns not just one three-Michelin-starred restaurant, but two others with three and two stars respectively - thanks to his ability to spot talent and nurture young chefs to greater heights.

One of them is Koji Koizumi, who first came to Chef Ishikawa's attention when the former was just 21 years old. He had graduated from a cooking college a year before and was working in the industry before being hired by Chef Ishikawa.

"I did not think about being a chef when I was in high school," says Chef Koizumi, now 37. "But a friend of mine was interested in cooking and asked me to go and visit a technical cooking college with him. It looked interesting, so I thought I would give it a try."