Yoshitada Taniguchi, Owner and Head Chef of Mondo

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on Friday, September 10, 2010 12:00 AM

Before opening Mondo, what other restaurants did you work on?

I first came to Shanghai in 2004 and worked in a restaurant in HongQiao called Ayasushi. Then it was a place in the Jin Mao Tower called Ninsei Dining Bar. Before that I was back in Japan. In total I've spent 22 years cooking Japanese food, specializing in sushi.

What do you hope to achieve with this restaurant?

I want to attract all kinds of customers: Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, every country. The dishes here are authentic but we will also try to cater for different customers' tastes. I saw how popular restaurants like Nobu are in America and so I based some of my ideas about the food on that. The people eating there looked so happy! So I want to make them feel happy here.

There are so many Japanese restaurants in Shanghai. How will yours be different?

We make sure to have an equal balance between food and drink. Food is served from 5:30pm and the drinks keep flowing until 5am. We have a Japanese sake license and can go until late.

What would you say is the most challenging part about making sushi?

Sushi is a simple dish but the ‘shari' is very important. ‘Shari' is the way of cooking the rice and making it right is quite difficult and takes practice.

Apart from Japanese, what's your favorite food?

I like Italian pasta. For me, the way the pasta and its sauce come together is similar to the way rice and its contents come together in sushi. I like the art involved in the skillful mixing of the two aspects.

Have you had any ‘kitchen nightmare' experiences?

Yes! Once, I cut my hand open and blood spurted everywhere. There are so many knives used in Japanese cuisine and some aren't utilized very often. It's easy to become disused to the action and then to cut yourself.

When you're not slicing up sushi, what do you do to enjoy Shanghai?

Karaoke. I like music.

Are you any good?

Yes! Especially at Michael Jackson.