Nobu Matsuhisa is the Japanese-American chef and restaurateur behind the Nobu restaurant and hotel group, which operates more than 56 restaurants and 45 hotels globally as of 2026 together with business partners Robert De Niro and Meir Teper. Born 10 March 1949 in Saitama, Japan, Matsuhisa trained at a Tokyo sushi restaurant before moving to Lima, Peru, in 1973, where he spent four formative years that shaped what became known as the Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian fusion) style. He opened Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills in 1987 and the first Nobu restaurant in Tribeca, New York in 1994 with Robert De Niro.
The Nobu brand continues to expand aggressively in 2025-2026: Nobu Hotel and Restaurant del Coronado opened in early 2025 as part of the historic Coronado hotel restoration, a Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Maldives on Laamu Atoll is scheduled for 2026 with 56 beach and overwater villas, and a Nobu Hotel Manchester is underway in the St John’s cultural district. The Matsuhisa flagship in Beverly Hills has held a Michelin Guide listing consistently since the Michelin Guide California began.
TL;DR
- Japanese-American chef born 10 March 1949 in Saitama, Japan
- Defined Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) fusion style during four years in Lima, Peru (1973-1977)
- Matsuhisa opened in Beverly Hills 1987; first Nobu Tribeca opened 1994 with Robert De Niro
- Nobu Hospitality operates 56+ restaurants and 45+ hotels globally in 2026
- 2025-2026 openings: Nobu Coronado (early 2025); Nobu Maldives (2026); Nobu Manchester (underway)
Nobu Matsuhisa key facts
| Born | 10 March 1949, Saitama, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese-American |
| Flagship restaurant | Matsuhisa, Beverly Hills, California (opened 1987) |
| First Nobu | Nobu Tribeca, New York (opened 1994 with Robert De Niro; closed 2017, successor Nobu Downtown opened same year) |
| Training | Matsuei sushi restaurant, Shinjuku, Tokyo (7-year apprenticeship); Peru 1973-1977 |
| Business partners | Robert De Niro, Meir Teper (Nobu Hospitality co-founders) |
| Group scale | 56+ restaurants and 45+ hotels globally as of 2026 |
Early life and training of Nobu Matsuhisa
Matsuhisa was born Nobuyuki Matsuhisa on 10 March 1949 in Saitama, a prefecture just north of Tokyo. His father, a timber merchant, died in a motorcycle accident when Nobu was eight years old, leaving the family in difficult financial circumstances. Matsuhisa has said in interviews that his mother raised four children alone, and that the childhood experience of loss shaped his later drive. At 18 he started a seven-year sushi apprenticeship at Matsuei, a sushi restaurant in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.
In 1973, at age 24, a Japanese-Peruvian customer at Matsuei invited Matsuhisa to open a Japanese restaurant with him in Lima, Peru. Matsuhisa accepted and moved to Lima that year. The four years in Peru (1973-1977) reshaped his cooking decisively. Peruvian cuisine, with its Japanese-influenced Nikkei tradition, its fresh Pacific seafood, its chilli peppers (aji amarillo, rocoto), and its citrus-heavy ceviche tradition, became the foundation for what he later developed at Matsuhisa Beverly Hills. He has said repeatedly in interviews that Peru shaped his cooking more than Japan did.
After the Lima partnership broke down Matsuhisa moved briefly to Argentina, then to Anchorage, Alaska, where he worked at a Japanese restaurant until the restaurant burned down in a fire in 1977. The financial loss was devastating and Matsuhisa has described the period as the lowest of his life. He moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and worked at a series of Japanese restaurants before opening Matsuhisa at 129 North La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills on 16 January 1987.
Nobu Matsuhisa career timeline
- 10 March 1949: Born in Saitama, Japan
- 1957: Father dies in motorcycle accident when Nobu is 8
- 1967-1973: Seven-year sushi apprenticeship at Matsuei in Shinjuku, Tokyo
- 1973: Moves to Lima, Peru, to open a Japanese restaurant
- 1977: Moves briefly to Argentina, then to Anchorage, Alaska
- 1977: Alaska restaurant destroyed by fire
- 1978: Moves to Los Angeles
- 16 January 1987: Opens Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills
- Late 1980s-early 1990s: Matsuhisa becomes a Hollywood-industry favourite; Robert De Niro befriends Matsuhisa
- 1994: Opens Nobu Tribeca in New York with Robert De Niro and Meir Teper
- Late 1990s-2000s: International Nobu expansion: London (1997), Milan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Miami
- 2013: First Nobu Hotel opens at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
- 2017: Nobu Tribeca closes; successor Nobu Downtown opens the same year
- 2018-2023: Nobu Hotel expansion across 15+ cities including London, Los Angeles, Ibiza, Chicago, Marrakech
- Early 2025: Nobu Hotel and Restaurant del Coronado opens in Southern California
- 2025: Nobu Manchester hotel underway in St John’s cultural district
- 2026: Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Maldives scheduled to open on Laamu Atoll
- 2026: Nobu Hospitality operates 56+ restaurants and 45+ hotels globally
Nobu Matsuhisa signature style: Nikkei fusion
Matsuhisa central contribution is the Nikkei register: Japanese technique (sushi, sashimi, tempura) combined with Peruvian flavours (aji amarillo, rocoto, citrus, Peruvian corn) in a fine-dining format. The Nikkei tradition had existed in Peru since Japanese immigration in the 1890s, but Matsuhisa was the chef who brought it to a global fine-dining audience through Matsuhisa Beverly Hills and the Nobu network. Dishes like yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño, miso-glazed black cod (saikyo yaki), and new-style sashimi (raw fish warmed by hot oil and soy) became references in Japanese fusion globally.
The second defining element is the Nobu hospitality model. Beginning with the 1994 Nobu Tribeca opening with Robert De Niro and Meir Teper, Matsuhisa and his partners built one of the most successful chef-brand hospitality groups in history. The model combines a consistent core menu across locations with local adaptations, hotel-restaurant integration, and celebrity-hospitality synergies. The scale of the group (56+ restaurants, 45+ hotels in 2026) is unmatched among chef-branded hospitality operations.
The third pillar is menu consistency. The Nobu core menu (miso black cod, yellowtail jalapeño, new-style sashimi, rock shrimp tempura) has remained largely unchanged across locations and across three decades. The consistency is the commercial foundation of the group’s scale: diners know what to expect at Nobu anywhere in the world. Matsuhisa approach parallels, in register and scale, the chef-group models of Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud, though the brand reach is larger.
Notable dishes at Matsuhisa and Nobu
Several Matsuhisa dishes have become reference points in global Japanese fusion. Miso-glazed black cod (saikyo yaki using white miso marinade) is the single most-cited Nobu dish: the fish is marinated for 2-3 days in a sweet white-miso glaze and grilled. Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño is a pure Nikkei dish, combining Japanese kingfish sashimi with Peruvian jalapeño slices, garlic and citrus. New-style sashimi is sliced raw fish lightly cooked by a drizzle of hot sesame oil and soy at the table. Rock shrimp tempura with spicy creamy sauce, lobster with wasabi pepper sauce, and tiradito (Peruvian-style sashimi) appear on Nobu menus globally. His memoir Nobu: A Memoir (2017) documents the Lima and Anchorage years in detail.
Nobu Matsuhisa awards and recognition
- 1987: Opens Matsuhisa Beverly Hills
- 1994: Opens Nobu Tribeca with Robert De Niro and Meir Teper
- 2002: James Beard Foundation Outstanding Restaurant nomination (Nobu New York)
- 2013: First Nobu Hotel opens at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
- 2017: Nobu: A Memoir published
- Multiple Michelin Guide listings across Nobu London, Milan and Tokyo locations across the 2010s and 2020s
- Early 2025: Nobu Coronado opens
- 2026: 56+ restaurants and 45+ hotels globally; Maldives opening scheduled
Nobu Matsuhisa impact on global Japanese fusion
Matsuhisa primary contribution is the Nikkei fusion register. Through Matsuhisa Beverly Hills and the Nobu network, the Japanese-Peruvian tradition that had been largely unknown outside Peru became a global fine-dining category. The Nikkei approach has been widely copied and adapted by chefs around the world, including Mitsuharu Tsumura at Maido in Lima, who represents the next generation of Nikkei at three-Michelin-star level.
The second contribution is the Nobu hospitality group model and its scale. With 56+ restaurants and 45+ hotels across more than 30 countries in 2026, Nobu Hospitality is one of the largest chef-branded hospitality groups in history. The partnership with Robert De Niro and Meir Teper has endured for more than 30 years, and the group continues to expand at a pace that most chef-led hospitality groups cannot match.
Within the current global Japanese-fusion generation Matsuhisa sits alongside Jean-Georges Vongerichten (who built a parallel French-Asian fusion career in New York from the 1980s), and younger chefs including Junghyun Park at Atomix who work in adjacent Asian fine-dining registers.
Nobu Matsuhisa FAQ
How many Nobu restaurants are there?
More than 56 Nobu restaurants globally as of 2026, plus 45+ Nobu Hotels. Locations include New York, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dubai, Milan, Warsaw, Marrakech, Ibiza, Budapest, Manila, and many others. Nobu Hospitality continues to open new properties each year; the Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Maldives is scheduled to open in 2026.
Where is the first Nobu?
The first Matsuhisa opened at 129 North La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills on 16 January 1987. The first Nobu-branded restaurant opened in Tribeca, New York, in 1994 with Robert De Niro and Meir Teper. Nobu Tribeca closed in 2017 and was replaced by Nobu Downtown the same year.
Why is Nobu connected to Robert De Niro?
De Niro became a regular customer at Matsuhisa Beverly Hills in the late 1980s and repeatedly asked Matsuhisa to open a New York restaurant. Matsuhisa eventually agreed, and Nobu Tribeca opened in 1994 with De Niro and producer Meir Teper as business partners. The three have remained partners in Nobu Hospitality for more than 30 years.
What is Nikkei cuisine?
A Japanese-Peruvian fusion tradition that developed after Japanese immigration to Peru in the late 1800s. Nikkei combines Japanese technique (sushi, sashimi, tempura) with Peruvian ingredients (aji amarillo, rocoto, Peruvian citrus, corn varieties). Matsuhisa developed his cooking during four years in Lima (1973-1977) and brought Nikkei to global fine dining.
What is miso black cod?
Matsuhisa most famous dish: black cod marinated for 2-3 days in a sweet white-miso glaze (saikyo miso marinade) then grilled. The dish appears on nearly every Nobu menu worldwide and has been widely copied by Japanese fusion restaurants around the world.
What is next for Nobu Matsuhisa
The 2026 Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Maldives opening on Laamu Atoll is the single largest upcoming project, together with the underway Nobu Manchester hotel in the St John’s cultural district. Matsuhisa continues to visit Nobu kitchens worldwide and personally oversees menu development. His public Instagram (@nobumatsuhisa) is the best source for current updates.
