Hiroyuki Terada: The Samurai Chef

At age 10, Hiroyuki Terada learned the basics of sushi from his father who took him fishing and taught him how to catch fish, clean it and then make sushi from it. It was then when Terada found his passion for cooking and all things kitchen related; he also learned how to cook from his mother who taught him how to cook his first dish… fried rice. At that young age, he enjoyed cooking for his family members which included a younger sister and aunt.

After high school, Terada went on to attend RKC Chef's School in Kochi, Japan from 1987-1989. He soon earned a nickname “Samurai” for his fast knife skill, attention to detail, divine presentation and ability to create new dishes and accents based on traditional Japanese cuisine.

After graduating RKC Chef School, he was called to serve under Master Chef Kondo at Yuzuan restaurant in Kochi, Japan from 1989-1991. Mr. Kondo is the master of Kansai style cooking, considered to be the high-end of Japanese cuisine. Terada was made to only wash rice for over 6 months which is a Japanese tradition to instill patience and test each person’s understanding of traditional Japanese methods, where nothing good can be rushed. There were times that Terada questioned his chosen culinary path, but each day he told himself that it was just another day, and went to work motivated, almost somewhat programmed, searching to do better than the day before, but again, only to wash rice the whole entire 12 hour day.

Terada earned the title Master Sushi Chef by becoming the standing head sushi chef and has a license to serve Fugu (Japan Licensed) to the public. It was then that the years of learning patience and understanding that there are absolutely no short cuts to a final dish, that one must begin early and perform the correct steps, and not to rush the process since the end result would be failure. This is why Terada’s attitude of being a perfectionist was not by choice, but by his years of understanding the way of a Samurai or in this case…the code of culinary principles.

Terada always wanted to visit the United States, and learned that the only way to depart his motherland was to put himself in a special category of a Japanese Chef, which was noticed by the owners of Japan Inn in Washington DC who eventually sponsored him. This is where he learned English and the way of life in America. 10 years later, Terada eventually ended up in South Florida for the nicer weather where he assisted Kevin Aoki, the son of the founder of Benihana (Rocky Aoki) in opening up Doraku, which is a very busy Japanese restaurant located on Lincoln Road in South Beach, Florida. There are now multiple Doraku restaurants throughout the world today that patterns after the first restaurant Terada help open up; Terada is currently a private consultation to this restaurant chain.

10 years later, Terada moved to assist in opening up NoVe Kitchen and Bar where it catered unique sushi not done anywhere else which attracted many entertainers and sports athletes from all over the world. It was at this time that he also began a YouTube channel to help promote NoVe Kitchen and Bar, showing how to do practical and simple Japanese cooking techniques that anyone at home could do as well.

His YouTube channel has now gained over 1 Million subscribers from all over the world, and gained the attention of many cooking shows; Terada and his Team were invited to participate on a live show in Los Angeles where he would attempt to set a new Guinness World Record of slicing the most carrot slices in perfectly round pieces, blindfolded, live on “The F Word” which is a show World Renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay hosts. He eventually sliced 88 pieces and was given a Guinness World Record to pronounce his extraordinary knife skills.

Terada is currently pursuing his dream of creating more intricate culinary dishes in private and on YouTube and wishes to share them with the entire culinary world. He sees his great reward when the person he creates a special dish for, enjoys it in front of him; to him, that is his greatest accomplishment.