Kuni Ichikawa

Shaped Melbourne's expectations of Japanese food

Kuni Ichikawa talks about how in Japan, Western ideas are taken and made Japanese. In just that way Kuni has taken Japanese food and turned it into Melbourne cafe food. He and his partner Ron Harrison have played a defining role in the development of Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. As well as the half-dozen restaurants (not all of them Japanese) one or both of them have set up, there are the myriad places started by their ex-employees.

It began 23 years ago at the first Kuni's, a small cafe in Crossley St, where Kuni recalls having to give away sushi to persuade people to try raw fish. The partners then went to the larger, existing premises in Little Bourke St and to the very stylish Kenzan (in which Kuni is no longer involved) at Collins Place. Their influence extends from the dishes served, to the style of the set up and, most importantly, to their accessibility to Western diners whilst still retaining Japanese custom.

When approached about this book, Kuni protested that he is not a great chef, rather that he is the co-ordinator of the restaurants. In fact, the role of the great executive chef is frequently that - to maintain an overview and to keep defining and re-defining the focus of the kitchen. In Kuni's case, as a restaurant owner, this also involves the definition of front of house style.

At his restaurants now, Kuni's and Japonica, he works in the kitchen only when the menu is changing. He is an instinctive cook, says Ron, "he never writes things down, never measures, just tastes and works from there." Kuni relies on his long-serving senior chef at Kuni's, Teronobo (Terry) Hirata, to formulate the written instructions for staff. At Japonica, the ideas also flow from his partner and chef there, Tony Lu, who worked previously at Kuni's.

The kitchen at Kuni's is clearly organised with a work bench down one side for the cold dishes and desserts; a central bench with numerous trays and square boxes filled with meticulously cut mise en place; a hot wall with eight burners, deep fryers, a steamer and the all important tempura 'basin'. This is a wide shallow brass container sitting over a flame with the temperature set at 180degreesC. It's very important to keep the oil clean and at a constant temperature. During service, as food is constantly put in to fry, the oil starts to vary, so it is always a good idea to eat tempura early if you want it at its cleanest and best, advises Kuni.

Then at the front facing the service passage is a bench where the dishes get assembled and the final touches are made using the large metal chopsticks which work like forks or tongs, and seem a natural extension of Kuni's hands. It's not a large kitchen given that they may serve a hundred meals in a service but dishes are kept to a degree of simplicity that allows for them to be cooked in minutes. But it is at least twice the size Kuni says he would have if it was in Japan, "everything there is so small, there is no room to move."

Whilst Kuni first started cooking in Japan mainly to feed his family, it was really in Melbourne that he first worked in commercial kitchens to support himself when he came here as a student. I wondered if he regretted not doing formal training in Japan . He explained how specialised the chefs training was there, and how you had experts in particular ingredients and in particular techniques. Chefs are individual craftsmen rather than all-round cooks and it is rare for them to leave Japan. So in Melbourne, it is very difficult to find Japanese staff of any level of professionalism. Basically he and Terry train their staff and keep the menu and the dishes at a level of technique which can be coped with. It seems that staff, with the exception of Terry (who has been with him since he first opened Kuni's), stay for 2-4 years and then many go on to senior positions elsewhere, or else start their own restaurants. "There are so many places opened (by my former staff) I've lost count."

Currently he has a Chinese, Philippino and Japanese in the kitchen. Out front at the sushi counter the chefs are both Japanese - Mr Nobu Nakayama is highly experienced. The menu is growing, with a list of handwritten specials which, after time, sometimes get added to the printed list. It is on the specials list that Kuni will introduce some new ideas, sometimes from Europe though Asian in style, as with the use of coriander and a dressing over the food - not traditionally Japanese. Kuni says it takes a long time to make changes in Japan, because it is such a conservative society. However he does see the gradual erosion of some traditions and is concerned that they might lose some of the old classics. He said that there are some abominations being tried there, such as buckwheat noodles used Italian style, this for him is the false way, or as Japanese would say definitely 'jado'.

But in the privacy of their home kitchen Kuni will experiment with new flavour combinations. It is here that Ron too occasionally cooks, though usually old standards such as roast lamb 'with lots of garlic', In fact, they might even consider solving Australia's lamb export problems by introducing roast lamb restaurants in Japan. A joke perhaps, but it could be a great business opportunity, and I can imagine no partnership better qualified to have a go.

INFLUENCES

Mr Ibuki

A 1998 interview with Kuni Ichikawa and a review of Kuni's

Kuni Ichikawa's Recipes

Snapper on rice
Tori shisomaki - chicken wrapped in shiso leaves
Gyu negimake - beef wrapped in spring onion