Cook who’s talking

Chef Roy may not be the reason you venture down to Benihana at the Beach Rotana, but he’s almost certainly the reason you plan a second visit. Trained up at top Manila teppanyaki joint, Kimpura, he’s something of a modern-day ninja when it comes to knives. ‘I did cut my fingers a couple of times,’ he says as he bounces an egg on the flat of his blade, flips it into the air and severs it as it lands. He sets the egg frying, looks up and smiles: ‘I was the best client of my doctor at that time.’ We forgot to mention: he’s also something of a comedian.

Setting the knives aside, he pulls out a collection of less-lethal instruments. Teppanyaki is hardly food you can prepare at the kitchen table, so we’ve asked him to show us something more docile. ‘Rice and vinegar!’ he proclaims loudly. ‘That is the key to making good sushi. That and of course fresh seafood.’ He’s got it all lined up in delicate tableware, as though he’s about to turn his hand to TV cookery. To make 12 to 14 rolls, he’s prepared a kilo of sticky white rice, piled high in what looks like a broad-based wooden bucket, rice vinegar (220ml), sugar (210ml) and salt (20ml). The combination of these ingredients is all that sushi actually requires. Whatever goes on top is largely irrelevant.

‘Japanese food is not easy to learn and prepare,’ Roy says as he mixes the four substances together. Unusually contemplative for a moment, he continues: ‘It is more than just food. It is something coming from your heart.’ We nudge him further. ‘I always wanted to cook for my brothers and parents when I was young,’ he reveals. ‘I like to make people happy.’ Is Mother Roy proud of what he’s achieved? ‘Ho yes!’ he shouts, snapping back into smiley mode. ‘Since I started cooking at home, she started putting on a couple of kilos!’ Never a dull moment when Roy’s about.

On another work surface he’s prepared a second collection of overflowing earthenware. We’ve got tobiko, crab sticks, mayonnaise, avocado and cucumber. We’ve also got several sheets of nori (seaweed) and a delicate-looking bamboo mat. We place the nori onto the mat and apply a layer of sticky rice – about half a centimetre thick – covering all areas of the nori until it is no longer visible. Onto this we add a generous scattering of tobiko eggs, then we flip the whole concoction so that the green nori is facing up.

About this far into the proceedings, it’s customary for Time Out to ask the chef about the celebs he may have prepared this dish for. Roy recalls cooking for boxing legend Mohammed Ali, but it’s his original ‘sensei’ that he is most enamoured with. ‘Mr Suzuki had 30 years of experience,’ he tells us. ‘I was lucky to be his student.’ It’s interesting to find a Filipino chef so immersed in Japanese food. We ask him if he has a favourite Filipino restaurant in Abu Dhabi where he might take a break from raw fish. ‘Yes!’ he laughs, ‘my wife’s restaurant, which means home!’ He licks his lips, but he’s not revealing the address.

Back on the work surface, we add an unhealthy slathering of mayonnaise, throw on some sliced cucumber and avocado and a couple of crab sticks. Then we start rolling the mat, all the time keeping it tight so that it forms a well-packed cylinder. We keep it compact for a minute or two, then we unravel the mat, whack the ends off with one of Roy’s sharp knives to neaten it all up. It’s only our first time, but we’re impressed.

Time Out digs into the tobiko roll as Roy begins to limber up for his more death-defying work. What’s the most difficult trick you can do with a knife, we ask him? ‘Ha!’ he yells. ‘Trying not to kill anyone!’ Cue an almighty belly laugh. He’ll keep going like this for the rest of the evening.
Benihana, Beach Rotana (02 697 9000)