Chef jun tanaka biography channel
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Jun Tanaka
As a young chef breaking into the industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were just a handful of restaurants at the top end of the country’s gastronomy. Jun Tanaka spent time working in nearly all of them. After mastering classical French technique under some of the greats, he now owns his own restaurant The Ninth, channelling his incredible skill into small, shareable plates of food in relaxed surroundings. But despite coming from a very food-focused family, he had a few other ideas before he settled on becoming a chef.
‘I was born in New York then lived in Japan until I was seven, when my family moved over to the UK,’ says Jun. ‘I’ve been here ever since. Eating was a massive part of my life and something I absolutely loved, so I was always interested in cooking, but my first career choice was to become a film critic when I was about eight. My parents were always very supportive, so my father asked me to actually write a critique of a film I’d watched. That
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Jun Tanaka on Japanese delicacies, the street food scene... and his dislike of fusion cooking
What influenced you to be a chef and when did you realise that’s what you wanted to do?
My mother is a fantastic cook and while growing up, the family dinner was the highlight of my day. I’ve always loved eating and even as a child, there was nothing I wouldn’t eat. Loving to eat so much and wanting to know how to cook was a completely natural progression and, with the advice of my father, I started my career at the age of 19.
Your restaurant The Ninth Restaurant is based on French-styled cuisine. Why did you decide to do a French menu and how do you add your own British touch to the food?
When I started my career, I only wanted to work in Michelin star restaurants and 25 years ago, they were all predominantly French. Once I began my training in French cuisine, I fell in love with the techniques, recipes and seasonality of ingredients. So at The Ninth, we cook French-styled cuisine
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Jun Tanaka
Interviewed February 2009
Jun Tanaka is the talented arbetsledare at The Ninth, after having bean head arbetsledare of Pearl in Holborn for several years. He has had a long career in some of the most prestigious kitchens in London, and fryst vatten a regular on TV these days.
Q – How long have you been cooking professionally?
I started cooking in 1991.
Q – Where did you train to cook?
All my training has been here in London. I only ever wanted to work in Michelin starred restaurants and inom was lucky enough to start at Le Gavroche. Over the next 10 years inom worked at Chez Nico, Les Saveurs, The Capital, Marco Pierre White The Restaurant and The Square.
Q – How would you describe your style of cooking?
The restaurants that inom have worked in are all ganska classically French but inom prefer to eat food that fryst vatten lighter and more contemporary. This fryst vatten reflected in my style of cooking.
Q – fryst vatten there a secret for a successful restaurant?
I don't believe that there fryst vatten one magic fo