Overall ranking: 32 (83)
Chef ranking: 6 (14)
Mark Edwards - Snapshot
Mark Edwards is executive chef of the Michelin-starred Nobu London, the first restaurant to be opened outside the USA by the celebrated Japanese chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, and its younger sister Nobu Berkeley Street which also holds a Michelin star.
Edwards additionally has overall responsibility for Ubon by Nobu in London’s Canary Wharf and has played a key role in setting up the kitchens and training staff at all new Nobus that have opened since 1997.
Mark Edwards - Career guide
Edwards, who was born in 1965, started his career at the age of 13 with a part-time job at a small seafood restaurant in Kent. After gaining a catering diploma in 1980, he worked at London’s Café Royal before heading to Europe in 1982 to gain experience at Le Richmond hotel in Geneva and the George V hotel in Paris.
From 1987 Edwards worked at top Manhattan restaurants in the USA, where he developed his passion for Asian cuisine. He developed these skills at the Mandarin Orchard hotel in Singapore and the Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong from 1992 before returning to the UK as senior sous chef of Vong, the former Thai/French restaurant in London’s Berkeley hotel.
Teaming up with Matsuhisa, Edwards trained in California before opening Nobu London as a concession in the Metropolitan hotel on London’s Park Lane in February 1997. Ubon by Nobu opened in November 2000, followed by Nobu Berkeley Street in August 2005.
Mark Edwards - What we think
Nobu is regarded as one of the world’s most fashionable restaurant brands and Edwards’s interpretation of Matsuhisa’s modern Japanese fusion cuisine secured a Michelin star for Nobu London (in 1998) and Nobu Berkeley (in 2006) along with three AA rosettes for Ubon by Nobu. Nobu was voted London’s top restaurant for three years by Zagat readers before being knocked into second place by Wagamama in the 2006 edition.
Edwards’s cuisine is more than mere mimicry of his mentor’s style. Nobus are adapted to local tastes and their head chefs have considerable freedom to create their own tasting menus. “Nobu and I have a very open and trusting relationship, and similar ideas and tastes,” Edwards told Caterer in 2001. “He trusts me to make my own developments, but we have regular tastings and discussions about how we can evolve dishes. It’s not his kitchen or my kitchen, it is our kitchen.”
As Matsuhisa’s culinary right hand man, Edwards’s influence stretches far beyond the UK capital. He has been responsible for overseeing the start-up and overall standards of all Nobus opened since 1997.
Nobu London was Matsuhisa’s third restaurant in the current portfolio and followed the creation of an eponymous restaurant in Los Angeles in 1987 and the first Nobu, in New York, in 1994 in partnership with actor Robert de Niro and restaurateur Drew Neiporent. There are currently 16 restaurants in the Nobu empire.
After opening Nobu Berkeley in 2005, along with Nobu Fifty Seven in New York and Nobu Crescent Court in Dallas, Edwards has had a bit of a breather in 2006 with just the new Hong Kong branch coming on stream in October – although he has co-authored the latest Nobu cookbook, Nobu West, which was published in October.
The pace is set to accelerate from 2007, when venues open in Melbourne, Australia (in April) and in Hawaii. The pipeline for the next two to three years take in San Diego, Cape Town, Dubai, Moscow, Gohar and, possibly, Spain.
Edwards has also worked with British Airways to adapt the Nobu menu for its first class and Club passengers on flights to Japan.
Mark Edwards – Further information
Nobu at the Metropolitan
Nobu official website
Nobu Matsushita official website
Nobu profile on Wikipedia
Nobu recipe books on Amazon
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