'I want to show food as art'

Inspiration can come any time, anywhere.

For US film-maker David Gelb, it hit him while enjoying an omakase tasting menu at the three Michelin-starred sushi eatery Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo about seven years ago.

And the hit 2011 documentary feature film Jiro Dreams Of Sushi was born.

Gelb originally wanted to make a documentary on sushi chefs around the world, but when he met Sukiyabashi Jiro's ageing owner Jiro Ono and learnt about his quest to perfect the art of sushi-making, he decided to focus on Mr Ono.

SKILFUL: Sushi master Jiro Ono and his team. His restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro was featured in hit documentary Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.

Gelb, 32, who recently revisited the restaurant during a trip to Tokyo, told The New Paper in a phone interview from Los Angeles he was happy to know that Mr Ono, 90, is "still doing very well".

Meeting Mr Ono and seeing how each piece of sushi was painstakingly made changed Gelb's approach to sushi. He is now more picky in the Japanese restaurants he patronises.

Due to the film's international success, Gelb was also able to go on and produce Chef's Table, a six-episode documentary TV series that follows a similar format.

Each episode features a renowned chef's motivations, challenges, successes and failures, and focuses on "the people behind the restaurants".

The first two seasons are streaming on digital network Netflix, which has already picked up two more seasons.

Chef Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn in San Francisco was featured in Season 2 of Chef's Table. 

These are the chefs featured in the second season: Alex Atala (D. O. M. in Sao Paulo, Brazil), Ana Ros (Hisa Franko in Kobarid, Slovenia), Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, US), Enrique Olvera (Pujol in Mexico City, Mexico), Gaggan Anand (Gaggan in Bangkok, Thailand) and Grant Achatz (Alinea, Next, and The Aviary in Chicago, US).

Choosing subjects was not hard as "there are so many celebrated chefs around the world", but getting them to commit to 10 days of filming was a challenge.

Gelb said: "Many of them were very apprehensive, but thankfully, because of Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, they know what we want to achieve, so it helped open doors."

He added: "Like in Jiro (Dreams Of Sushi), I wanted to show food as an art. Many people think sushi is just fish and rice. There's more to that. Same for the other chefs' food.

"I wanted to treat food and chefs with dignity. So I made sure that the way it is shot is also artistic."

BOOST

The overwhelming reception of Jiro Dreams Of Sushi has boosted Sukiyabashi Jiro's profile.

The restaurants featured in Chef's Table enjoyed the same effect. Gelb said Japanese chef Niki Nakayama of n/naka in Los Angeles had to change her reservation system after she was featured in the first season.

"She used to take reservations on her own mobile phone but after her episode was aired, she couldn't handle it that way any more because of the number of phone calls," he said.

Indian chef Gaggan Anand (L) preparing a meal in his progressive Indian restaurant Gaggan in Bangkok.

Indian chef Gaggan Anand from Season 2 told him his progressive Indian restaurant Gaggan in Bangkok saw "an increase of 5,000-plus followers on its Facebook page, and it received 400 calls about reservations after his restaurant was featured".

Gelb, a foodie who loves Asian food, hopes to explore Japanese cuisine in future episodes.

"I also love Chinese food, especially xiao long bao, so I would like to visit China and feature some of the chefs there too."

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"I wanted to treat food and chefs with dignity. So I made sure that the way it is shot is also artistic."

- Film-maker David Gelb