As part of our Culinary Cities of the World featuring Cities of Japan series, The Chefs’ House is delighted to welcome Chef Hiroko Shimbo for a curated dinner.

**The dinner will feature a fully-customised special menu by Chef Hiroko. Modifications or substitutions will unfortunately not be possible**

Hiroko Shimbo is widely recognized as an expert and authority on Japanese cuisine. She is currently the Japanese Concentration Course instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, a consulting chef to the restaurant and food service industries and an award-winning cookbook author based in the United States since 1999. Her company is Hiroko’s Kitchen, LLC.

She continues to author books and articles about her native cuisine. Her writings have frequently been published in Saveur and Bon Appetit magazines, and she has often appeared on radio, television and in social media. She has been an invited participant at conferences, including at CIA in Greystone California and culinary events in the United States, Canada and in South America at the Bogota Food & Wine Festival. She is a member of Les Dames d‘Escoffier.

For eight years Ms. Shimbo taught an intensive, hands-on, basic Japanese cooking course, Essentials of Japanese Cuisine, and other specialty courses at the International Culinary Center (ICC) in New York City until the school’s closure in 2020. Prior to that, for seven years she was an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) also in New York. For six years she served as an instructor of Japanese cuisine at government-sponsored and private vocational and avocational cooking schools in Spain. In addition to ICC and ICE in New York City, she has been an instructor at 14 cooking schools across the United States.

Her restaurant and food service consulting projects included PF Chang’s China Bistro, Iconic (temaki restaurant, New York City), Moc Moc (Japanese restaurant, New York), Zojirushi America (cooking equipment manufacturer), AVI Foodsystems (a food service company), Umass Dining (university food service) and New York Mutual Trading Company (importer of Japanese food and related products).

Ms. Shimbo’s award-winning books include: 

The Japanese Kitchen (Harvard Common Press) - IACP Finalist, Food & Wine magazine Best of The Best, and Cooking Light magazine Top 100 Cookbook of the Last 25 Years. This book is considered the standard work on Japanese cooking for a Western audience. The book is the largest selling Japanese cookbook in the American market. The work has been translated and published in Spain.

The Sushi Experience (Knopf) - James Beard Foundation Finalist. The book explores the history and culture of sushi and thoroughly details its preparation. It is recognized as a standard by professionals and avocational cooks as well. The book was edited by Judith Jones, the “discoverer” of Julia Childs

Hiroko's American Kitchen: Cooking with Japanese Flavors (Andrews McMeel). The book won the IACP Cookbook Award as The Best American Cookbook of the Year. It provides an entirely new perspective on American cooking. Rather than teaching how to prepare classical Japanese cuisine, it focuses instead on integrating Japanese flavors, cooking techniques and staples into the North American table. 

Japanese Cuisine: Past, Present, and Future – History, Philosophy, Guidelines and Preparations (work in progress). A comprehensive guide to Japanese cuisine with in-depth treatment of the origins and fundamentals of the cuisine that define its place, characteristics and uniqueness in the world’s culinary traditions and culture.

Once each year Ms. Shimbo operates a Culture & Culinary tour to Japan. In 2023 she will reprise her tour to Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan. Kyushu is one of the most important food and food history regions of Japan. The tour explores the best of the best Kyushu.

The evening will comprise dinner curated by Hiroko Shimbo and prepared by The Chefs’ House culinary students and staff, complete with beverages.

Dinner Menu (Items may change to accommodate student learning outcomes)

Sakiuke - Asparagus Tofu, Uni Sea Urchin

Wanmono Soup - Lobster Shinjo, Shiitake Mushroom

Yakimono Hassun - Fogo Island Cod Yuan-yaki, Japanese Corn Cream Croquette

Chirashizushi - Eel, Lotus Root, Nori

Okashi - Okinawa Doughnut