Koumei Nakamura (中村 孝明, Nakamura Kōmei, born November 24, 1947[1] in Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan), is a celebrity chef. Most famous for being the second Japanese Iron Chef on the show Iron Chef, he has worked at numerous restaurants such as the Oriental Hotel in Osaka, Nadaman in the Hotel New Otani, and the NadamanSingapore in the Shangri La Hotel. He later became the manager of Nadaman in the Hotel New Otani. He now has his own restaurant in Ariake, Tokyo. On Iron Chef he wore a purple outfit trimmed with gold in the Japanese style.
In the fall of 1995, Nakamura's predecessor, Rokusaburo Michiba, had fought in the first overtime battle in Kitchen Stadium, a grueling process that led to his retirement at the 1996 Mr. Iron Chef tournament. Michiba's last battle was against fellow Iron Chef Chen Kenichi, and for two months, Kitchen Stadium had only two Iron Chefs while Michiba was tasked to find a successor. During this time, Michiba had repeatedly requested Nakamura to be his successor, but Nakamura repeatedly declined due to two main factors: the first was that, at that time, Michiba's fusion-style Japanese dishes had promoted the stigma among the traditionalist chefs' circle that Iron Chef was to be avoided; the second was that, in contrast to Chen or Hiroyuki Sakai, who owned their own restaurants, Nakamura was a hired chef, and thus had more riding on the line with each battle. Nakamura was ultimately convinced by an old high-school friend who he refers to as his older brother to become an Iron Chef after taking note of the fact that the Iron Chef Japanese was a one-of-a-kind position.
Nakamura is, in stark contrast to Michiba before him and Masaharu Morimoto after, considered to be more of a traditional Japanese chef that was forced to improvise due to unusual-for-traditional-Japanese-cuisine secret ingredients that tended to favor the challenger. He also appeared to be the most concerned about winning and losing - a fact that may have led him to his 24-11-1 record with one no-contest. Not surprisingly, his decisions on the dishes he made were often influenced by his bosses at Nadaman, perhaps to maintain a good corporate image although the restaurant itself ceased to care about Nakamura's performance as an Iron Chef after a year.
During his tenure as an Iron Chef, Nakamura was always compared to Michiba, who was regarded as the top Iron Chef during his tenure. It was said that Nakamura was even ostracised by his family whenever he lost, which was why Nakamura had acquired a pet Shiba dog named "Chef" one year into his tenure. Curiously, despite a sub-par overall performance as an Iron Chef, Nakamura has won the majority of battles against returning challengers going 3-1-1 and other Iron Chefs going 2–1. After a grueling battle with Toshiro Kandagawa (that Nakamura lost), Nakamura retired from Kitchen Stadium in 1998 at the age of 50. His final battle was against Yukio Hattori in Tuna Battle on February 20, 1998, a battle that he won. He did return for Iron Chef Morimoto's one year anniversary, which was Battle Egg on March 12, 1999, a battle that he won.
koumei, nakamura, this, biography, living, person, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, adding, reliable, sources, contentious, material, about, living, persons, that, unsourced, poorly, sourced, must, removed, immediately, from, article, . This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page especially if potentially libelous Find sources Koumei Nakamura news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message Koumei Nakamura 中村 孝明 Nakamura Kōmei born November 24 1947 1 in Shimabara Nagasaki Japan is a celebrity chef Most famous for being the second Japanese Iron Chef on the show Iron Chef he has worked at numerous restaurants such as the Oriental Hotel in Osaka Nadaman in the Hotel New Otani and the Nadaman Singapore in the Shangri La Hotel He later became the manager of Nadaman in the Hotel New Otani He now has his own restaurant in Ariake Tokyo On Iron Chef he wore a purple outfit trimmed with gold in the Japanese style Koumei NakamuraBorn 1947 11 24 November 24 1947 age 76 Shimabara Nagasaki JapanCulinary careerCooking styleJapaneseCurrent restaurant s Ariake Little Koumei Yokohama Takamatsu NagoyaTelevision show s Iron ChefIron Chef Nakamura editIn the fall of 1995 Nakamura s predecessor Rokusaburo Michiba had fought in the first overtime battle in Kitchen Stadium a grueling process that led to his retirement at the 1996 Mr Iron Chef tournament Michiba s last battle was against fellow Iron Chef Chen Kenichi and for two months Kitchen Stadium had only two Iron Chefs while Michiba was tasked to find a successor During this time Michiba had repeatedly requested Nakamura to be his successor but Nakamura repeatedly declined due to two main factors the first was that at that time Michiba s fusion style Japanese dishes had promoted the stigma among the traditionalist chefs circle that Iron Chef was to be avoided the second was that in contrast to Chen or Hiroyuki Sakai who owned their own restaurants Nakamura was a hired chef and thus had more riding on the line with each battle Nakamura was ultimately convinced by an old high school friend who he refers to as his older brother to become an Iron Chef after taking note of the fact that the Iron Chef Japanese was a one of a kind position Nakamura is in stark contrast to Michiba before him and Masaharu Morimoto after considered to be more of a traditional Japanese chef that was forced to improvise due to unusual for traditional Japanese cuisine secret ingredients that tended to favor the challenger He also appeared to be the most concerned about winning and losing a fact that may have led him to his 24 11 1 record with one no contest Not surprisingly his decisions on the dishes he made were often influenced by his bosses at Nadaman perhaps to maintain a good corporate image although the restaurant itself ceased to care about Nakamura s performance as an Iron Chef after a year During his tenure as an Iron Chef Nakamura was always compared to Michiba who was regarded as the top Iron Chef during his tenure It was said that Nakamura was even ostracised by his family whenever he lost which was why Nakamura had acquired a pet Shiba dog named Chef one year into his tenure Curiously despite a sub par overall performance as an Iron Chef Nakamura has won the majority of battles against returning challengers going 3 1 1 and other Iron Chefs going 2 1 After a grueling battle with Toshiro Kandagawa that Nakamura lost Nakamura retired from Kitchen Stadium in 1998 at the age of 50 His final battle was against Yukio Hattori in Tuna Battle on February 20 1998 a battle that he won He did return for Iron Chef Morimoto s one year anniversary which was Battle Egg on March 12 1999 a battle that he won References edit http www koumei nakamura net profile index html dead link External links editKoumei Nakamura Restaurants official web site Archived 2010 05 05 at the Wayback MachinePreceded byRokusaburo Michiba Iron Chef JapaneseMarch 1 1996 February 20 1998 Succeeded byMasaharu Morimoto Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Koumei Nakamura amp oldid 1189871180, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
