The city of São Paulo will host the newest branch of Nobu, owned by the famous Japanese chef Nobu Matsushita, who currently lives in the United States. It will be the first Nobu in South America.

Matsushita's career blew up in 1993, when he opened his first restaurant in New York, with three partners: actor Robert De Niro, restauranter Drew Nieporent and movie producer Meir Teper. It was an instant hit, which echoed the reputation he already touted in Los Angeles.

The new branch will open in mid-November, at the corner of Rua Haddock Lobo and Oscar Freire, in Jardins, a neighborhood with one of the most expensive square feet in São Paulo.
 

Matsushita partnered with a group of investors led by real estate developer Ester Endo. She has also invested in a new Nobu hotel in the city, which will take a few years to be built -- it will also have a second Nobu restaurant.

The new Jardins Nobu will feature a lounge and a bar in the ground floor, and in the second floor, a sushi bar and the main hall.

With the São Paulo branch, Matsushita, 69, will count 40 restaurants, across five continents, bearing his name. His career started in Tokyo, where he worked for seven years until he was invited to open a restaurant in Lima, Peru when he was 24. There he started to mix his Japanese cuisine with local ingredients.

^{Translated by NATASHA MADOV}

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