Add
Private Notes
The winner of the Mr. Iron Chef 1994 tournament takes on an Iron Chef.
The first challenger of 1995. The challenger heads a restaurant with seating for only 6, but it has hosted entertainers and even Prince and Princess Mikasa. He apprenticed at one of the oldest restaurants in Japan.
Yamada left Tokyo University to train as a chef under honourary Iron Chef Ishinabe. Sakai has his mentor in the audience. Diverse factors influence this beet battle.
The Iron Chef Chinese takes on a man whose culinary career steered him towards Chinese Medicinal Cuisine: food to improve people's health.
Kondo is the 4th woman challenger to take on Sakai. This time the dessert battle is best suited for Valentine's Day.
Acclaimed chef Toshiro Kandagawa sends the only female chef he has ever taught into Kitchen Stadium.
The challenger is the head chef at a restaurant that Iron Chef Michiba himself dines at frequently.
Judges: Tamio Kagayama (Novelist), Mayuko Takata (Actress), Asako Kishi (Culinary Critic)
Today's challenger was once a top student under legendary Japanese chef Chu Shinoshima, but he instead chose to blaze his own trail in the culinary world.
Sakai faces a challenger known as "Mr. Gourmet." Komine is a world-class vegetable chef, who feels right at home with the secret ingredient.
The challenger makes magical noodle dishes. He is one of only 100 chefs to have received recognition as a High Class Technician. He is the youngest to have qualified for that license. He once headed the kitchen at the Chinese State Guesthouse. He is now the head chef for a hotel in Japan.
Judges: Machi Tawara (Poet), Mayuko Takata (Actress), Shinichiro Kurimoto (Fmr Lower House Member)
The challenger is the first pizza expert to enter kitchen stadium. What pizzas can he create from squid?
Shigeo Yuasa is the head chef of the Okayama International Hotel, famously known as "The State Guesthouse of the West," as it is the common roost of the the Royal Family when they visit western Japan. Yuasa uses shocking cooking techniques--using test tubes and litmus paper to get his meals to exacting pH levels--that make him seem less a French chef and more a scientist. Can Sakai prevail in this new age battle?
Two hour special featuring Michiba vs. Shu Chu in Battle Spiny Lobster and Chen vs Ron Waikei in Battle Pork
The Kobe earthquake could not shake this talented female chef, and now she will fight an Iron Chef.
The Iron Chef French faces the head chef of the legendary ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) Taikan-so in Atami, named by the artist who once frequented it.
Former challenger Kandagawa sends Keisuke to do his bidding. Egos, reputations, and the championship are all on the line.
This challenger is the 6th one sent to Kitchen Stadium by Kandagawa.
Kandagawa is angry at Michiba for some comments the Iron Chef made about him. The challenger is the head chef of one of the Kandagawa restaurants. He has watched 6 battles from the royal box in Kitchen Stadium, so he is very familiar with what it takes to win.
Judges: Shinichiro Kurimoto (Politician), Chizuru Azuma (Actress), Asako Kishi (Culinary Critic)
Chairman Kaga welcomes his first Korean challenger, bringing with her a distinctive form of cuisine rarely seen in Japan.
Old versus new French cuisine, Club Mistral versus Club des Trentes--a complicated battle deserves a high end ingredient.
How will the challenger (the king of sauces) deal with broccoli? Doc Hattori says his sauces are amazing. He even says he wishes he could take on all three Iron Chefs at once. Can he defeat one?
Judges: Mayuko Takata (Actress), Toshiki Kaifu (Fmr PM-Japan), Sachiyo Kaifu (Wife), Yasushi Akimoto
Kitchen Stadium has never brought in a diner cook before, but this French-trained chef is no ordinary diner cook.
Dissatisfied with the results of their last encounter, the young guns of Club Mistral send another challenger to face Iron Chef French Sakai, representing the old guard of Club des Trentes.
The challenger is the top apprentice of the Mother of Chinese cooking in Japan.
Judges: Shinichiro Kurimoto (Fmr Lower House Member), Chizuru Azuma (Actress), Asako Kishi (Culinary Critic)
Chairman Kaga is in a very bad mood. His Iron Chefs have lost their last two battles. Worse, the stress of the last loss has left the mighty Iron Chef Japanese Michiba in the hospital. And now, he has to answer a challenger representing the famed Italian restaurateur Don Sabatini. Can Chen avoid the fate of his fellow Iron Chefs and defend the honor of Kitchen Stadium?
The Iron Chef French faces the challenge of a Japanese-born chef who now heads the kitchen of the Pan Pacific Hotel in San Francisco. His California-influenced cuisine combines French artistry with Californian attention to eating healthy.
It takes guts to enter Kitchen Stadium and face an Iron Chef. This chef who trained at the branches of the famous Tankuma restaurant took the bold step of opening his own place on the Tokyo outskirts so as to better serve ordinary customers. He has guts aplenty.
Fook Lam Moon in Hong Kong is said to be the best Chinese restaurant in the world. A man who once headed that world-famous kitchen how heads a kitchen in Tokyo. To best put his Cantonese mastery to the test, against the Iron Chef Chinese, Chairman Kaga unveils the ultimate Chinese ingredient: swallow's nest.
Today's challenger grew tired of the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and retreated into the mountains of Nara Prefecture to pursue his own eccentric ideals of seasonal Italian cuisine. He grows his own produce, catches his own fish, avoids using knives, and is so selective he only entertains one party per day.
Hisama Hirano is a Japanese culinary media dynamo. He appears frequently in magazines, teaches Japanese cuisine and hosts cooking shows on television, and he also introduces new concepts in Japanese street dining. He's also popular with the ladies.
The challenger is a head chef in Kyoto. He has mastered the style of Ikama-school of culinary arts. To separate his restaurant from the other more traditional restaurants in the area, he began creating new dishes with local ingredients. He is among the top young chefs in Kyoto. He faces the returning Iron Chef Japanese, back after two months of recuperation, so Chairman Kaga chooses umeboshi (pickled plums), an ingredient associated with keeping good health.
Judges: Shinichiro Kurimoto (Politician), Mayuko Takata (Actress), Asako Kishi (Critic)
Tag Team Battle! Two Iron Chefs vs 2 Italian Brothers in the battle of the tomato. After growing up in Italy, these brothers started their own restaurant in Tokyo. It is so popular that you must make reservations up to 6 months in advance.
Judges: Yasushi Akimoto (Songwriter), Hideki Saijo (Singer), Asako Kishi (Culinary Critic)
It's tough, very tough for a woman to make her way into the kitchen of a traditional Japanese restaurant. But give the infamous Toshiro Kandagawa credit for recognizing the talent of this tough-as-nails woman from Kochi.
Bruant returns to Kitchen Stadium to give the Chairman an ultimatum - if he wins, he must replace Sakai as Iron Chef French.
The challenger is the head chef at a members only Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles. He watches the Iron Chef episodes that air on TV in California. (Pre-Food Network IC days.) He was born in Los Angeles, but he went to Japan to live with his grandparents when he was 6 months old. He was part of a comedy duo in his teens, but he had to give that up. And while he is an American, he wishes he could be a chef in Japan. The theme ingredients cost about $4,000.
Judges: Junichi Ishida (Actor), Mayuko Takata (Actress), Asako Kishi (Critic)
Chairman Kaga desires to have more experience with the cuisine of France's southern Provence region. He learns of a man from Provence who now serves authentic Provencal cuisine to Japanese diners near Lake Biwa. He invites the man to Kitchen Stadium and presents him with crayfish as the theme: an ingredient well-suited to his style of cooking.
Tsuguo Fujiwara is Managing Director of the Chinese Chefs' Association of Japan: the largest association of Chinese chefs in the country. Iron Chef Chinese Chen is placed in an uncomfortable position. As a lower member of the Association, he finds himself feeling like the challenger for once as he has to face his senior.
Today's challenger is the third generation of a line of chefs going back to a chef once tapped by legendary culinary scholar Rosanjin. This battle marks two years since the first Iron Chef battle and is the first battle to feature four judges instead of three. The theme ingredient--rice--goes back to the roots of Japanese cuisine and culture, as taught by Rosanjin.
The challenger is one of the best in Japan at Fujian-style cooking. He opened the first Fujian-style restaurant in Japan. He is also a sixth-degree black belt in karate.
Judges: Nagisa Ohshima (Director), Yoshiko Ishii (Singer), Mayuko Takata (Actress), Asako Kishi (Critic)
Overtime Battle to Potato Battle
After 60 minutes of battle, the scores are tied at 71, bringing forth the first ever overtime battle in Kitchen Stadium.
Judges: Nagisa Ohshima (Director), Yoshiko Ishii (Singer), Mayuko Takata (Actress), Asako Kishi (Critic)
Today's challenger is said to be the top Italian pasta chef in Japan, once trained under the legendary King of Pasta, Angelo Paracucchi, and now head chef of the Tokyo branch of the trendsetting El Toula.
A unique challenger who began his life as a sumo wrestler but then pivoted to cooking after injury cut short his sumo career.
100th challenger special
Bruno Ménard heads the Tokyo branch of the famed nightspot Tatou. Known as the Golden Boy for his time in Le Golden and for winning the Golden Key award for most creative chef in 1995, he is a trendsetter praised for his creativity and innovation.
A Shanghai cuisine specialist, Sozo Miyamoto rose to prominence at the same time as Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi, and after tying for silver at the Chinese Cooking World Championships several years ago, they're now considered strong rivals. Chairman Kaga invites Miyamoto to settle the score in Kitchen Stadium with live carp, a mainstay of traditional Chinese cuisine, as the theme.
Disappointed in the quality of the Japanese cuisine challengers this year (none of which have won to date), Chairman Kaga decides to call in a chef he'd been saving: Vice President of the Japan Chefs' Association and head chef of Nakanoboh-Zuien, a top-class ryokan in Arima Hot Springs.
For Kitchen Stadium's 1995 Christmas Battle, Chairman Kaga brings in a highly-prestigious chef from Paris: then-youngest-ever recipient of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France, the highest award the country bestows people of varying trades including cooking; a respected student of Joel Robuchon; and now owner of a two-Michelin-star restaurant.
1995 Mr. Iron Chef tournament round 1
