I love my tools, especially knives. When I was a chef, I used to use many different knives according to the ingredient. Cleaning fish, for instance, there were 270mm Deba just for taking head of large fish off, 210mm for filleting large fish, 150mm for filleting small fish and 120mm for filleting tiny fish or Eels. There were also 360mm Tuna knife for working on Tuna, 330mm specially ordered thick Yanagi for skinning fish and some sashimi knives, off course.

Then, there were Usuba and Nakiri for Vegetables and 5 or more for other bits of pieces.

People might think that I am crazy but I couldn’t work cleaner or faster without them. My very first work was a fish filleter at market and each staff used to go through several hundred kg of fish so slow work meant skipping lunch. Then later, I became a sushi chef and I worked at fine dining sushi bars.

One of them was a really high profile place where customers sit right in front and watch your work so knives need to be decent, not alone sharp as they are paying ridiculous amount of money. Once, my colleague made thin stripped sashimi calamari with blunt tip and served to yakuza ( Japanese mafia ) boss. This yakuza boss was the most scary looking man in the world with 2 bodyguards standing at the entrance of restaurant. He picked up the slice of sashimi at one end with his chop sticks but off course the rest of slices were all connected and dangling in mid air…. Luckily, he took it funny and just joked that we don’t need our little fingers anymore ( Yakuza men have to chop little finger off when they cause troubles to the group or being disrespectful. ).

Last week, I had to pin bone some fish but I couldn’t find my favourite tweezer for some reason. I ended up using 2 other tweezers but it took very long time and the result was just miserable.

If you are a fussy chef and use knives for work or perfectionist home cook looking for a new special knife, by using the right knife for the right job will give you much cleaner and faster result and you won’t be stressed anymore.

I hope the knife you found through SAITO KNIVES one day become your magic knife!