Having studied French culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu, Chef Keith worked at a steakhouse which started his love for fire and food. Soon after, Chef Keith met Gino-san as a guest at a Yakitori restaurant and learned about the beauty of Yakitori. Under Gino-san’s mentorship, he learned the authentic methods of knife work and charcoal grilling, resulting in Chef Keith joining the Roku Nana team in 2019.

His attention to detail doesn’t start at the grill, Chef Keith is also very precise with the preparation of chicken parts. Carefully dissected into skewers and seasoned with just salt and Saké, the nuances of the taste comes from the difference in fresh chicken parts and controlling the flame. Chef Keith’s fascination with Yakitori comes from the amount of effort behind the appearance of simplicity. For example, a simple chicken leg can be prepared into 7 different types of skewers, and even the charcoal used is very specific, sourcing 3 different kinds of charcoal to achieve the best effect.

With experience in Western cuisine and now Japanese cuisine, Chef Keith is keenly aware of the different and important differences between how they use charcoal and flame. In Western cuisine, they aim for bigger flames and dark chars, while Japanese Yakitori is about controlling the flame and getting specific levels of charring. This is achieved by carefully creating controlled chaos by arranging the different types of charcoal in specific placements to control the air flow. This calmness in fire mirrors Chef Keith’s own personality, a fire within but consistent and controlled actions.