Morimoto's Sushi Master

From RokuTV and the great Iron Chef Morimoto comes a new, sushi specific cooking competition. A sucker for food related shows, and with a huge love for Morimoto himself I quickly started this series soon after I saw it advertised. All in all, I was fairly impressed. A big fan of sushi myself, the food alone kept me interested, but I definitely stayed for Morimoto's charm. Not in the series near as much as I would have liked / hoped, whenever Morimoto is around its a blast. He's so charming and goofy, while remaining so critical and brutally honest. Its clear how skilled a master at his craft he is and its quite refreshing hearing his insights to the contestants, as well has how much he just wants to see them succeed. He's joined by two guest judges, Kenji Lopez-Alt and Dakota Weiss, both of who I liked, and hosted by Lyrica Okano, who is no Alton Brown but suits fine. Again I really just wanted 10x as much Morimoto himself than what we got. The show progresses as a fairly typical food competition show, there's some secret ingredients, rewards that let you manipulate other players, and of course the standard once per episode elimination until there's crowned a sushi master. The contestants themselves are also quite good, there's even a villain + redemption arc, which I always love in my reality tv. And to update after season 2, we have now replaced the previous judges with a new judge Phillip Frankland Lee, who was fine but not near the charmer as Kenji-Lopez Alt (who is). And again unfortunately I felt we still got not near enough of Morimoto himself as I would have liked. Often his critiques would be either simple one to two sentences, and any of the in-depth analysis would go to Lee, who frankly may be a great chef but I don't really care his thoughts, I'm watching to hear what Morimoto thinks. At one point Morimoto even mentions his struggles elaborating his thoughts in English, but I'm not sure why the show seems to not let him give his critiques in Japanese and just translate after the fact, it would have made those portions much more enjoyable. Again Okano did a good job hosting, and I must say her and Morimoto's outfits were always fire. All-in-all if you're looking for a food show and love sushi, would recommend.

The original Japanese production Iron Chef was much more enjoyable than this. I remember visiting Morimoto's restaurant in NYC way back in the day. The only time I tried real Wasabi.

Not a fan of blue hair and tattoos, it's distracting. Reminds me of bright colors in reptiles as a warning to stay away. 😆

This had way too much editing. Also the original Iron Chef Japanese didn't discuss how the chefs identified themselves as (who cares? It's about their abilities). Just like Iron Chef America this falls short of the original concept.

Also, Morimoto was very serious in the Japanese production and now he did a complete 180 in this show.

While I am not a sushi eater I found the show very interesting. Morimoto is the king of this food. It is also expected that the judges used were I am sure hand picked by the master himself. I must say you do have to be impressed with the various knife skills and experience from all the chefs, if you know nothing about this type of food this will open up your eyes to what is out there for you to try. I believe there should be more seasons of this since I have personally watched this series 3 times. Great show if not this then something like it. This show for me was eye opening since my experience with this type of food has not been a priority I am glad to have watched this show!

Definitely an entertaining and mostly enjoyable show to watch especially if you love sushi and Japanese cuisine. But it should have been called the United States sushi Master because every single chef is only from the US. They should have chefs from around the world or at the very least a couple different countries as well as the United States. Also I don't understand why they need to keep adding LGBTQ people to the shows mostly they just whine about their problems and are dramatic and emotional and constantly have to talk about their struggle and then the next sentence is yeah and then I toured with a princess around the world.. Umm ya you're so hard done by lol. I think it would be hilarious if a hetero person went on there and started talking about all the struggles they have dating the opposite sex and the opposition they face constantly in daily life.. No.. One.. Cares! The show is about cooking not your personal BS. Dei outa here.

The intolerable Kenji Lopez-Alt soured this otherwise great and ambitious sushi focused cooking competition show.

Between Kenji, the clueless host, and Dakota Weiss whom fronts two bland looking poke joints, you're left desiring individuals with more clout in the world of sushi. Chef Morimoto, while entertaining, doesn't have the charisma or vocabulary to carry the show.

Adding to the disappointment, a great deal of senseless fusion is brought into the mix along with some challenges bizarrely omitting sushi altogether as early as episode 2. Sushi is versatile enough to feature a wealth of different dishes and challenges while staying true to the definition of sushi.

The good news is that if you, as a sushi lover, are looking for inspiring dishes with creative presentations then you have found a solid show. Just be prepared to tune out some gripes.

Overall a bit of a letdown..