Hiroyuki Sakai: Biography, Facts and Career

Hiroyuki Sakai (坂井 宏行, Sakai Hiroyuki; born April 2, 1942) is a French-Japanese chef who specializes in French cuisine. Sakai is best known as the second, final, and longest-serving Iron Chef French on the Japanese television show Iron Chef, first appearing at the beginning of 1994 (after Yutaka Ishinabe retired) and continuing to appear over the show's nine further seasons. Sakai has the third best winning percentage of the Iron Chefs, trailing only his Iron Chef French predecessor, Yutaka Ishinabe and the first Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba. He was named the "King of Iron Chefs" after emerging victorious from the show's grand finale, a tournament involving all the active Iron Chefs. He went on to defeat the top chef in the world, Alain Passard, in the final Long-Gang Chicken battle. His record on Iron Chef is 70–15–1. His television trademark is a red French chef's costume; he rises into Kitchen Stadium holding a yonashi ("Western Pear") in his hand. He is often described as the "Delacroix of French cuisine" because of the presentation of his dishes. His formidable record in fish challenges led to fans of the show giving him the nickname, "Seafood Sakai".

Quick facts about Hiroyuki Sakai

• Full name: Hiroyuki Sakai
• Born: 1942-04-02
• Nationality: Japan
• Known as: Chef
• Wikidata ID: Q5771556

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.