Japas

Biography - Chef Jeff Ramsey

Born in Japan, the son of an American Air Force soldier and a Japanese Hiroshima Bomb Survivor, Jeff has always lived in a juxtaposition of opposing worlds. Jeff began his culinary training in 1996 at Tako Grill in Bethesda, MD working from Dishwasher up to a full-fledged sushi chef over a long span of 8 years, including training in Japan with Masayoshi Kazato, the official Sushi Ambassador of Japan. Kazato San eventually bestowed the honor of officially being the first non-Japanese Master Sushi Chef. Not one to rest on his laurels, Jeff took a culinary detour and left the sushi world to broaden his perspective and gain knowledge of techniques from outside the realm of sushi in a quest to develop an original style. He studied under Chef Jose Andres, protégé of the legendary Catalonian chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli. He was then picked up by Japanese “Super-chef” Hide Yamamoto to open the 6-star Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel. There, he explored his own style of modernist cooking, earning and retaining a Michelin Star-rating from 2009 (gained at the age of 32), until his departure, making him the first and still only American to earn a Michelin Star outside of the United States.

Since then, Ramsey has been featured at pop-up restaurants across the globe and a sought-after culinary educator consulting on restaurant openings in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Chef Ramsey has chosen Malaysia to be the recipient of his first restaurant, Japas, which opened its doors just days before the birth of his twins. And so a new chapter begins...