– I’m getting old. I want more people to have the opportunity to see what I’m doing. 40-year-old Roger Asakil Joya says “old” with a smile. But he has long thought that his Michelin-starred restaurant Sabi Omakase needs an extension. So in April last year, in the middle of the pandemic, Joya opened the restaurant Sabi Enso. – We’ve had busy days. A lot of people are starting to come, he says. Norwegian restaurants with Michelin stars Photo: Linares Nikolai / NTB scanpix 1 star: Sabi Omakase, Stavanger Under, Lindesnes Bare, Bergen Statholdergaarden, Oslo Kontrast, Oslo Speilsalen, Trondheim Fagn, Trondheim Credo, Trondheim 2 stars: 3 stars: Source: Michelin The guide is now being whispered quite loudly that this restaurant too could end up with a star in the Michelin guide. The award ceremony will take place on Monday night in Stavanger Concert Hall. – Michelin is a recognition of what we do. It will be an honor to receive a star for Sabi Enso, says Joya. Restaurant reviewer Harald Birkevold in Stavanger Aftenblad believes Sabi Enso is a solid candidate for star. – Roger Joya has already shown that he is able to create a concept that gets a star. Sabi Enso is a slightly different concept, but based on the same philosophy. So I do not rule out anything, he says. Harald Birkevold is a restaurant reviewer in Stavanger Aftenblad. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news Found vacant room in the middle of the night Filipino Roger Asakil Joya grew up on a rice plantation outside Manila. His father was a sailor and ended up in Norway. As a 17-year-old, Joya went to Norway for family reunification. – I started working at a sushi restaurant and supported myself as an 18-year-old. I realized that sushi is the future for me, not university studies. Roger Asakil Joya Photo: Mathias Oppedal / news Born: 31.10.1981 in Tanza, Cavite in the Philippines. Came to Oslo when he was 17 years old. Cage in Sandnes with his wife Ana Joya and three kids. Has a sushi education from Japan and has distinguished himself as one of the best non-Japanese chefs in various Japanese sushi championships. Start Sabi Sushi in 2011 together with Njål Solland and Arild Ask Bringeland. The same group will start the gourmet sushi bar Sabi Omakase in 2015. October 2016: White Guide ranks Sabi Omakase as number 26 on the list of the best restaurants in the Nordic region. Only Re-Naa and Maaemo get higher scores from the Norwegian restaurants. February 2017: Sabi Omakase gets his place in Guide Michelin. April 2021: Joya opens Sabi Enso in Stavanger. Joya was discovered by the chef at the renowned restaurant Alex Sushi. After several years there, he began to feel the urge to run his own place. The motivation was to make sushi with Norwegian ingredients. But where? – I looked for premises throughout Norway. Then I found Pedersgata 38 in Stavanger on Finn, at 01 at night. Joya got a lease and moved. In 2011, he started Sabi Sushi, which eventually became a chain. The gourmet restaurant Sabi Omakase opened four years later. – The pandemic was brutal Joya has lost many skilled employees during the corona. Now he spends a lot of time building a new team at the new restaurant. – Someone has grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth and can take over the family company. Others need to build something from scratch. I had to, says Roger Joya. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news – The pandemic was brutal. We are not done with this crisis. But after all, I do what I love. It’s both business and passion. Joya is not that fond of talk. – I do things and see the results of what I do. He has been in Norway more than half his life. And here he stays. – When I wake up and hear my children speak the Sandnes dialect, I realize that I am really stuck here in Rogaland, he says and laughs.
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Roger Asakil Joya can get his second restaurant with Michelin star – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
