Roy Yamaguchi

Roy Yamaguchi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, but attributes his appreciation for food to his grandparents and his Hawai‘i-born father and his Okinawa-born mother. After culinary school and opening his first restaurant in Los Angeles, Yamaguchi moved to Honolulu. He is now known as the innovator of internationally influenced and Hawai‘i-inspired cuisine – an eclectic blend of Californian, French and Japanese cooking traditions created with fresh ingredients from the islands. He is the founder of a collection of restaurants that include Eating House 1849, Humble Market Kitchin, GOEN Dining + Bar, Beach House by Roy Yamaguchi, and Roy’s Worldwide.

He is the first from Hawai‘i to receive the prestigious James Beard “Best Pacific Northwest Chef” Award in 1993 and has earned numerous top honors throughout the years.

Yamaguchi has hosted six seasons of the PBS series Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi and was also featured on the Food Network’s My Country, My Kitchen. He competed on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters and Iron Chef. An entrepreneur at heart, he launched a cookware line that sold on the Home Shopping Network and published four cookbooks: Pacific Bounty, Roy’s Feasts from Hawaii, Hawaii Cooks: Flavors from Roy’s Pacific Rim Kitchen and Roy’s Fish and Seafood.

He is a co-founder and chair of the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, along with chef Alan Wong and Denise Yamaguchi which has contributed more than $3 million to community organizations that support sustainability, culinary programs and agriculture, with missions of attracting national and international attention to the culinary talent in Hawai‘i.