Nobu Beijing's executive chief Oyvind Naesheim has granddesigns for the capital's food scene, B.W. Liou discovers.

For a blueprint of Nobu Beijing, which will hold its grand opening next month, and its executive chef Oyvind Naesheim, look no further than that concoction of oil, garlic, spices and dried shrimp known as XO sauce.

Soon after opening Nobu Hong Kong in 2006, Naesheim began the arduous process of making the establishment distinct from founder Nobu Matsuhisa's international chain of high-end Japanese restaurants. Executive chefs at each of Nobu's 23 restaurants create about 20 percent of the dishes on their menus.

A bar owner and friend in Hong Kong introduced Naesheim to the spicy, pungent topping. Within the hour, he'd wolfed down a jar of the sauce in a flurry of toast and beer. Naesheim had found his breakthrough.

"I thought, 'Wow. This is good, but how can I use this for Nobu?'" Naesheim told METRO.

The answer came in stripping the greasy sauce of its oil and replacing it with chopped tomato to create the most unique salsa this side of Mexico and the perfect compliment to white fish sashimi. It would immediately become the signature dish at Nobu Hong Kong.

"This is what we're trying to do with Nobu Beijing. I want to give people something they know, but when they eat it, it's something else," he said.

Playing with people's expectations is not limited to the innovative dishes on Nobu's menu. Indeed, Naesheim seems to embody that craftiness. The 31-year-old Norwegian is a master at ending personal anecdotes with hyperbolic language that aims to show another side. In the end, what comes across is an exacting and passionate chef and manager who hopes to transform Beijing's food scene.

Take, for example, Naesheim's insistence that he is not a machine, which came after he described the meticulousness in which he organizes his Beijing apartment.

"Everyone judges you all the time, so it's better to be exact, but I am not a machine. I want to be very personal."

A walk through the kitchen and a tally of the cooking gadgets that he recently bought in Japan proves his precise personality. Every inch of the labyrinthine kitchen is buffed clean every day, his tiny office is pristine and the coolest gadget is a blender that cooks at different temperatures, can measure weight and has a steamer top.

Before opening Nobu Beijing to the public last week - it has hosted private parties for the past two months - Naesheim drilled his staff repeatedly from September to November. Detailed manuals of how to cook each dish were handed out and had to be learned by rote.

"We spent three weeks just talking about food," he said. "Then we showed our cooks how to make the dishes and then they tried. Then we showed them again and they tried, and then we showed them again and they tried again. It takes time, you know."

After all, Naesheim has very high standards to live up to.

Nobu Las Vegas, Nobu London and Nobu Berkeley Street in London have each been awarded a Michelin star. Nobu restaurants, which are co-owned by actor Robert De Niro, exhibit ingenious combinations of flavor from both Japan and Peru. For example, jalapeno and coriander slices on yellowtail, miso over black cod and grilled chicken with anticucho sauce.

But Naesheim is not without his own impressive credentials, too. He has worked for some of Norway's top restaurants, studied modern French cuisine in Paris at L'Atelier Berger, worked at Boubou's St. Barths in the French West Indies and went on to Nobu London in 2003, working his way up to be senior sous chef. At 26, he was handpicked by Matsuhisa to oversee the opening of Nobu Hong Kong, the chain's first venture in Asia outside Japan.

Matsuhisa and Naesheim frequently chat over the phone. The Norwegian said the legendary chef allows him "the freedom to create, the freedom to be myself and to continue to develop".

"Any new dish I take care to explain and show it to him first because I want him to know that I know Beijing. That's what he told me: 'You know the city, you know the people, you know the palate'."

Naesheim, who moved to the capital in July, will only admit that he knows Beijing more than Matsuhisa does, but he promises to change what Beijingers think Japanese food should be. "The whole dining scene here is going to go up. It's a really booming time in Beijing. People are going to follow Nobu."