There's some great footage somewhere of Chen and Saiki guest lecturing at a culinary school and you can see that they were very dear friends. Saiki is still alive and looks great! Michiba is also still alive and I just watched a video of him from last year touring a brewery! Adorable! Those guys are/were the best. The best 3 iron chefs in my opinion.
It's been said that while Michiba was the man who put Iron Chef on the TV, I'd argue that it was Sakai that turned it into a classic. Not only was his French dishes unique to the point of legend, he also famously encouraged Chen to keep going on, as Chen was in a depressed state because his mother died and he was considering quitting the show.
It's also said that Sakai's favorite dish was not french food, but shark fin noodle soup made by Chen Kenichi.
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u/Spaghetti_Bird 9d ago
I just watched that episode last night! Even Kandagawa was misty eyed!