Robert De Niro's restaurant chain sells endangered tuna
By Charles Clover
Telegraph.co.uk: news
A Michelin-starred restaurant chain part-owned by the actor Robert De Niro is serving endangered bluefin tuna at its London outlets without telling customers, DNA tests have shown.
Undercover investigators targeted the Nobu chain, which has 21 restaurants on four continents and is the haunt of celebrities such as Madonna, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
At three Nobu restaurants in London, investigators from the environmental group Greenpeace ordered tuna dishes described on the menu only by Japanese terms for the cut of the fish they were from.
They asked staff to identify the tuna species used. Samples were later tested to determine the type. Dishes from all three were Atlantic bluefin.
The distinction is important because the Atlantic bluefin and the southern bluefin are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List because of overfishing. Most sushi eaten in Britain is from less endangered species such as yellowfin, but Japanese chefs are known to consider bluefin the most delicious.
Nobu does not specify on its menus which species of tuna it serves. Requests for the information by campaigners have been met for several years with a terse "no comment".
Although it is not illegal to serve Atlantic bluefin, also known as northern bluefin, many chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, have dropped it because of concern that fishing is at higher levels than stocks can withstand. At Nobu Berkeley St, which has one Michelin star, investigators asked for Atlantic bluefin (hon maguro in Japanese) but staff told them the restaurant did not stock it.
However, DNA tests proved that the fish they were given was indeed Atlantic bluefin. At Ubon, Canary Wharf, also owned by Nobu, investigators ordered Atlantic bluefin and were served a dish that did not test conclusively either way.
However, a second dish they ordered, described only as "o-toro", the fattiest belly meat, was Atlantic bluefin. At Nobu London, a waitress told the investigators that a dish on the menu was hon maguro. The fish that was served tested positive as Atlantic bluefin.
The lack of clear information about the species of tuna on sale at Nobu could land the restaurants in trouble. A spokesman for Westminster city council said that falsely describing food was an offence.
Dr Sergi Tudela, of WWF Mediterranean, said: "It is scandalous for a restaurant chain as globally famous as Nobu not to be clear about what it sells - and misleading to the discerning consumer who is trying to do the right thing.
"The accurate traceability of seafood products is essential to avoid the overexploitation of fragile species."
Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace said: "Nobu and Robert De Niro are clearly making a great deal of money serving up endangered fish and they were reported this year as trying to sell a controlling share of their restaurant chain at a valuation of $400 million.
"Now it turns out that Nobu's celebrity clientele are unwittingly pushing bluefin tuna towards extinction, and they should demand that the restaurant stop serving it up immediately.
"If you were served up something labelled as 'steak' in a restaurant, and only found out later that you had eaten tiger or rhinoceros meat, you would be outraged."
Findings of the investigation will be highlighted in a feature-length documentary film entitled The End of the Line, to be released next year.
The restaurant declined to comment.
