Raita Noda

Chef Raita Noda and his parents migrated to Australia from Japan in 1990. Cooking was always Raita’s passion, but his parents wanted him to study and go to university instead. Raita persevered and his parents eventually accepted his choice to go to TAFE and start working in restaurants. Now his parents are his most loyal customers.

After completing an apprenticeship at Matsukaze Japanese restaurant, he worked at three of Sydney’s most acclaimed Japanese restaurants before opening his own restaurant RISE when he was 25. He took on the role of head chef at Ocean Room in 2004. Raita describes Ocean Room as a seafood restaurant using the best Australian produce and a unique blend of Japanese and Mediterranean flavours.