Robert De Niro brings Nobu to City of Dreams Manila

YOU TALKIN’ TO ME? Hollywood star Robert De Niro, with Macau gaming magnate Lawrence Ho, announces the entry of his luxury hotel Nobu into the Philippine hospitality industry. DORIS DUMLAO

He was here before as a tourist who basked in the sun and enjoyed the sand and sea. Now, Academy award-winning actor Robert De Niro is back, this time wearing a businessman’s hat to announce the entry of luxury hotel Nobu into the country’s hospitality industry.

De Niro is an investor and cofounder of Nobu Hospitality, the first chef-centric hotel in Las Vegas, which will soon debut in Asia with the opening of a 321-room hotel in City of Dreams Manila in the middle of this year.

The opening of Nobu Hotel in City of Dreams Manila, a $1.2-billion integrated casino resort at Pagcor Entertainment City, was announced in a press briefing at the National Museum.

Nobu Hotel is inspired by celebrity chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa or “Chef Nobu,” a Japanese culinary genius who has made waves in the United States.

Chef Nobu made raves in the United States before expanding overseas.

De Niro was instrumental in bringing Chef Nobu from Los Angeles to New York and to the rest of the world. As a core principal of the group, De Niro has cofounded and provided creative direction for Nobu restaurants as well as creative leadership and insights in the development of Nobu Hotels.

Accompanying De Niro on this trip is his friend, Hollywood film producer Meir Teper, whom he invited to invest in the group. Teper has also played an integral role in the development and funding of several restaurants with De Niro, including Tribeca Grill and Ago.

Macau’s Melco Crown

Also back in town for the occasion was Australian billionaire James Packer, who operates a chain of luxury hotels, and Macau gaming tycoon Lawrence Ho. Ho and Packer are principal investors at the Melco Crown group of Macau.

Nobu Hotel is the second hotel brand that Melco group is bringing to City of Dreams Manila, a partnership between Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. and the SM Group of tycoon Henry Sy. The first hotel brand to be announced was Crown Towers, which plans to open 260 hotel rooms.

Nobu, which established itself in Las Vegas, where it operates a boutique hotel within Caesars Palace, is seen as the place to experience the cuisine of Chef Nobu.

Views of Manila Bay

The hotel will feature a Nobu restaurant within an idyllic setting, including an outdoor cabana-styled dining terrace on an exclusive platform deck with views of Manila Bay.

Born and raised in Japan, Nobu Matsuhisa, or Chef Nobu, apprenticed in the sushi bars of Tokyo before he ventured overseas. He went to Peru, Argentina, back to Japan, then to Alaska, and finally to Los Angeles, where he opened his eponymous restaurant in 1987.

It was in Los Angeles where De Niro spotted Chef Nobu’s culinary genius and saw the potential for expansion.

Chef Nobu said in a press chat: “25 years ago, Bob (De Niro) gave me the opportunity to come to New York. My fast answer was ‘no,’ but he asked me again and I did it,” adding he was grateful for people like De Niro for giving him the opportunity.

Since then, Nobu Hospitality has opened 27 restaurants and in 2013 opened a hotel in Las Vegas. Recently named as one of the 25 most innovative luxury hotel brands by Robb Report, Nobu is benchmarked against peers like Four Seasons, Mandarin, The Wind and Cosmo.

Part hotelier

Apart from his interest in Nobu, De Niro has a hotel in New York, an 88-room The Greenwich Hotel in downtown Manhattan. “I started because I had a property next to the Tribeca center and found a partner with a lot of boutique hotels in the city and we created The Greenwich Hotel together,” he said.

De Niro also championed the group’s expansion into the hotel business.

Trevor Horwell, chief executive at Nobu Hospitality, said coming to the Philippines was “very opportunistic” for the group, citing the group’s good relationship with Packer and Ho. He said the Nobu group was impressed by the City of Dreams Manila project.

“We opened our first hotel (in Las Vegas) only six months ago and we felt it was the right time to move into Asia,” Horwell said.

Great service culture

Horwell hailed the Philippines’ “great service culture.”

“Our GM (general manager) in Vegas is a Filipino,” he noted. “Plus it (Philippines) is a growing tourist economy and we feel that Nobu will do very well here.”

Horwell added that Nobu would likewise raise the bar for the local hospitality industry.

Thrilling, fun-luxury

The upcoming Nobu Hotel is envisioned to deliver a “thrilling, celebrity-inspired and fun-luxury experience fused with utmost quality” to City of Dreams Manila.

The diversification from the restaurant to the hotel business was seen as a natural progression for the group.

“We didn’t take it lightly. Nobu is a brand in itself. It’s not like we’ll create a new brand. We’ve had a number of restaurants and we have a very strong customer base. It’s global and every single restaurant that we’re operating is doing very well,” he said.

Crowd-drawer

Whenever a hotelier asks Nobu to set up a restaurant in the former’s space, it becomes a crowd-drawer. So one day, the group decided to develop its own hotel, Horwell said.

“There’s a lot of intuition involved. It’s not a preconceived formula. Everyone was involved with ideas and each Nobu hotel is different. You have to look at the market. We also want to be different,” he said.

Casino to open by June

Ho said the Melco group was still targeting to open the City of Dreams Manila by the middle of this year. It will have 365 gaming tables, 1,680 slot machines and 1,680 electronic table games upon opening, catering to both VIP and mass market.

The proponents are required to open at least 800 hotel rooms before they can operate the gaming hub but the group’s target is to open at least 950 hotel rooms right during the opening of the hub, said Willy Ocier, vice chair of Belle Corp., the SM unit developing the property in partnership with Melco.

This partnership with the Nobu group, Ho said, was “a further step in realizing our overall vision to deliver world-class and diverse innovative lifestyle and entertainment offerings to broaden the appeal of the Philippines as a leading leisure destination in Asia.”

“Our brand has delivered and Bob is the biggest supporter of the brand,” Horwell said.

The first to open a casino at Pagcor Entertainment City by the Manila Bay is Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Manila of Enrique Razon. Others licensed to operate casinos in Pagcor City are Kazuo Okada’s Universal Entertainment Corp. and the Andrew Tan-Genting group partnership’s Travellers International Hotel Group.

Originally posted: 8:20 pm | Monday, January 27th, 2014

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