Chen originally accepted his position on
Iron Chef out of the need for a challenge, although the format of the show intrigued him. Even though he was the longest-serving Iron Chef and the only original Iron Chef, having been an Iron Chef for the series' six-year run, Chen had on several occasions considered leaving his position; among his reasons was the desire to tend to his restaurants, which had become booked every night since the show's start, as well as a bout of depression following the death of his mother. Ultimately, it was fellow Iron Chef
Hiroyuki Sakai who convinced Chen to stay, with their agreement that should one leave the show, so would the other. Because of his long tenure, Chen fought more battles than any of the other Iron Chefs, at 92 battles. He won 67, lost 22, and tied 3. He also enjoyed a run of 14 consecutive victories, the longest of any Iron Chef. His most memorable dish was chili prawns. Despite his excellent record on the show, Chen often appeared endearingly surprised and relieved at victory.
Memorable matches Among Chen's more memorable matches was one with challenger Dominique Corby of the
Tour d'Argent, where, after the main battle (with
foie gras as the theme ingredient) was fought to a tie, the overtime battle (with
asparagus as the theme) also resulted in a tie—the only time that such an outcome occurred in the series. Rather than have Chen and Corby fight a second overtime battle,
Chairman Kaga, the show's host decreed that both contestants were the winners, effectively calling the battle a draw. As with other Iron Chefs, Chen "feuded" with a warring faction that acknowledged the worthiness of his culinary caliber who were determined to take him down. In his case, he battled with the chefs of
Heichinrou restaurant in
Yokohama, defeating two of their members before finally losing to their head chef in an overtime battle. •
Takashi Saito (not to be confused with
the baseball player), top apprentice of
Chen Kenmin and coach of Chen Kenichi. Chen beat his tutor in a prawn battle. Saito re-created Kenmin's original prawns in chili sauce, while Kenichi created his father's modern version of the dish (canapé style with ketchup). •
Junichi Itoh had one of the most interesting cooking styles in the world. He began practicing French cooking at age 18 and left for France at the age of 28 to further his culinary skills. However, Itoh left for Italy three years later and joined Enoteca Pincchiori, the same place where Iron Chef Italian
Masahiko Kobe was trained. At age 32, Itoh began training at a top Japanese restaurant to learn Japanese culinary traditions further extending his arsenal of culinary expertise. By the time that Itoh was 35, he opened his restaurant L'Herlequin Bis in Tokyo. His French-Italian-Japanese fusion cooking style caught the attention of
Takeshi Kaga which led him to invite Itoh to be asked to appear on the Iron Chef television show as a challenger. Itoh accepted the offer and went to Kitchen Stadium with Japanese culinary critic and journalist
Asako Kishi, who was known for her role as a guest judge on the show as frequent member on the Iron Chef tasting panel. To everyone's surprise, he chose Chen Kenichi as the opponent, saying that he was interested in Chinese cuisine, but had never been trained at it. Kaga chose a difficult theme ingredient, plain
yoghurt. Itoh was smiling while Chen was under great pressure. However, according to Kishi's comments at the end, all of Itoh's dishes used the yoghurt as a supporting ingredient instead of the main focus of the dish. This resulted in all four judges voting for Chen. This was quite a surprise to Chen, who pointed to himself in disbelief. •
Katsuyo Kobayashi was the show's second female challenger and a popular TV chef in her own right, hosting
Kyo no ryori (''Today's cooking'') on
NHK. She allowed Chairman Kaga to choose the Iron Chef for her and he gleefully chose Chen, who had previously lost to Kitchen Stadium's first female challenger, Kyoko Kagata. At one point during the battle, in which potatoes were the theme ingredient, Kobayashi paid a brief visit to Chen's station to observe his cooking, which he wasn't very pleased about. Chen ultimately lost to Kobayashi, with the judges commenting that his potatoes tended to be undercooked or underplayed. == Outside
Iron Chef==