"I've worked my way up from kitchen assistant to sous-chef in four years. Juggling management with cooking is kinda difficult but I’m not complaining - I’m 22 and this is great for me!”

Brrrr, it was cold today and I wasn’t particularly organised in spending a decent length of time walking the city. I was actually hoping I would find my subject within the first few minutes in which case I could get back inside. This didn’t happen, but while I took a side street (again, thinking to cut time and take a short cut), I happened upon Nikki here taking a break on these steps. It wasn’t a street I normally venture down as it’s quite narrow and I guess it doesn’t have that big a footfall.

Anyway, Nikki was happy to oblige with a portrait and I started chatting to him about his work as a Japanese chef, or is that a chef in a Japanese restaurant…? Either way, he told me he left school at 18 and went straight into this, working his way up the kitchen hierarchy. I don’t know much about the chain of command in kitchens but I thought that was pretty good going, in four years no less.

He admitted he felt a little bit out of his depth sometimes and he struggled to keep up with the management side of things, whilst also trying to spend time honing his techniques.

Towards the end, I found out Nikki’s father was also a chef, or to be more precise - an Itamae (sushi chef). A person of quite high regard from what I gathered, and “gets paid a hell of a lot more than me”, claimed Nikki.

He'll get there, I thought.

So apparently, yesterday's portrait caused quite a stir. I liked it, but I didn't realise it would make a connection with so many of you. Many many thanks for your kind comments, stars and favs! Z.

Humans of Leeds