Hiroyuki Sakai

Hiroyuki Sakai (坂井 宏行, Sakai Hiroyuki^?, born April 2, 1942) is a well-known Japanese chef who specializes in French cuisine. Sakai is most famous for being the second, and last, Iron Chef French on the Japanese television show Iron Chef, first appearing at the beginning of 1994 (after Yutaka Ishinabe retired) and continued his appearance in shows over nine seasons. Sakai has the third best winning percentage of the Iron Chefs, trailing only his Iron Chef French predecessor, Yutaka Ishinabe and the first Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba. His stature as the top chef on the show was formalized when he was named the "King of Iron Chefs" after emerging victorious from the show's grand finale, a tournament involving all the active Iron Chefs. He went on to defeat the top chef in the world, Alain Passard, in the grand finale Long-Gang Chicken battle prior to the closure of the Iron Chef series. His record on Iron Chef is 70-15-1.

Over the course of the series, Sakai became famous for being a ladies man; his smooth personality and friendly attitude certainly helped in this regard. His television trademark is a red French chef's costume; he rises into Kitchen Stadium holding a nashi pear in his hand. He is often described as the "Delacroix of French cuisine" because of the presentation of his dishes. His formidable record in fish challenges led to fans of the show giving him the nickname, "Fish Sakai."

Sakai was originally asked to be on Iron Chef by the producer Toshihiko Matsuo following the recommendation from hotel restaurateur Kihachi Kumagai. Sakai agreed after being convinced by his staff, believing the impression that the show would air for another six months, giving him two or three appearances. The six-month tenure, as it turned out, turned into six years. The early era of Iron Chef saw Sakai being the "middle Iron Chef" along with Rokusaburo Michiba, a chef twelve years his senior, and Chen Kenichi, the youngest and least experienced of the three Iron Chefs at the time. It is often viewed by fans as the period when Iron Chef had the strongest Iron Chefs.