Santoku is Japanese for three (san) virtues (toku), referring to slicing, dicing and mincing – a general purpose knife, in other words. As is a Chef’s Knife. So what is the difference between a Santoku and a Chef’s Knife?
A Chef’s Knife (or Cook's Knife, as it's sometimes called) is designed for western chef’s who tend to chop with a rocking motion. To facilitate this, chef’s knives have a curved edge.
Asian chefs usually chop with a straight up and down motion. Santoku knives have a straighter edge, to facilitate this, ensuring more of the edge comes into contact with the chopping board without having to rock.
A chef’s knife, for some, does have a couple of advantages. It can be used as a mezzaluna (holding the base and tip of the blade with either hand and chopping herbs using a rocking motion). Chef’s knives also come in longer sizes, which can be useful for powering through larger ingredients like squash.
Ultimately, the choice between Chef's Knife vs Santoku comes down to your style of cooking, what’s important to you, and good old personal preference. Having used both extensively, we can say either will do the vast majority of jobs in the kitchen, but hopefully the above will help in determining which one is better suited to you.
