Hyatt is known for their food & beverage philosophy: Food, thoughtfully sourced, carefully served that pays great respect to people, planet, and communities. To continue this philosophy, Grand Hyatt Jakarta appointed a new Executive Chef from Poland, Adam Tomasz Szczechura (we know, it’s difficult to pronounce his last name, we gave up after a few attempts). Chef Adam grew up in Warsaw, Poland, where his parents owned a free-standing restaurant called Staropolska, meaning “Old Poland”. The idea is to bring back the old and authentic taste of Polish cuisine.

“I never thought of working in another industry because I always knew that I will be a Chef,” said Adam. With over 25 years of cooking experience Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, he had joined various Hyatt properties such as Hyatt Regency Warsaw, Hyatt Regency Kiev, Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi, Park Hyatt Maldives, Hyatt Regency Gurgaon and Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi. Exclusively to Passion Media, the Chef share his knowledge of Polish food, seafood, and his cooking philosophy.

So, Indonesia is your first Asian country to work?

Apart from India, I would say yes, but India is a little bit different. So, yes, definitely it’s my first time to visit and work in Indonesia.

What makes you interested to work here?

I’ve been here for only 3 months, so it’s a very difficult question. But I’m sure the culinary scene, and the passion for food in Indonesia is very regional as well, you can find lots of diversity.

Have you been travelling around the country?

I’ve been only to Bali, but for a very short visit, and that was a mistake, because there’s a lot to see, it’s a huge country after all, with lot of diversity. Today, it’s very difficult to manage my trip because of the distances and so on.

Do you consider yourself as generalist or specialist?

Generalist. I think it’s the job requirement. I think the entire world is changing every day, so you can’t be stubborn; you have to be more open minded. Culinary is very creative, it changes constantly so you have to be very flexible and use lot of different techniques.

Do you have any special interest on certain cuisine?

Not anymore.

Not anymore? Please elaborate!

We shouldn’t be considered as specialist in particular cuisine because everyone’s taking bits and pieces from many other cuisines, different cooking techniques. Only mother food is constant, everything else is changing. So, people are adapting and it drives your guests behind you because you constantly change yourself, so that’s the thing.

Please explain a bit about the traditional food in your hometown!

It’s very different than Indonesian food, we’re a country of potato, four seasons throughout the year. It’s all about simple food, you know. Of course, it’s changing throughout the year because all millennial are coming on the stage and those simple things become more complicated on the plate, while each one of us trying to capture the basic flavors in different ways.

We have lots of simple food because Polish people, and the cuisine are very humble and simple, nothing complicated. Four seasons give you lots of fruits, vegetables, we also have mountain, sea, and forest. We need to preserve some food for winter and autumn, such as marmalade, preserved juices, and pickles. Because when it’s winter, nothing grows, except for some snowmen on the yard (laugh)!

How about the traditional seafood dishes?

We have river, lakes, and seas, so it’s pretty much elaborated as well. It’s very seasonal, sustainable and protected, we have many different preparation method to preserve. We can pickle, smoke it, sometimes we eat it fresh. We also have some fish like halibut and trout that’s totally different than what we have here. That’s why I said Polish cuisine is very regional, it’s different for each region.

Any difficulties in adapting to local supplies?

Not at all, I’ve been travelling for many years, so it shouldn’t be difficult. As a Chef, basically you know different approach based on market fish or catch of the day, which is always fresh. We all know salmon, but we have different salmon from all around the world, like from Tasmania, for example. However, the local species is the most unique ones because they’re fresh.

We source our fish locally from Lombok. We still try to promote the “Catch of the Day” as much as we can because of its freshness. Seafood is all about freshness. That’s the main point, not the complicated cooking techniques, it’s the freshness, the natural flavor of the fish. Everybody knows how good fish tastes like, how the older one tastes like. From chef perspective, yes, that’s the biggest enjoyment, we have constant access to fresh fish and seafood.

Any personal favorite seafood item to work with?

No, it depends on the mood. I tell you like this, it’s a little bit different after so many years of cooking, you enjoy many different parameters, freshness is my favorite. You learn as well how the flesh  behaves, different bone structures, you have to know how to cook it. As long as its fresh I think everyone can enjoy it. I haven’t found any major issues in dealing with seafood because when you respect the product, you treat it the way you feel on daily basis. Like this dish I’m serving, it has local influence like coconut, sweet, lemoney, and light tasting.

So, tell us about the dish please!

The dish is Lobster Tail Poached in Vanilla Olive Oil. It’s basically just slow cooked lobster, infused with vanilla pod and olive oil. I apply sous vide technique with 56o C very gently for 45 minutes so the flesh doesn’t get stressed and it will be infused with the vanilla in a way that’s not too aggressive nor sweet, because the lobster is already sweet, so the vanilla will give it additional kick. We also have some coriander emulsion, coconut cream, and lemon gel to give a touch of bitterness, sourness, and combine everything altogether. I love sous vide for the respect of the cooking and the product. By cooking very slowly, the aroma and the juice stays inside.

Where does the recipe originates from?

I don’t know. You can say it’s my own creation. Because, normally chefs are not cooking things they’re not eating. I like light food. That’s why I said I’m not a specialist in any cuisines, I just collect the techniques, flavors from the past onto my own palate. That’s was kind of signature dish, I would say, that’s what it’s all about. Of course, it’s a very difficult choice as well, because by cooking for more than 20 years, it’s very difficult to choose this single one dish. That’s why I said, it’s based on the mood.

If you say you love light dish, most of Indonesian dishes is quite heavy. Did you have a hard time adapting?

Not at all, I also love spicy food, in my previous hotel we also had Indonesian restaurant. I’ve worked in India, which has very rich cuisine as well. As a chef, I think it’s the secret of pleasure of being a chef. Because you travel a lot, you tasted different food, you are exposed to many products, very unique ones that will give you opportunity to use them in the future.

Do you have any favorite dishes?

Honestly, many of them. But the biggest challenge is consistency, always. I like Sop Buntut, I like Soto Ayam, I eat them nearly everyday, the simple, homey food. Not complicated, as I have enough complication on the plate, basically, I’m a simple man. By the way, Nasi Goreng is the best dish I ever eat, until now. So yeah, Nasi Goreng, simple food, but good!

How about the food you dislike, do you have any? Durian maybe?

Actually, I like durian. Basically, people don’t like what they don’t know. As a chef, I’ve tasted durian a long, long time ago. But back then, I didn’t like oyster, or any seafood when I was 20-25, because I was never exposed to those ingredients. I didn’t even like lobster as well back then.

If there’s anything I dislike, I don’t like shortcuts. Sometimes people want to make it fast, so they do many shortcuts, and that steals the entire flavor. You know, now they have some sort of magic powder, but our mothers don’t cook like that, definitely! Now, millennials are cooking with powder, which I hate. I think, cooking is not about easy or hard, it’s about passion. That’s the difference between good food and other food. Because, after the powder everything tastes the same, I hate it.

A full-time religious leader and prominent chef, Jero Mangku Dalem Suci Gede Yudiawan is not only living two worlds, but also thrive in both as well. PASSION Media get a wonderful chance to meet with the amazing figure in his restaurant, Warung Sunset, where he shares his eclectic wisdom about Balinese spiritual aspect, spills some handy seafood tips, and re-tell the legendary story about that one time he cooked a fantastic meal under alcohol influence. Without further ado, enjoy the interview session below!

Tell us a bit about your background; what is the most memorable moment from your childhood? Have you always known that you will become a chef growing up?

Balinese men are no strangers to the world of cooking. Because in our custom; every ritual which involves the masses will require someone to cook; either in religious ceremony or spiritual gathering. Personally, this greatly hones my cooking instinct. My father used to be a “Belawa” or village cook. Every time someone has a special occasion, they will search for a ‘belawa’, who would then be assigned to prepare the dishes for all the guests and the religious offering as well. Ever since in my tender age, I used to follow my father on his ‘belawa’ duty; waking up 5am in the morning and help him preparing the ingredients. Besides, I love to eat, so I always involved in cooking aspect on my growing up period.

Tell us a bit about your Youtube channel; Cerita Dari Desa, is it only all about cooking, or is there another aspect that you wish to share through it?

I have returned to my home village, Desa Les on Tejakula, Buleleng for around 4,5 years now, as I have been appointed as ‘Pemangku Adat’ (spiritual leader) there. It was on 17th August 2015. It makes my main duty shifted, from chef to spiritual leader of the people in my village. That is why now you can say that I live in ‘two worlds’: the kitchen and cultural. Basically, I’m still being a servant for the people and these two aspects can walk side by side in harmony. What I did on this business scene is also affected, or granted by the way I lead the people in my religious custom. I feel so blessed by all the prayers, wishes and kindness upon my life, to be someone useful. That’s why through my Youtube channel, I want to lift up the potentials of my village; not only by cooking, but the culture, activity and also its nature surrounding as well. On cooking aspect, I made an open kitchen named ‘Dapur Bali Mula’ in my village, meaning ‘authentic Bali kitchen’. I cook very traditional and classical Balinese menus there for my guests, with ingredients taken from the village itself; about 80% of it. In every dish that I create, including on Warung Sunset, I always try to bring up the potential of my village.

As a ‘Pemangku’ (Balinese Hindu religious leader), how much of the spiritual aspect affects the way of your cooking?

A cook can be considered as true priest, because cooking has to be based on feeling. If we have good faith, that means we will have a great feeling as well. For Balinese people, kitchen is a sacred place, because there are five basic elements of universe which intertwines one another in there; fire, wind, earth, water and space. We have to enter the kitchen with strong feeling and good intention, because it also represents our gods and goddess, aside from directly in touch with the said five elements. When we are becoming one with the microcosmos and macrocosmos aspects with good intention, then we will create something useful or beneficial for others. That is why, for Balinese, kitchen is a very important place to be. So you can’t even say anything bad in there, it’s a place to create.

Name us three traditional Balinese spices that you can’t leave out of your cooking

Let me tell you a bit story about Balinese spices. It is actually has been thoughtfully created by our ancestor for medicinal purpose, since it’s mainly consist of natural spices. Balinese spice has been scientifically proven to contain healthy substances. Nowadays, most of the benefits are reduced because we started to put foreign elements such as MSG, plants with pesticide and so on. Some of the main ingredients of Balinese spice such as turmeric or galangal have antibiotic and antiseptic benefit. This is why when Balinese slaughter cows or pigs, we always put galangal on the blood container to kill the virus. We can cook and consume that raw blood because it has been neutralized by the spice.

Can you share some handy tips to grill fish or seafood in traditional way? Our readers would love to know!

I happen to born on a coastal area, and that makes me have some knowledge about fish produce. When we talk about cooking fish, for me, the most important thing is the base ingredients itself. If we want to grill, we have to find fish type which is suitable for that cooking method; usually those with thin-shape, not oval or round. Coral fish are great for grilling, such as snapper and barramundi. These fishes have stronger scent, but also thicker, savory taste, because they get enough sunlight. It’s different with those fishes which live in deeper part of the Ocean; they have darker tone and move around much often, making the fat level on their body higher. The elastic texture of deep-water fish meat makes them an excellent ingredient for batter or dough. For me, you don’t have to put any kinds of additional sauce whatsoever when grilling a fresh fish. That way, you will get the natural taste and texture; moist and everything. You can use the sauce as dip on side, but not while grilling.

Can you recall the most memorable moment in your career so far?  The weirdest one, if you have!

There was a moment back in Jogja, when I cooked under the influence. I was totally drunk! I don’t even know the ingredient and process; just followed my feeling all the way. All I remember was creating a crab-based dish, but I forgot the rest. I called it ‘Kepiting Saus Mabuk’ (drunken sauce crab). To this moment, all of my friends who are lucky enough to taste it still ask me to make it again; they said it was crazy good. But unfortunately I couldn’t replicate the dish. I can’t remember at all (laugh)!

What is your favorite non-meat dish to cook?

Back in my village, I used to make a dish called ‘Sayur Belo’ok’; it’s similar to Manadonese tinutuan porridge. The main ingredients are Balinese spice, pumpkin leaves, coconut milk and eaten with traditional style popcorn. It’s my most favorite vegan meal. Occasionally, someone who loves fish or seafood can add ‘kuah pindang’ (spicy Balinese fish broth) to it, but that’s it. It mainly consists of mixed vegetables, dice-chopped cassava, and nuts. You can add as much fresh vegetables as you want, especially on harvest season!

What is ‘happiness’ according to you?

Happiness is when my creation can be enjoyed by many others, and I achieve perfection in life through the way of giving.

Don’t feel too bad if you don’t know yet, in fact, we also knew the fact not too long time ago. Hankook Ceramic, one of the most prestigious ceramic tableware manufacturer was built on 1991. Since then, the company has been producing many brand names such as Lenox, Mikasa (USA), Villeroy & Boch (Germany), ARC International (France), iittala (Finland), Narumi (Japan), Marks & Spencer (UK), Zen (Korea), and of course, Saint James.

Originally, we are invited to interview the Director of Hankook Ceramic Indonesia Kim Young Joo, also the daughter of the Chairman, Sung-Soo Kim. However, after some reschedule, we had the chance to interview the very humble Chairman with over 50 years of experience in ceramic. We came to the largest facility in the world for single ceramic factory, also a Saint James Factory Outlet in Cikupa, Tangerang. It’s a place where women, especially housewives, will go crazy as the place’s offering special discounted price (women, tableware, discount, a dangerous combination indeed, we’ve warned you). We were listening to SungSoo Kim’s story while enjoying a very nice Americano from Saint James Café (they use Tanamera’s coffee, they have a good taste in coffee).

Let’s go back to the beginning, before Hankook Ceramic, what did you do? 

In Korea, I started ceramic engineering in university and I had a Phd as well. I learned on tableware manufacturing, and one of the focus was ceramic, including chinaware, glassware, cement to semi conductor. Actually, tableware has a long history, in Korea, maybe it’s 100 years already, but I brought the technology to Indonesia 30 years ago. We started this tableware making, especially in fine china, bone china, and special technology. This is our only factory in the world, and we’re making all the products inside, and now we sell it in more than 50 countries in the world.

Actually, Zen is the biggest ceramic brand in Korea. Zen actually stands for zenith, eco friendly, and nature. When we started here, we also use the name Saint James, but we only produce in small quantity and supply it to 5 star hotels, and some big companies.

Now, I want to show our product line to Indonesian customers, that’s why we open factory outlet here since 2 years ago. We also have some outlets in some Indonesia retail shop in malls. Everyday, we have 50-60 visitors from communities, we took them by our buses for factory tour on how to make our tableware, and then they can have a talk, discussion, shop here with special discounted price.

Back then, why did you choose Indonesia?

Compared to other countries, Indonesia has big population, compared to Korea, which only has around 40 million populations. In Korea and Japan, all the factory staffs are too old, in here, we have many very young manpower! With such high technology, we only hire 1.000 local employees and only 10 of them are Koreans, which I plan to reduce further step by step (laugh)! I want to use all Indonesian staffs!

In addition, Indonesia also has good condition for manufacturing. For firing this ceramic tableware, we have to fire it 3 times, the last one was for decoration purpose. The firing temperature is up to 1.250o C, therefore, we need loads of energy source, and in Indonesia, we can use natural gas that’s very economical.

If you’re known with the name Zen in Korea, why use another name here? Why Saint James?

We can use certain names in some countries, but in Indonesia, other people registered the name “Zen” before us. We didn’t care, because when I started here, I wanted to multiple brands anyway. The idea of using the name Saint James came from our consultant from England. It’s a famous name in Bible, it’s the name of the world famous street in London, also the name of the world famous church. The name is already familiar with many people, especially in western countries, and she suggested it as the best brand name for our tableware.

All of our products have international certification. You know America’s FDA (The Food and Drug Administration, a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services)? All kinds of food related products must meet their condition if you want to enter American market, especially the state Californa, the test was 10 time more difficult than FDA’s test. However, our material and everything passed FDA and California’s test, that’s why we can export our products to all around the world.

Even though you focused more on export market in the beginning, I heard today you start to focus also on Indonesian market?

Yes, compared to 10 years earlier, Indonesia has grown around 5 times. Now, we’re selling around 100.000 pieces/month in Indonesia, maybe in the future, it will be 10 times bigger than today. It’s growing fast, I’m sure we’ll need 1.000.000 pieces every month soon, trust me, I have 50 years of experience in this ceramic industry!

Dilmah’s Ti21 competition was held on August 19th-20th 2019 in Pullman Hotel Thamrin Jakarta. Passion Media had the chance to do an exclusive interview with Dilmah Tea’s CEO, Dilhan C. Fernando, the first born son of Merrill J. Fernando, founder of Dilmah’s Tea (now you know where the “Dil” from Dilmah came from). Dilhan told us his philosophical view on tea, Dilmah’s principles, being in a family business, accompanied by a glass of very aromatic Gin cocktail made out of Dilmah’s Jasmine Green Tea by Tomek Malek (4 times World Flair Association’s champion, also a judge for Ti21). We don’t know if it’s the tea or Dilhan’s enthusiasm, but talking to him seemed to give us energy, simply just by listening to him talking.

I know it’s a tough question, but, what’s your favorite Dilmah Tea flavor?

You know, the tea that you choose should be related to the moment of the day, it should be related to your mood, and what you’re eating at the time. For example at this point, it’s been a warm day, it’s beautiful (evening), the lights are down, now is not the time, for example for a breakfast tea. Now is the time to have something a little softer, that’s why I asked Tomek (Malek) to make us a little cocktail.

And this is the wonderful thing about tea, it’s so wonderfully versatile. The whole reason why my colleagues and I have come here this time, is to try to explain that aspect of tea. Typically, when you go to any place, they will ask you what kind of tea you’ll have, black tea, green tea, oolong? But, it’s completely unrelated to your circumstances. But, really, the tea that you take at afternoon should be completely different that you have in the evening. It’s like when you have your breakfast, the food is different to what you have on dinner.

If you’re having salad at lunch, the idea is you need a tea that complements the salad. If it’s salad that’s cheese based, you’ll have oolong tea. If it’s citrus based,
you’ll have high grown, light, black tea. If it’s salad with smoked chicken, maybe black tea, something stronger. So the idea is really, as much as possible to build

an experience. Very often people ask me what’s my favorite tea, to be honest, it depends on the moment, the mood, what we’re eating, and so on, many factors. That would be my very complicated answer to a very simple question (laugh)!

How about the functional aspects of tea?

Tea has beautiful functional aspects. It’s a palate cleanser, it emulsifies fat, and it helps to balance blood sugar level. But, first of all, tea was discovered as medicine if you go back 5.000 years ago. Today, tea is enjoying the resurgence again because of these medicinal values, it’s good for 22 types of cancer, it’s good for heart disease, it protects against stroke, dementia, diabetes, stress, strengthens your immune system. By 2050, WHO expects that dementia will be the biggest cause of premature mortality. Currently in the west, the biggest cause of premature mortality is stress, and in the east, it’s diabetes. What is there not to like about tea?

That’s an incredibly powerful sets of statement, but if you look beyond that, you have the fact that our tea is handpicked, it’s made in a very traditional, artisanal way, and in doing that, the whole process is designed to respect what the nature has put into the leaves. Nature influences the leaf, the enzymes within the leaf, and there’s nothing a man can do, to change that. So if you have bad weather, bad soil, you can’t do anything to improve the tea, it’s done. You have to throw it out, that’s what we do. It is the nature that defines whether the tea is good or not.

For us, it’s particularly the beauty in tea, because as tea maker, it’s something that is sacred, in a way, as it is influenced by nature. Therefore, because of the combination of those the fact that tea is good for health and it’s the work of nature, it is more relevant for 21st century than any other beverage.

Tea has a very unique ability to bring people together. Whether we’re friends for life, family, or just met for the first time, having that cup of tea, it symbolizes companionship. Those are really the factors that led my father to devote his life to tea. He’s going to be 90 next year, and he has spent 70 years in tea.

How hard is it to introduce the concept?

It’s difficult in a sense that we’ve been doing it for a few years. But, once you got somebody who wants to help, for example, tomorrow and the day after, we’ll have 23 culinary teams, 40 professionals who are coming. Once you understand the concept, you can never go to anything else, they become the ambassador of the idea. Because, nothing that is so natural, so beautiful, like tea, and it should really not be just enjoyed as a cup without any thoughts, it should really be an experience.

When your father start the company, how old are you?

I was 4 years of age.

How did you start to get involved with the company?

There are 3 things that my father wanted to do: first is to focus on taste, second on the nature goodness & wellness, the third one is the purpose. When he started the business, he only had 18 employees. Today our family has grown, we have almost 36.000 workers. We believe business has an ethical purpose, which meant that he build the business with the staffs as family. The same benefit extend globally, across Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Vietnam with  certain causes that we’re very passionate about. We saw the human side to it, so when my brother (Malik J. Fernando) and I, joined the business, it was because we understood the purpose.

That’s the most powerful thing for us. Naturally, you get drawn in to the business. My father never says, “son, you have to come back!” I was in England most of my life, I went to London School of Economics, and at the end, my and my brother got a very very good job offer. But, our hearts, will always be here, simply because of the human side of this business. 

What’s the best and worst things about being in family business?

It has lots and lots of ups and downs. If you’re not careful, family business can put a strain on family life. The more siblings you have, the more difficult it gets. For me, it’s just my brother and I, so in our case, it’s not too complicated, but in the next generation, my brother has 2 daughters, I have 2 boys and a girl. There are 5 of us, it will be even more complicated! The thing is, when you sit around the table, and go to our differences, it can easily be resolved.

I don’t think that’s the problem for us, but looking at family business around the world, they tend to focus so much on what they have done in the past, that they forget they need to adapt. Typically, family business have a very strong founder, most founders have to be strong because, by nature. they had a tough time. My father fought against the system, he was the first tea grower to offer his tea directly to consumer, it wasn’t allowed at that time. It was a heck of a fight and it took him 38 years, so, he’s a very strong personality.

The problem happens now, as we look around and see what massive technological, marketing communication, logistic and all these changes happening, many family businesses forget that they need to change, they need to evolve. They’re so loyal and worried about upsetting the founder that they don’t want to change, but if you don’t change, you die. Sometimes, families try to brush everything under the carpet and pretend there’s no problem, but it’s not possible.

That’s the worst part, how about the best ones?

The good part, as family, we can sit on the table and we just go ahead and do something. Why I’m saying that? In our business, we have 10% of outside share holders. In the 1970’s, when the Colombo stock exchange was established, they asked my father to list because they wanted tea company. We’re the first tea company listed in the Colombo stock exchange.

Those outside shareholders, look at our account and asked, “why are you giving 1 billion, 2 billion to charity? This is ridiculous!” As family we can stand together and say, “no, that’s our decision, we control 90% of the company. We don’t believe business should be extractive and there’s nothing you can do about it!” It’s not that we’re doing anything bad to them, but we’re establishing the principle that a business has an obligation to benefit the environment, because we benefit from the environment. You can’t make great tea from bad environment. We have our climate change center, we have taken our tea plantation rewilded, we have jungles, we have planted almost 2 million trees. Commercially, none of these make sense! So, the positive side of family business, is actually a huge positive that outweigh all the negatives.

When you saying something about “adapting”, what exactly did you do differently from your father?

When I came to Dilmah, there were invariably many conflicts because my father said, “this is it! You must learn my way and do it this way!” But then, as time went on, my father and I developed an understanding. I made many mistakes, I remember soon after university, I launched a range of Dilmah Sweets, basically it’s Dilmah’s caramels, bon bon, sweets. It was very profitable but after a while, we abandoned it because my father told me an important principle.

When you set up any business, you need to understand its implicity. My father told me that integrity is the most important thing. Integrity means that if you offer something to a customer, you need to be able to put your hand in your heart say, “I know my product and it’s  he best product of its kind!” If I tell my customer that I’m giving you a really good sweet, I have to know my sweets and I didn’t, I knew tea. I learned this, and then I moved on to a stage, where we came to, as you called it “adaptation”, but I would say “harmony”.

He said, “these are the principles that I built my business on: integrity, ethic, good taste, freshness, etc. Whatever you do, don’t try to change any of those, but rather, build on them”. I understood that my father had built the business on certain fundamentals, those are sacred and cannot be compromised.

In approximately 2003 we launched a line called T-series, which is a designer line of gourmet tea for new generation that went back to single estate tea. It was a different time, people didn’t appreciate gourmet, premium and so on. Today, everybody wants to know where the wine and the cheese came from, but in 2003 nobody cared, it was like, ”give me cheddar, the cheapest one and I’m good with it!” Specialty was very niche.

What I did in that line of designer tea for young people is completely different design, very colorful, because at the time, tea was very traditional. I took my father’s concept and went one step further, from single origin to single estate, and put it into very colorful, youthful, funky designs.

How did he respond to that?

He was okay, he was not very happy, but he wasn’t unhappy either (laugh)! In fact, he and I went to Shanghai and we saw the incredible change has happened, and he finally understood what I’m doing. Recently, we have Elixir of Ceylon Tea, which is a tea extract using hand picked Ceylon tea leaves and extracted it in a
very unique, patented process over 24 hours period. The point is, again, even with tea extract that is designed for bartender and mixology to make cocktail, we are respecting the founding principles and values or tea.

So whatever we do, gastronomy, mixology, it will always be done to honor, rather than compromise, the founding principles. I think that’s the basis of the “adaptation” that we have undergone. The principles that my father laid down from 1950’s, those core principles are honored today, as much as it was back then, but expressed in a very different way.

The soon-to-be opened Park Hyatt Jakarta will be the next big thing for the capital city. Passion was able to get the early scoop by conversing with the hotel’s very own executive chef, Mr Lucas Curcio Perez. Here’s a story about his rich experience as a chef and his vision for the hotel’s F&B concept.

How did you start your career as a chef?

I am from Argentina. I started studying and did my internship with Accor at Sofitel Buenos Aires when I was 17 or 18 years old. They eventually hired me full time and I worked there for a few years. Next, I moved to Jersey Island, part of Channel Islands, and worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant. The French chef there, a man of iron discipline, encouraged me to learn more through traveling.

A year later, I moved back home as a part of pre-opening team for the first Pullman hotel in Latin America. When I reached the age of 25, I decided to open my own restaurant.

Can you tell us about your own restaurant, Chef?

It was a small, yet very successful venture but only lasted for a while. The name was Honor y Causa, and it’s an homage for everyone, family, and teachers who had been supporting us. Food magazines nominated us as the best newcomer of the year and me as the best young chef. Unfortunately, the split of partnership made it hard for me to maintain the business on the long run.

What happened next?

Next I was appointed as a chef at Four Seasons in Carmelo, Uruguay for almost two years. Afterwards I was offered by the owner of the hotel for a position as the F&B director at an exclusive lodging named Narbona, still in Carmelo. It has only a few rooms, a restaurant, and an event space for 500 people. Within 5 kilometers of land, we also have a dairy factory that produces our own cheese and milk and another small hotel. 

Afterwards, I joined Hyatt’s The Unbound Collection – the first one in Latin America. That was my first contact with Hyatt and for them, food is very important and I started a good network there. A few months later, I moved to Bogota in Colombia to work for Four Seasons Casa Medina – an iconic hotel in the city.

I heard that you had a gig in Spain as well, Chef.

Yes, after a while, I moved to Spain. A good friend of mine recommended me to swap his place as a chef for this Michelinstarred restaurant since he’s leaving. However, Michelin-starred restaurant has never been a thing for me since I’d like to cook soulful food, which is not necessarily fancy.

Later on, I was joining this F&B group in Girona, not far from Barcelona, that owns 26 establishments. Fifteen of them are full restaurants, with five coffee shops, and six bakeries. Here, we created a concept of two-restaurants-in-one. For example, we have this rice and fish theme. So on one side, we offered rice and fish in Japanese way - like sushi. Meanwhile the other side was rice and fish the Catalan way. Same products, cooked differently. It was a big hit and the restaurant was always crowded.

Let’s talk about being the Executive Chef of Park Hyatt Jakarta and what you will introduce to us there.

At Park Hyatt, we have this concept on how to make dining more fun. We want to deliver something unique and also an immersive dining experience. Rather than saying we have signature dishes, we’d like the people to spread out the words about which dish that they like. But of course, we will recommend chef’s choices as well. We’d like to give good value for money approach but that doesn’t mean it’s downright cheap. The good value for money that we offer is that when you get the bill, you say oh, I had an amazing experience here. Food was fantastic, service was top notch, and okay, I’d like to be back here again next week because of the good experience and value.

We will have several restaurants in the hotel. For the international restaurant, we will be introducing live kitchens focusing the best from Indonesian and Spanish cuisines. We will have a Conservatory area that consists of different themes. You can start your day at the library – it’s like a coworking space with full F&B service. We will also have a living room concept with light meals, and also a patisserie. Lastly, we will have a Japanese restaurant overlooking the sunset and Monas from the 36th and 37th floors.

I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful! Last question, during your recent ‘Four Hands’ Collaboration event with Chef Mauro Santarelli of Grand Hyatt Jakarta, you introduced to us the wonderful chicken dish Catalan-style. Can you tell us about it?

The chicken is roasted with onions, tomatoes, raisins, and spinach. We use only free range, organic chicken and not the broiler. The chicken skin is chopped and used for the croquette. The croquette itself consists of shredded chicken thigh with raisins, figs, and pine nuts. To make it moist, we incorporate a bit of the reduced jus cooked with chicken bones inside the croquette.

Next, we steam the chicken breast with the bone until the right temperature. So when we serve it a la minute, it will be cooked nicely and not dry. We will then glaze the chicken breast with some butter, spices, pine nuts, raisins and served with puree and the jus.

I have emotional ties with the dish since my grandparents used to cook it. When I went to Spain, I realized that it was not just my grandparents’ cooking, but it’s a national dish of Catalonia. There, it is usually reserved for family gatherings and festivities. I’d like introduce this dish for our guests at Park Hyatt Jakarta.

Selepas mengawali karir di restoran ternama sejumlah negara; di bawah bimbingan sejumlah spesialis fine dining legendaris pula, Oscar Wijaya kemudian memutuskan untuk melanjutkan kiprahnya di Indonesia bersama restoran prestisius Ju-ma-na milik Banyan Tree Resort Bali. Seperti apakah sepak terjang sosok tinggi besar nan bersahaja ini? Dan apa impian terbesar yang hendak ia realisasikan? PASSION duduk dan berbincang bersama sang chef muda kelahiran Palembang sembari menikmati seporsi 200 Days Grain Fed Beef and Foie Gras racikannya yang luar biasa nikmat…

Bagi para pemerhati bumbu kuliner, mungkin sudah tidak asing lagi dengan Himalayan Salt atau garam Himalaya. Ya, ‘kristal pink’ alami ini dikenal luas sebagai salah satu penyedap rasa istimewa karena tempat asalnya yang spesifik dan tak mudah didapatkan. Seperti apakah bumbu masak ‘mewah’ satu ini? Yuk kita telisik bersama!

Of course, we’re no strangers to Sea Grain Restaurant & Bar. We’ve been impressed by their Spanish Salad (fresh lettuce, anchovies, tuna belly, olive, Romesco sauce) and regard it as one of the best salad we had in 2019. Naturally, when we decided to go with Seafood issue this month, we’ve secured some space for Sea Grain Restaurant & Bar, located in DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta into the our list.

Located on the 3rd floor, the 640m 2-dining venue with indoor, outdoor, including 3 private dining rooms of the modern and casual restaurant offered lavish setting with colorful combination of interior. The fresh atmosphere supports the image of Sea Grain Restaurant & Bar as a place that always serves fresh ingredients with communal style so the visitors can taste many dishes for a complete dining experience.

Sea Grain Restaurant & Bar is led by Chef Alvaro Bonache Utiel who just joined in October 2018. With over 8 years of culinary experience in Europe and Asia, including in a 1 Michelin starred restaurant, also one of 25 Best Restaurants in Barcelona, Heart Ibiza, a fine dining restaurant located in 5 star hotel in Andorra, as Head Chef of a Mediterranean Restaurant in Grand Kempinski Shanghai. Alvaro brought along his Mediterranean, Spanish, and Italian influence onto Sea Grain Restaurant & Bar

Regarded as one of the best diet in the world, enjoying Mediterranean cuisine in Sea Grain Restaurant & Bar is not a guilty pleasure. For non-seafood menu, Tomahawk and Beef Tartar in Bone Marrow are the favorites among customers.

However, seafood is the reason why you should come here. Some interesting seafood dishes are Crab Tacos, Crispy Octopus, Prawn Carpaccio, Salmon Air Waffle, Sardine Stuffed Bun, and Sea Bass Ceviche. It’s an experience like no other, you’d be hard pressed to find similar restaurants in Jakarta.

Secara umum, Bali mungkin tidak dikenal melalui rotinya, namun sepertinya pendapat tersebut akan berubah dengan kemunculan Farine. Bakery yang baru saja didirikan oleh Steve Skelly, Executive Chef Mexicola Group ini bermulai sebagai sebuah proyek sampingan yang terinspirasi dari kebutuhan akan sourdough artisan yang tidak bisa ia dapatkan di sana.

Dilmah menghadirkan Robert Schinkel. Brand Ambassador Dilmah Tea Mixology di Dilmah t-Lounge, Pacific Place Jakarta dalam acara kasual Af t Noon by Dilmah Tea pada 13 September 2019. Robert Schinkel sendiri adalah seorang tea sommelier dan cocktail bartender dari Belanda. Selama 7 tahun terakhir, ia telah menjadi ahli tea mixology Dilmah dan menciptakan banyak buku resep minuman berbasis teh. Ia juga salah seorang pembicara di Dilmah International School of Tea yang menginspirasi pengunjung dari seluruh dunia untuk melihat teh dari sudut pandang yang berbeda.

Perayaan Oktoberfest 2019 di Aryaduta Jakarta kali ini akan diselenggarakan lebih meriah dan lebih besar. Selama 30 tahun ini Aryaduta Jakarta telah menghadirkan festival budaya Jerman, dan tahun ini merupakan tahun ke-31. Oktoberfest merupakan bagian penting dari budaya Bavaria, yang telah diadakan sejak tahun 1810 ketika Putra Mahkota Ludwig menikahi putri Jerman, Therese of SaxonyHildburghausen. Aryaduta Jakarta telah menjadi tuan rumah perayaan ini sejak tahun 1988 dan menjadikannya sebagai salah satu tradisi tahunan yang paling dinanti-nantikan.

Sebagai salah satu resto legendaris Jakarta yang telah berdiri selama 45 tahun, Kahyangan Restaurant memperkuat posisinya dengan selalu menggunakan bahan premium untuk membuat masterpiece melalui Omi Hime. Omi Hime sendiri adalah daging sapi wagyu Omi kualitas tertinggi dari Perfektur Shiga, Jepang. Uniknya, Omi Hime hanya bisa diproduksi dari daging sapi betina yang belum pernah melahirkan.

Perjalanan ke Ciawi dari Jakarta membutuhkan waktu sekitar 1 jam lewat jalan tol, namun terkadang kemacetan malah terjadi di jalur pendakian menuju arah Puncak. Pullman Ciawi Vimala Hills resort & Spa & Convention yang menghadap 3 gunung: Gunung Pangrango, Gunung Salak, dan Gunung Geulis merupakan pilihan bijak bagi Anda yang ingin menikmati kesejukan udara pegunungan tanpa harus melalui kemacetan. Hotel bintang 5 yang dibangun di atas ketinggian 600 meter dan lahan seluas 10 hektar ini didesain oleh Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo sebagai jawaban bagi pemilik, Agung Podomoro Land, untuk solusi desain unik dan inovatif

Family is the most invaluable treasure, and Rendy Febriano Sukardi understands that really well. His coffee establishment, Kopitoko, was built solely from that philosophy, and now has flourished into three different branches in Sanur, Ubud and Seminyak. Embracing the warm vibe of family and his expertise in coffee roasting, it is safe to say that the future shines bright for the young coffeepreneur. Here’s his exclusive interview with PASSION…

Tell us about your background. When did you first fall in love with coffee? Was it given that you’d work with coffee for a living, or have you ever consider other careers?

My background is actually as a 3D animator. Usually, as you know, the rendering process took all night long to finish, and I definitely need coffee to stay awake. Then I decided to start taking step in coffee business because my wife and sister-in-law want to do business as well; my wife Putri has a handcrafted bag brand, and my sister-in-law, Dyah, was a pottery maker, and we all love coffee. I began to really focus in coffee since three years ago. 

To be honest, I never plan to start a coffee business, everything just go with the flow. We study it from scratch, observe the opportunity, and then our (first) customers gave us positive feedback; then we decided to be more focused. Every aspects in Kopitoko are family-based, from the ceramic (furniture), interior design, coffee, to food are made by ourselves.

What is your favorite aspect of operating a coffee café and roastery?

My background is related with art, and in coffee, as art, we have to use feeling a lot. I spent one year to learn everything about roastery, so the process is really not as easy as much people think. You have to use feeling to make coffee. Things I like the most from the process is when the end result is good, especially for others. We don’t want to sell our product halfheartedly; customer’s happiness is our satisfactory. 

When did you first establish Kopitoko? And what is your vision for the brand in the future?

Good question! Kopitoko established in 2016. Of course we really want to develop in the future, but right now, we want to focus in three of our branches first. We don’t want to open up another store but compromise the quality; not just the coffee, but we want to make the best out of the food as well. We are happy because now customers come to Kopitoko not only for the coffee, but also out homemade sandwich. There two are things that we want to improve the most in the future.

What’s your preferred brewing method? And which part of roasting process that you think is the most important?

Personally, my favorite brewing method is basic espresso, classic pure flavor without any peculiar mixes. Then, on the roasting process, the most important thing for me is the coffee bean’s quality. If the base ingredients are already good, the next steps will be easy, but if not, it will be a bit tricky on the roasting process.

With the rise of prominent coffee establishments in Bali; café and roaster alike, how would you say Kopitoko is different from the rest? What do you wish to convey to your customers?

In Kopitoko, we want to give our overall best; from the interior design of our store, food, coffee, we put extra effort to create a warm, family vibe with our customers, especially between the barista and them. There are plenty of our customers who ended up becoming close friend. Kopitoko is not a mere business, but something born out from the things that we love, as a family.

Do you have any favorite blends or origins? What do you think about Indonesia coffee bean in general?

Personally, I really like our own house blend, which consists of Indonesia’s indigenous coffee beans mix; Bali and Aceh. These are the beans that we try to focus in Kopitoko, and so far, our customers give their good feedback as well. Specifically, we use Kintamani and Gayo beans, with a balanced blend of chocolate and fruity flavors; not too strong but not too weak, so everyone can drink it conveniently. I think Indonesia is one of the best coffee producers in the world, and really capable of competing in international level.

Do you have any plan for the rest of 2019 for Kopitoko?

Our closest plan this year is developing Kopitoko’s own roastery. Slowly, we want to enter the supplier scene and supplying our coffee to other places of business. Hopefully throughout the rest of 2019, we can start to mass-produce our coffee for supply purpose.

What advice would you give for someone looking to get into roasting?

If you wish to enter coffee business, really get into it from the beginning. This is not a cheap investment, and need a quite amount of budget. Nowadays, there are so many competitors around; and the customers are getting smarter to choose quality coffee. The point is, only when you are truly passionate that your coffee business can run well. At first, Kopitoko didn’t have its own roastery, because I didn’t feel confident to do it. It needs about one year for me to learn about roastery before I decided to opens it on my business. I didn’t plan for that at all, again, everything just ‘go with the flow’! The equipment to do the roastery are also cost quite a penny, so I have to save money little by little to buy them all (laugh).

When Shae Macnamara first planned to do specialty coffee business in Indonesia, almost everyone seems to shun the novel idea. Two establishments and 300 retailer clients later, it is safe to say that he has proven his doubters wrong. Now, the founder of Expat. Roasters brand is ready to expand his brainchild even further through education, mentoring and creating local champions. We are so happy to sat and chat with Shae about his incredible achievements, biggest challenges, to some of latest coffee trend he’d hope to avoid.

You’ve done a fantastic work establishing Expat. Roasters; what inspires you to start this project, and what is the biggest challenge that you’ve faced so far?

When I was in Australia, five or six years ago, we already have a developed coffee industry, so I started looking to different nations around the world that have a coffee-drinking culture, but the specialty coffee is not as advanced as Australia. Indonesia have this great coffee culture where people drink it to stay up all night long, and with such a big population of middle-class, people really starting to think coffee as an affordable luxury. So I was thinking to provide that aspect through beautiful product which people can have either every day or every month; whenever they wanted to. 

I think there are always challenges coming into a market as foreigner to do business, getting to understand and immersed deep in the country’s culture, and that’s what happens to me in Indonesia. So I started with ‘open door policy’ on our roastery and café; people are welcome to come, learn and experience our coffee. Those who come would share their knowledge as well. I think in Indonesia people(who do business) tend to have closed-door policy, keeping all the ‘secret’ for themselves, but now, after three years doing our method of business, people are starting to opens up as well, understanding collaboration and working together rather individually. I believe if we all work together, we can actually grow the industry bigger and we all get the support we need as well. 

How do you pick your bean in general? Any practical tips you could share for our readers to pick the good coffee bean from the bad one?

There are several technical forms to use when choosing coffee; such as cupping protocol, q-grading style, etc. It’s important for the industry to havebenchmark for things, but for me, I would like to think about what is the average person wants to drink, and how do we make it better than what they’re already drinking. I find that sometimes the coffee that we like will be different from what average Indonesian like, for example. So I always tell to our baristas when they’re making coffee or creating blends that it’s not about us, but it’s about what we believe the market wants; something that would make their day better when they drink it in the morning

For the practical tips, I would say that in coffee, you can see the defects and its condition from its green bean form. It’s actually a bit hard for average person to grasp, but just know this: if its looks strange, it’s strange (laugh). The shape, the color are some of the good starting points. In Expat. Roasters, when we roast, we’d try to get the most of the core product; highlighting the farmer’s work, not manipulating the flavor too much, but brings out its best. It’s pretty much the same with cooking fish; you can use cheap fish that’s been grown in dirty water, and even the best chef can only do so much with that fish, but if the main ingredient is already beautiful, all you have to do is brings out the best of it.

What is the latest trend in coffee that catches your attention in a good way, and which one you think that we should avoid?

I think the biggest thing in trend that makes difference today is processing methods. Five or six years ago, in Bali, all you can get is washed bean methods, but now, here we can buy fully washed, dry ferment, honey-process, natural-process. What’s happening now is the farm already understand how the get the best of each variety of coffee bean. There’s also a lot of controlled fermentation now, we’re learning a lot from wine industry.

Trends that I think we should avoid is dark-roast or light-roast, especially in espresso, you’ve have to had a balancedroast. These methods have become a trend, but I hope we are moving away from it fast. Too light especially is not good for everyone; you’re getting a grassy, grain and super high acid in flavor—really sour. Of course we want to have some taste of acidity in coffee, but when it taste like lemon, that’s bad (laugh). The fermented fruit taste supposed to be the accent, not the body. It’s like when you squeeze lemon on a steak, but when the meat itself is sour, it’s not good!

One of Expat. Roaster’s Roaster, Sermy Samma has just won prestigious award in IRC (Indonesia Roasting Competition) 2019, could you elaborate about the process to this proud achievement?

It was amazing indeed! For me, competition is really important within Expat. Roasters culture as a family and business. In 2016, I myself have compete and won several competition in Australia, and once went through world stage to become the fourth best. I have also been appointed as judge in several competitions as well. So when I first came to Indonesia, I really want to have Indonesian champion in my business, but I didn’t want to just hire a rock star from Jakarta, get them to work for me and won competition. What we’re trying to do is develop our star from the ground-up and make sure they have all the skills and bring it back to their day to day career. So with Sermy, I said to him that he should join the competition because I think he’s ready. Then I spoke to Aidan (Broderick—Expat. Roasters’s Head of Coffee) to mentor him, and Aidan said the same, so all we did was refine his skills a little bit. So Sermy went to the competition in Jakarta and we’re lucky enough for him to have the right set of skill, experience, and knowledge to came out as a first place.

I believe no competition ever won by one person; it’s also the company who support the champion, the coach, other staffs who has to work extra shift to cover while he was training and practicing, marketing team who organize everything, there’s a lot going on in a competition process!

What do you think about Indonesia coffee bean in general, and could you name two of your most favorites variant?

Back in Australia, when I said that I want to do all-Indonesian coffee blends and be as good as specialty coffees around the world, everyone laughed at me. They said ‘Shae, it’s too one-dimensional’, ‘too hard’, ‘inconsistent’, and all kinds of negative comments. But then we did it, right? It’s so satisfying to prove them wrong (laugh). For me personally, I’ve got a lot of favorite Bali coffees. In Australia, if we want to have a good single origin, I have to fly and get it from Costa Rica— that’s about 45 hours later to the coffee farm! But here, in Bali, I just jump on a bike in the morning and get to the farm by breakfast. We’re blessed to live here and have easy access to those coffee beans. Bali coffee is one of my favorite; especially Kintamani’s natural variant. I think the West Java’s Frinsa Estate beans are great as well. They are one of the most innovative farmers in Indonesia. I can’t speak highly enough about them as people, because they give back to the community and do a lot of amazing things in term of technique and sustainability.

What’s next for Expat. Roasters; Any near-future project that we should anticipate?

We have to do something in Jakarta. We got some wholesale customer already based in Jakarta from 300 in total, so what we want to do is fly some of our trainers around Indonesia for educational purpose. But I think we have to set up a training and education space in Jakarta beforehand. I have to do that soon!

From hundreds of coffee roasters in Jakarta, it’s very difficult for us to pick just one as source to represent the home roaster. This time, we rely on instinct, we were looking for a roaster that has unique marketing campaign and design, able to produce good quality coffee, and widely known in coffee communities. We ended up with Juno and The Coffee Company. We visited the roaster in East Jakarta and discussed with the founder, Mikael Teguhjaya, along with some of his cats, and we asked him an important question:

How many cats do you have?

Actually, the number of cats is confidential, because we have so many (lol)! I have some cats, all with their own names. Actually, they were rescued cats

You mean, street cats? I thought they were breed cats, they have beautiful hair…

They’re all mutts, perhaps it’s the food, and they’re always stay at home. I actually have 4 dogs, but for cats, I can’t tell you (lol)!

Okay, let’s talk about the beginning of your coffee journey.

I loved coffee for quite a long time, it’s Just I enjoyed it with milk and sugar. When I went for honey moon in Phuket, I mistook my coffee with a caucasian’s, it was bitter. Then I asked him, why didn’t he put some sugar in it? “Putting sugar will ruin its overall taste,” he said. From there, I started to have interest in coffee and finally I took coffee class in A Bunch of Caffeine Dealer (ABCD) Coffee on 2014.

At first, I knew Hendri Kurniawan in ABCD Coffee, Pasar Santa and we talked about Keep Cup instead. I was unfamiliar with ABCD’s concept of pay as you like, V60 coffee, then they have some imported bean such as Nylon, Coffee Collective, Geisha, Bourbon, Catura. Not long after that, they opened coffee class in 2014 and I was in the 5th batch, I think now they already have hundreds of batch.

In that class, there were only 3 students and thankfully, Hendri himself taught us, along with Ve (Handojo). We tasted coffee with interesting notes, it was floral, ginger, cinnamon. When Hendri asked our purpose to join the class, since the investment wasn’t cheap, my mind went blank for a while. My friend said we intended to open our own coffee shop.

Then, why didn’t you take that route?

I didn’t proceed because I couldn’t find the way. In addition to high rental price, when I managed to find an investor, I didn’t feel any chemistry. A friend offered my to join him in opening a coffee shop in Yogyakarta, which now becomes Hayati. But I had to refuse because I run my own business in Jakarta.

What sort of business?

I run a commercial photo and video for advertising called Penta Studio. My wife, Peny Pujiati, is a commercial photographer, she worked in branding consultant company as graphic designer. Finally, we built Penta Studio while also running Juno The Coffee Company.

How did you start Juno?

I’ve always wanted to contribute in coffee industry, luckily I found my idealism in the roastery business. 3 weeks prior to 2016’s Jakarta Coffee Week that was held in Hype, PIK, I told Hendri that I wanted to start my own roastery and wanted to take part in the event. He said, “why not? Go ahead!” Actually, Juno was a rushed, risky project. Because if we didn’t take a shot, I don’t think we would even start.

I didn’t even have my own roasting machine, so I have to rent in other people’s roastery. I didn’t have a clue of how complicated the single origin and the process, I also didn’t know how the coffee should taste. But I enjoyed the challenge, roasting was quite something! At the time, we didn’t even have any name, so my wife proposed one of my cat’s name, Juno.

Actually, is it a feminine or masculine name?

Juno is actually a female name, it’s the name of a Greek Goddess. So, whenever we found a guy called “Bang Juno”, my wife often laughs.

I started to buy green bean from traders, do our own branding and packaging, fortunately we had warm welcome from customers. On our first day, 80% of our coffee were sold out, I never expected such high enthusiasm for a new roaster. In addition, ABCD Coffee is very supportive, they have great networking. Jakarta Coffee Week is the place to look for coffee, some of my friends from Smith and Smoking Barrell were also sold out.

This seems like a tough question for a roaster, but, what makes you different than any other roasteries?

Perhaps not in term of branding, but I believe every coffee bean, roaster, even coffee shop has its own fans. Some of our customers swore by our bean, they can’t even enjoy coffee from other roasteries. Roasteries not only rely on flavor notes, we also have bond with customers. The thing is, most of our customers are cat lovers.

I guess I can say your “cat” marketing is a success.

I agree, because we use big blue logo of a cat’s head. Even when I met coffee lovers like Cubung (Wisang Kopi), Cindy and Rendy (Smith), Om Jason (Ombe Koffie), we didn’t talk about coffee, but it was cat instead. In term of taste, it’s similar to fried race case. We served the same rice which is fried, served with predictable spices, but everone has their own cooking method, and it results in different flavor.

I bought your coffee, if I remember correctly, you have many beans with light, fruity profile. Do you deliberately focus on filter roast?

In the beginning yes, due to the limitation, we didn’t have a roasting machine back then. If you want to create espresso roast when you still roast in other people’s roaster, it would be very complicated. Until today, we offer more filter roast variants, perhaps up to 20. But since last year, we started to serve espresso roast, and we try to keep the supply consistent.

What’s your strategy to market Juno?

The chance from events like Jakarta Coffee Week is huge. I got many B2B clients from there. Once I brewed a cup of coffee for visitors, and then I had someone who want to order 30 kg of it, and we signed a 6 months contract rightaway. Mostly, people know Juno from mouth to mouth.

One of the most frequent activities we had is cupping, fortunately I got some help from Ve who introduced Juno to ABCD’s partner coffee shops and to home brewers. Because of cupping, people realized our presence, even big brands like Hario asked us to host events together. We also sell our product online through Instagram and Tokopedia, I love to interact directly with clients.

For those who doesn’t know Juno yet, which bean do you recommend?

Our best seller for local bean is the Java Haluna, for imported bean, try Ethiopia Sidamo. Ethiopian coffee has its distinctive character and texture in your mouth, floral notes, I really love Ethiopian filter coffee. Meanwhile for Java Haluna, the bean comes from Mount Halu, West Java with yellow honey process. I love the coffee because it makes the roasting process relatively easy, compared to other honey process bean.

What sort of notes do your customers love?

Most coffee drinkers love sweet notes, with funky fermentation, a bit thick, although, honestly, I don’t really enjoy that sort of profile. For example is the coffee with natural process, which has distinctive jackfruit notes. Every time we do cupping sessions, we always have people who love that kind of notes. Therefore, when I offered Gayo Wine, it will be fun gimmick for customers. Today, I don’t offer it anymore, because I think the fermentation is a bit over.

You’re selling the products directly to customers, how difficult is it interacting with the so called “almighty netizen”?

Actually, it’s all about how you react, seriously. If we make mistake, just admit it, even when the mistake doesn’t come from us, we didn’t have to insist. We have many customers who don’t know how to do manual brew properly, from ration of coffee:water, to the choice of mineral water. To make it simple, I recommend them to start with 1:15 ratio, 90-93o C temperature, for 2 minutes 30 seconds. When they use Amidis, I recommend them to try use Purelife (Nestle), then they can actually taste the difference. It’s interesting, that’s why I often interacting with customers.

Do you think the use of the term “specialty” still relevant today?

I don’t even dare to claim myself as specialty coffee roaster. It’s very complicated, and in the end, the term becomes gimmick because people don’t understand it. Some people claim, “we’re specialty because we treat our V60 coffee very carefully”, that’s not the point. It’s more to how you understand the source of your coffee, you do direct trade, and you know exactly the processing. It would be even better if you go there and make your own contract with the farmers, I think, that’s specialty. If the coffee win an auction or COE (Cup of Excellence) it would be a plus.

Industry coffee is very interesting, seriously. We have many new equipments in each production stage, baristas invent new brewing methods, as a roaster, we have many new coffee processing. To me, selling coffee will never die, you’ll survive.

I t’s always interesting to see new coffee shops as the downstream of coffee business. However, knowing the upstream business is also as exciting, especially when you have the chance to meet people like Franky Angkawijaya, founder of Esperto Barista Course. Started off as hospitality student, the man took a different turn when he worked in cosmetic business before he emerged as one of the biggest player in the coffee industry

Tell us about your introduction to coffee industry.

My first encounter was in July 97, I was a barista in a café in Sydney. At the time, I was going to hospitality school and I got permit to work for 20 hours, legally. That was my first job, far before coffee is hype, simply just because I love drinking coffee, the café was near my house, they just opened and need people.

Do you still remember the café’s name?

Gloria, I’ll never forget that! After working for half year, I was back at school, and then worked in hotel’s F&B sector, banquet, room service and restaurant. However, every morning I always have Hazelnut Latte, my favorite drink, from some sort of wandering coffee shop cart or bicycle, I didn’t even know how they managed to put an espresso machine on that vehicle.

After returning to Indonesia, I was planning to run coffee business, but I had an offer to sell cosmetic and supplement under the brand of Fancl, which actually, completely different thing from my passion. However, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse, or, I wasn’t allowed to refuse to be exact.

What do you mean?

The company was owned by my father in law. So after I got back from Australia, I was directed what should I do, but it was good, because I learned so much about networking, retail, advertising, and marketing. But I was always yearning to do coffee business, at that time, Starbucks just got in (to Indonesia). Finally I decided to leave Fancl after 6 years.

So you started your coffee business?

I built iPool Billiard & Beer in Pantai Mutiara, and then one of my uncle’s partner who just returned from Australia. He had been running coffee business in Australia for 11 years, and then he have me an offer, “Franky, there’s a coffee brand that wants to enter Indonesia and they’re looking for a distributor, would you do it?” What a a coincidence! I want to do that, finally we started to import espresso machine and Schibello roasted bean from Sydney.

After 3 years, I decided to open a barista school, Esperto. At that time, coffee culture wasn’t as developed as now, when you wanted to penetrate the market, you needed to come to clients, gave them trainings and taught their baristas, for free. As time goes by, some clients are taking it for granted.

Didn’t you make any deal upfront, like how many training you’d give?

There’s no problem with training, but sometimes they became ungrateful. Whenever they encountered troubles, they thought, “just call, they needed us anyway.” Which is….quite unethical, because however, you need to appreciate other people’s time, because you can never have it back. Finally we opened our first barista school in Senayan Trade Center (STC). Although at first we opened it for our clients, after a while we opened ourselves to public, in order to survive.

Do you remember the time you started Esperto?

August 18th 2009, there’s no way I forget it, because this August 18th, we’ll turn 10. Actually, our class in STC was in some kiosk, then I decided to move to a new place in Wisma Geha, Menteng, before we finally moved here, in Kebon Jeruk.

Along with Esperto, you also act as roastery, since when?

We started 7 years ago. Back then, along with the escalating value of Australian dollar, the rules and regulations are getting more complicated. We always comply to all the rules, but somehow, they won’t make it any easier on us. All this burdens became cost, as a result our selling price wasn’t as competitive as before, finally we decided to locally roast our bean in order to survive. We always have a plan to have our own roastery, but 2012 was the trigger. From there, we’ve been running espresso machine distribution with Conti (until now), barista school, and roastery.

You’ve been in the business for almost 14 years, you’ve been through Starbucks, specialty coffee era, and now the ice coffee milk trend. What sort of adjustments do you make?

We don’t see it as changes, more to trend addition. Now, we have more middle class than ever, so, similar to a cone, people are trying to cater the middle and low class. We’ve been doing business in the middle up segment, but in coffee, actually we can go anywhere. So instead of change, we’re just trying to cater the needs of the triangle, what do they call it in school?

Maslow Hierarchy?

Yes, Maslow! I’m really bad with school (lol)! We focus more on B2B, maintaining clients, giving them inputs, but the most important thing is to ensure that our trust, and clients’ trust to us never lose, not even a bit, that’s what we’re trying to maintain. From the products’ know-how, after sales service, let’s just say, clients should know that when they do business with us, they can have good sleep.

Of course the situation was different from before 2010, where customers weren’t that informed about brands of machines.

Actually, most of them have no idea, until now. They might know some famous brand names, but they don’t understand the features and specifications. We had way too many customers like that. It’s a challenge for us, and it shows that the market is not mature enough. Put it this way, which one will you choose, Ferrari or GT-R (Nissan)?

Hmmm, it depends on what will I do with those…

For racing purpose?

GT-R.

Correct, For me, business is a competition, a race. Other people might perceive espresso machine for just showing offs with branded stuffs, but I focus more on specifications, because business is a war. In term of function, GT-R is faster than Ferrari, even faster than Porsche. That’s how I see it, business is a war, automatically, you need tools that will actually help you win the war.

In addition to B2B, I heard you’re one of Monolog Coffee owners?

Yes, you can say that…it’s something I wasn’t allowed to refuse. My partner is actually my childhood friend, he needed a coffee specialist that he can rely on. So, I act to manage their coffee division from the beginning until today. Along with Monolog, Mono group also runs other restaurant business, such as De Luca, House of Yuen, Olivier, and Garcon. I handle all the coffee in those outlets

What’s the biggest challenge in coffee’s B2B business? Educating? Maintaining clients?

Both are very challenging because the competition is very, very tough, and people would do anything just to win, I wouldn’t even mention any of them here. Therefore, if people ask me the meaning of Esperto, it actually stands for Educating, Sincere, Passionate, Expert, Reliable, Trustworthy, and always think Onward

So it’s an abbreviation!

On the other hand, we try to be honest. Because to us, it’s not just about the money, it’s about trust. So we try to give as much information as we can to clients, it’s up to them whether they will end up as our clients or not, we believe they will make their own wise decision. Look, when you’re really good at one thing, you don’t have to worry, people will look for you. Indonesia is actually very big, domestically speaking, our market is enough, we still have much space that can be filled.

Do you mean other region, apart from Jakarta?

We’re talking about Indonesia, right? Indonesia, from end to end is enormous. Even in Jakarta, there are still big opportunities. If you’ve been to (South) Korea, whenever you go, you’ll see coffee shops, we’re not quite there yet, not even close.

I heard Kaesang (son of President Jokowi) took class in Esperto before running his own business (Ternakopi)?

Actually, we installed the coffee machine in the State Palace, and it was right in front of Mr. Jokowi’s private room. The problem is, not everyone can operate the machine, therefore, I offered Kaesang to take the class. Actually, Mr. Triawan Munaf and Mrs. Mari Elka Pangestu also took class in Esperto. Mr. Triawan even make a joke, “Kaesang also took coffee class? The difference is, he becomes a coffee entrepreneur, I become a connoisseur.” We also have many hotel owners and coffee shops that learn coffee in Esperto.

President Jokowi seems to put special attention to coffee

Yes, because coffee is very accessible. Coffee is like…brings people together, ice breaker! We can have men, women, the price is ranging from the lowest to the most expensive. The thing is, coffee from certain region, can be connected with other culture of the region, from local fabric, musical instruments, traditional foods. Coffee is the best entry point to have multiplier effect.

Do you also make your own espresso machine?

Yes, it’s called Asterion. We used to think, with so many brands of premium machines and they can be sold with ease, we started to think of new ideas. Most coffee machine sellers seem to underestimate after sales service. However, talking is the easiest thing to do, realizing it is another matter. Therefore, instead of just talking, we make a super sophisticated machine with our own technology, so Asterion was created. With this machine, whenever people began to doubt our after sales service, it’s like saying, “look, we’re capable of making our own machine. If we can build it from scratch, maintenance should be much easier!”

What are Asterion’s main features?

We have longer soft infuse process, longer than any of the machines available on the market. We also have multi boilers, people who love to tweak their machines will get maximum result because they can set their own temperature. Then we have the manual piston, which means you can play with the pressure bar, starting from 3 bar, then to 5, 9, 12, whatever. Finally, Asterion’s steaming is very smooth, even a beginner can get that silky milk texture effortlessly.

The name actually comes from Hades’s strongest Underworld army, so we expect the machine to be robust. So far, thank God, we have no issue. To be honest, Conti’s principal thought we copied their design. After coming to our workshop, they were amazed, and said, “Crazy! You’re right, the design is different!” Since we started the Asterion project 5 years ago, we spent 3 years to create the design, a year for trial, and we just released it this year. Actually, we do the launching last year, while it was tested in Monolog. But the good thing about placing it in Monolog is, it’s a good place to test the durability and performance of Asterion, with Monolog’s high volume sales.

If there’s someone who can explain the coffee production process from the farm, perhaps Derby Sumule is the right person to meet. The owner of Coffeewar (Kemang) told us his story of how an urban person has to live in remote coffee farms to ensure the production process meets the specification of the end user. Although he acted as green bean trader, at this moment Derby admit he’s focusing on his new role as Co-founder and Chief of Farmer Empowerment of Seeds, the first digital coffee traceability application with blockchain technology and using QR Coffee in Indonesia. With only scan, you can trace the whole coffee production process from downstream to upstream. In the future, the app will also turn into a special marketplace platform for the coffee industry

Please explain a bit about the production process in the coffee farm

On average, coffee farmers in Indonesia sell their coffee as parchment coffee to middlemen or collectors. Usually, they pick the coffee cherry, peel off the pulp, ferment it, wash, and let it dry for 2- 3 days and then sell it. Nowadays, some farmers also sell the cherry coffee, it’s a quite fast way for them to get some cash.

Just mention the price so we know the actual number.

Each region has different price, but for example, in Flores Bajawa, coffee cherry is worth Rp. 7.000-7.500/kg (2018’s price), meanwhile to get 1 kg of green bean coffee, you need approximately 6,2 kg of coffee cherry. In other words, the basic price of green bean may reach Rp. 46.500.

From there, you need to add the fruit shrinkage, labor cost, production equipments, profits, etc. After that, middlemen will sell the coffee to exporter, to roasteries in Jakarta or other cities. In other places, such as in Toraja, middlemen will travel around the market and village to buy coffee from farmers as wet coffee parchment, the price is ranging from Rp 18.000-20.000/litre (2018’s price). The price is changing overtime, and it will be 3 to 4 times (depending on quality) to convert it into kilogram. The middlemen will proceed the process into “asalan” coffee (15% water content, 15% defect) or into grade 1 green bean coffee, according to order. We always think middleman as evil person who screws farmers’ life, in reality, that’s not the case.

When the middlemen travel around from village to market, the transportation and the processing cost are on them. It’s a cost that will be added to the green bean selling price. The green bean price of Bajawa coffee varies from Rp 80.000- 85.000/kg, not including shipping fee. That will be the price for traders or roasteries. Not to mention other risks faced by traders during shipping, extreme weather or total loss. Most of the times, people never realize there are big efforts behind all the production process.

I knew you as an expert in coffee processing.

That’s not accurate.

So what’s the title of your job?

In the beginning, I knew an Australian coffee researcher who needed research assistant in 2010. Then, I, as an urban person came to the mountains and forests to live along with farmers to see and monitor the coffee production process there. Then, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organization) or any institutions who wants to conduct research in Indonesia are required to have local vendor, at that time, they use the service of Coffee and Cocoa Research Center in Jember, but you can also team up with ITB or IPB.

They use my service as a research assistant in Enrekang, South Sulawesi. What we’re actually doing is buyer linkage, we organize the whole process from purchasing, post harvest processing, setting up areas, actually it’s the exact same thing like what I do now with Seeds, it’s just that I’m doing it in digital platform. Back then, we partnered with 2 Australian
companies: one act as importer and another as end user. The term expert of coffee processing is a simplification, I’m just a research assistant. Basically, I had to stay with farmers for a few weeks and I had to monitor the whole production process from farm to the end product will meet the requirements of end customers.

I heard the local farm productivity is relatively low, what’s the cause?

If we’re talking about the production volume of the land per hectare, Indonesia is relatively low indeed. In Flores, they can produce 400-600 kg/hectare, meanwhile, the best one is in Gayo that can reach 800kg – 1 ton/hectare. Most Indonesian farmers grow rice, horticultural plants, coffee, clove, chocolate, etc

Most of Indonesian farmers are not monoculture (the practice of growing a single crop at a time), because this concept is riskier, when the crop failure, they’ll have no income. There are some exceptions, such as Gayo farm is monoculture farm. Farming culture in Indonesia is quite different from other countries.

Let’s take Enrekang farmers for example, they also plant some clove, cocoa, and horticultural plants to maintain their income. Most horticultural plants can be harvested within 2-3 months, meanwhile for plants such as coffee, chocolate, and clove, can only be harvested once a year. Why do we have such low production rate? Because, not all farmers are willing to give special treatment to their farms.

Special farm treatment, what do you mean?

Look, ideally, a hectare land should have 1.600 coffee trees with 1,5 x 1,5m space among them. Basically, coffee trees are stressed out during dry season, and during rainy season, they will absorb lots of nutrition. If you don’t regularly trim the tree, you’ll have new shoots and branches, with less fertilizer coffee trees wouldn’t be in good condition, we also need to maintain the tree height around 1,6 m. You also need to trim the weeds around the trees.

In Flores and Toraja farms, the trees are too high, there are also other trees, such as bamboos that stand between coffee trees and the sunlight, it actually halt the photosynthesis process, and as a result, the yield wouldn’t be optimum. However, if you go to monoculture coffee farm in Gayo, they’re willing to give extra care, the height of the trees are all the same, around 1,6 m.

How can Gayo has monoculture farm?

The coffee farm above equator line can be harvested 2 times per year, usually in March and October, such in Gayo and North Sumatra coffee farm. On the other hand, the farm in East Indonesia can only have 1 harvest per year. In addition, farmers in Gayo and North Sumatra has larger ownership of the land.

Why the price of Indonesian bean keeps increasing from year to year?

For local market, it’s correct. Actually, from quite a long time, Indonesian coffee price is always above the global coffee price, because our basic price is already high, we can’t deny it. The global coffee price is around 97.75 cent/pound (Bloomberg)

If the global price is low, why our local coffee price keeps escalating?

Because of the local consumption keeps increasing. You can see for yourself, we have so many new coffee shops and roasters. Of course, the price will follow, now coffee is a trendy thing, it seems everyone’s doing coffee business. The escalating price has also caused some producers focus only to domestic market, because of its higher price, compared to the export.

In one of coffee auction in South East Asia, the price for Indonesian coffee is around $10/kg, compared to other coffee which are ranging form $6-7. Therefore, now we have many coffee shops and roasters that prefer to use imported bean, like from Brazil or Ethiopia, because of the sufficient demand.

The question would be, if the price keeps escalating, do the farmers have better life?

It’s a bit difficult to talk about the issue, as livelihood has its own standards and I never conduct any research on that matter. However, I did a buyer linkage project in Sulawesi, what we actually see, is that their livelihood doesn’t get better. Farmers aren’t automatically get rich, because they don’t have too many products. So the conclusion is, of course, the farmers have positive impact because of the escalating price, but about getting rich, I don’t think so.

Who enjoys the rise of Indonesian coffee price the most?

According to a research I read, roasters are the one who enjoy the biggest margin. Of course, we have so many closed down coffee shops, and roastery business isn’t as easy as it seems. Many roasters aren’t conducting feasibility study. For example, how can you reach BEP when you buy roasting machine worth Rp 1,2 billion when you only roast 50 kg -100kg coffee per month? You need to calculate the depreciation and some other things.

Why did you quit the green bean trading business?

I want to focus in this digital technology. It will be crucial, because my dream is, from all the journey I had in the past, I’m looking for a way to give back to the farmers. If Seeds is growing according to plan, we’ll have feature to tip the farmer. So, when you love coffee from certain farmers, you can give them tip, directly, exactly like we have in Go-Jek or Grab. How many people are willing to give a tip? Based on our research, there are so many. The number may depend on those who want to give the tip, but we’ll have the 360 effect, farmers supply the bean to downstream, while downstream can give the money back to the farmers.

President Jokowi seems to give special attention to coffee. Have you seen the realization?

From the last time we met, I haven’t seen any implementations. It’s good to give some production equipments to farmers, as long as, they meet the farmers’ needs. Don’t give farmers roasting machines, I mean, what for?

Does it actually happen?

Many times, it happens for quite a while. Imagine, a group of farmers in 1.400 metres above mean sea level on the foot of Mount Latimojong, South Sulawesi received a roasting machine with 10 kg capacity, that’s huge! It happened in 2007-2008. Roasting has its own discipline, it’s not as simple as turning green bean into roasted bean. You know what happened? I saw lumps of jet black coffee bean laying down there, because actually, after roasting, the fan broke down, and they have the self-roasting process and the coffee beans were over roasted

We need to re-evaluate the objective of giving such equipments, do they actually need them? Perhaps they need pulper machine or huller that can be connected to diesel machine. What’s the use of roasting machine for farmers when they’re having hard time to access electricity and gas?

However, I still believe that we need to maintain the current production chain, from farmer, middleman, exporter, roastery, and café. When you think of a middleman, you’d think about a person who lend money to farmers with high interest rate, along with threatening bodyguards if the farmers failed to pay the loan. It’s an old narration that’s been around for a long time. However, from many farms I’ve visited, the reality isn’t like that, what often happens is the contrary.

It’s a real story of a woman from Surabaya who wanted to trade commodities in Flores, perhaps because she was born and raised there. She also has courage and capital to do trading business. Then, she built warehouse, but it was abandoned soon after. The story was, a village with 50 farmers received down payment from the woman so they would sell their products to her. You know what happened next? After getting the payment, the farmers sold their products to other people because the lack of relationship. Then, what can the woman do? Did she bring any bodyguards? The bodyguards would also be member of the very same village.

Smarter middlemen will go another route. For example, when the farmers need fertilizer, they would give them. Or when the farmers’ children went to school, you can give them the uniform, so they feel indebted. Without strong relationship, middleman may actually dies.

So middleman isn’t necessarily evil?

Middlemen play some important roles, they can help farmers, such as when they need some loan or other things, they are partners in some ways. If middlemen weren’t good to farmers, it would be difficult for them to get coffee from the farmers.

From your story, coffee production in farm sounds very complicated. On the other hand, we have many coffee shops and roasters who claimed that they do direct trade. Is it actually that easy to do so?

It is complicated. Look, direct trade is a gimmick that can raise the selling price, even though they don’t necessarily understand what they’re talking about. We have farmers who have production equipments, and farmers who don’t have one, the end result would be different. The products from farmers are not necessarily ready to use. When coffee shop or roaster requests farmer to process coffee with certain specification, are they willing to provide the necessary equipment? I don’t think so

This recent trend is not without Problem. In reality, a sporadic growth of smallholder farms, along with a similar growth of cafes in the cities, has created uncoordinated coffee supply chains with inconsistent product quality and quantity. In the end, this situation backfires on farmers’ reputation, creating distrusts among actors and compromised coffee prices

Coffee shop and roaster that demands certain green bean spec from farmer and producer is a common story, I wouldn’t mention any brands. We have some stories when the products are ready, the buyers cancelled their order. And then we have coffee shop which only buy 10 kgs, what should the farmers do with the rest of the products? Actually, what are you trying to save the farmers from? What happens is, you actually exploited farmers job.

There are not too many coffee shop brands that can be considered as catalyst for the development of Indonesia’s coffee industry. Some of them are Starbucks that came in 2002, One Fifteenth Coffee in 2012, and of course, Anomali Coffee in 2007. Far before the term “third wave coffee” was popularized in 2012, Anomali has become the pioneer to campaign for Indonesia’s specialty coffee. We met Irvan Helmi, one of Anomali Coffee’s founder to discuss about the development of Anomali Coffee as a group, the coffee market situation, to his perspective on coffee shop’s role which is irreplaceable by the invasion of ice coffee milk brands out there.

When you started Anomali Coffee in 2007, how was the industry situation back then?

At that time, we already have some cafes, but there hasn’t been one strong message about Indonesia coffee. Therefore, in 2007, we realized the potention, if we focus on it, it will be buzzing. We had many inspirations, from Starbucks, because without it, we can’t sell coffee… not can’t, but possible wouldn’t have been able to sell like now.

Apart from it, we also have some local brands that started earlier, such as Casswell Coffee, or Bakoel Koffie. However, there’s no single brand that inspired us totally, because no one is doing what we wanted to do. We always want to curate local coffee, that’s why we came up with the idea of “Kopi Asli Indonesia”, right from the beginning.

Which one was established first, the coffee shop or the roaster?

The funny thing is, since our inception, we never claim ourselves as coffee shop or roaster, but our function is to curate coffee. Of course, we had the idea of starting roaster, but we’d never known whether we’ll be roasted bean supplier, or café owner. Everything’s just flow, and we had café, also the roastery. Our first outlet was located in Senopati Street no 35, but now it moved to Senopati 19, just across some few houses

So, you didn’t have any specific business format back then?

I wouldn’t say not specific. Look, we understand what we wanted, but we didn’t want to limit ourselves. If the term specific that you refer is to become, let say, a coffee shop, does that means we can’t be a roastery? Distributor or importer of coffee equipments? Selling ice coffee milk? Whichever routes we took, our mission is to be Indonesian coffee curator

Starting business in 2007 when coffee wasn’t as popular as now, do you think it was the right moment, or is it premature?

Right, because thanks God we grew so fast, we even reached BEP in less than a year. Actually, we were quite surprised, but that’s all I can say.

That’s the best indicator! Clean and clear! Now let’s talk about the roastery, which market do you focus on?

We supply to some big groups that we can’t mention. At the moment, our biggest income is still coming from cafes, not the roasted bean. However, if you refer to market segments, do we really have to pick one, let say A, B, or C segment? We never think like that, it’s way too complicated. We just want to stay true, when you want good coffee, there’s a certain price point, and whoever appreciate it (our coffee), you’re welcome. Because, when we aim for certain market segment, we limit ourselves.

In term of products, what makes Anomali Coffee bean different than the other?

You can’t think that way, I guess other roasters will be having difficult times to define it also. We never think Anomali bean needs to have certain character, what we see is the potentialities of each coffee bean. If some beans are better off with dark roast, that’s what we’ll do. Therefore, I cant answer your question.

Lately, the local coffee bean is rising, both in popularity and the price, what’s the cause?

Actually it’s not a sudden thing, but it has happened since the last 3-4 years. One of the causes is the local farmer’s productivity is not too high. Let’s say the world’s average coffee farm can produce 1 ton of green bean coffee from 1-hectare land, in Indonesia, the average is 500 kg.

I’ll give you a simple analogy, before online ojek, a conventional ojek driver will charge you Rp 25.000, minimum, even for a short distance. Now, since the online apps, he has no problem to get Rp 12.000 for the same route, but in one day, he can get more orders, up to 20 orders. People often confused the tariffs and the total income. Clearly, they are 2 different things.

Then, for coffee, if the price is going up, is it a good thing for farmers? Not necessarily, we need to check their income. If the price of 1 kg coffe is Rp 150.000 but the farmers only get 10% of it, are they happy? I don’t think so. Then what if it’s Rp 60.000 but they can get Rp 6-8 million per month? They’ll be happier. However, I have to admit our productivity is still low, that’s why the price keeps rising.

Apart from that, the local and export market are fighting for local bean. In 2018, our export is having 38% decline, that’s huge. On the other hand, during the past 10 years, our local market grows to 248%, almost 2,5 time, that’s crazy.

I heard the Brazillian bean cost less than local bean, let say from Aceh.

Very far. For decent quality Arabica Aceh bean, Rp 85.000 (green bean) is considered as affordable, meanwhile you can have the Brazillian counterpart for Rp 36.000/kg.

What’s the cause?

I’ll ask you back, according to you, Brazil’s productivity is high or low?

Well, it should be high.

Correct. Brazil can produce 2 tons per hectare, which means 4 times more than Indonesia. We’re talking about Arabica bean here. Therefore, they can get lower selling price, and then, are the Brazillian farmers prosperous? They’re rich!

Media friends, don’t limit yourself to writing solely about selling price. For example, coffee price should be high (for farmers to be prosperous), it means the journalist is lacking knowledge. What you need to see, is with Rp 36.000/kg, Brazillian farmers are rich, it’s all about the income.

Okay, now for the last 12 years, what’s the biggest change in Anomali Coffee?

The biggest one would be on the way we think as a group, it’s completely different than when we just had Anomali Coffee. Now we have other business entities, the first one is Anomali Coffee, and then we have PT. Kopi Asli Indonesia which acts as trader, import and distribution of coffee equipment, selling roasted bean to hotel, resto, café. The point is, we had some innovations and industrial activities in PT. Kopi Asli Indonesia. The third one, we also have Indonesia Coffee Academy, our coffee school brand. We also have other brand like Kopi Segede Gaban, if you’ve heard of it

Then, how do you adapt to the market? What’s the impact of specialty coffee trend and ice coffee milk trend to Anomali?

So far, not too much, it’s just now we have some sort of campaign that says that good coffee doesn’t have to be expensive, do you think it’s good or bad? For us, it’s very good, but coffee shops that sells their coffee over Rp 20.000, like Anomali whose average price is Rp 30.000, we must realize that customers demand for than just a cup of coffee.

The simple question would be, why people come to coffee shops? Is it necessariy to drink coffee? Perhaps they just want to chat, hangout, work, or to hold meeting. There are so many social roles answered by a café, that’s what the customers are paying for, and that’s exactly what can’t ice coffee milk provide. If we realize (as coffee shop) that we have social functions in society, we’ll survive. But when you start to mock ice coffee milk as “cheap”, “not good”, they’ll suffer.

In your opinion, is the use of “specialty” term still relevant? As we know, many coffee shops that claim themselves as specialty don’t necessarily serve specialty grade coffee.

To me it will always be relevant no matter when. Saying our product is good while claiming others were bad, lying, is it only happening in coffee industry? Other products such as clothing, silk, even carpet are also having the same issue. Does saying negative things about Turkish carpet ruin its reputation completely? The key is in customers, we need to educate them so they’re able to tell difference between real and fake Turkish carpet. This kind of thing will always be there, don’t worry about it.

Hello RekanInterfood!

Siapa yang disini suka dengan Kontes? Apalagi kontes foto? Nah, di Pameran BALI INTERFOOD 2019 ini, @passionmediaid, @interfoodexpo dan @sthalaubudbali akan mengadakan Kontes Foto untuk kalian yang suka foto dan membuat caption yang menarik lho!  Dengan hadiah “STAYCATION” total senilai 7,5 Juta Rupiah bagi 3 pemenang.

Every field in F&B industry has its own era, however, according to Chef Rahmat Kusnedi, at the moment pastry and bakery will give you bigger opportunity than any other F&B sectors. Of course, you might feel an opinion that’s coming from a Pastry Chef about his own field wouldn’t be too objective, but as the President of Indonesia Pastry Alliance (IPA), of course Chef Rahmat have some facts that will strengthen his opinion.

What’s your assessment about the latest situation in F&B industry?

Now we already have so many players in F&B industry. Of course, my opinion needs to be supported with more valid data, but generally speaking, and from the development that happens in associations, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and chefs, at the moment the biggest growth happens in pastry and bakery industry.

There are many big investors from contractors, interior designers, and businessmen who enter the food business. It’s just in hot kitchen field, there are things that’s a bit hard to modify. For example, Chinese restaurant’s format tend to be similar to each other, we haven’t seen anyone who can develop it into some sort of gift, like what often happen in pastry & bakery industry.

Why did you say pastry & bakery is more prospective than the hot kitchen?

The business can be developed in many more ways because it can be taken away, in other word, the chance for growth is bigger. As example, Roti O, it’s a very sexy business. They’re available in almost all airports, stations. The outlets might be small, but they have great number, spread across many regions. Although they only sell 1 kind of product, but it seems everyone’s carrying their products home, just like Beard Papa which sells choux. I haven’t seen anyone from airport who got home carrying, let say, Soto Lamongan? Satay?

For pastry products, you don’t have to finish it in one go, you can break them into pieces, or you can keep them in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, for food like Lontong Cap Gomeh, you need to finish it in one seating.

Pastry & bakery industry is quite interesting, we can measure everything, from traffic, packaging, even to the production process. We always measure how many products can be made out of a batch of dough, then we’ll know how much we’ll earn, everything can be monitored. We also work with recipe, meanwhile hot kitchen tend to rely on feeling, instinct. In pastry, the recipe will tell you exactly the duration of the mixing,, baking in oven, the required temperature.

We’re talking about product characteristic just now, in the upstream, the number producers in pastry & bakery keeps increasing. Let’s take flour for example, we used to know Bogasari only, now we have man new players such as Sri Boga, Lumbung, Eastern Pearl Flour Mills, Pundi Kencana, and Bungasari. Not to mention manufacturers of other products, like chocolate and dairy product.

How about the opportunity in hot kitchen?

Hot kitchen field also has many opportunities, if you know how to present it. We need some groundbreaking ideas, let say nasi kuning in compartments and then vacuum packed. When you want to eat it, you just need to reheat it. The innovation may come from the packaging only.

On the other hand, in pastry industry, every market segment, from children, teens, housewives love to post their pastry activities in social media. Making cupcakes, or decorating cakes is fun things to do, so we have more people interested in the industry. No wonder we have so many new players, be it offline or online. However, if we don’t direct this growth well, there will be saturated soon enough.

The spacious interior of T.One Coffee and Roastery immediately welcomes its customers with a comfy vibe; drinking bar right on front of the entrance and plush sofas mixed with chic steel chairs and wooden tables on the side. The café’s own roasting machine is conveniently placed on its own room behind the seating. The industrial-meets-rustic influence pleasantly intertwines; represented by the quite iconic black-and-yellow-striped pillars and brick wall. You can also opt to enjoy the ambience on its cozy front or second level outdoor areas.

For the dining menu, there are several selections you can try at T.One Coffee and Roastery; one of the most enticing comes in form of Nasi Goreng Kecombrang; a peculiar (but tasty!) blends of Indonesian-style fried rice with ‘kecombrang’ or torch ginger, creating a strong aromatic and savory flavor in the palate. This plateful of satisfying menu is served along chicken nuggets, pickle and ‘kerupuk’ rice crackers. If you opted for a rather sweet treat, don’t miss the Bailey’s Cake, which, as the name implies, is a creamy, pleasant pastry creation made with a mild mix of titular Bailer’s liquor.

Delectable dishes aside, T.One is obviously known for their excellent houseblend coffee creations; made from the mix of Bali’s Kintamani, Aceh Gayo and West Java beans. One of our recommendations is their Affogato; two scoops of vanilla ice cream, drowned with shot of hot espresso. The taste is incredibly good; a mixture of soft Arabica with chocolate hint and a bit of acid, combined with creamy sweet melted vanilla ice cream for a heavenly dessert. Try another one of their espresso-based beverage: Espresso Tonic, which blends the deliciously robust hot espresso with fizzling cold sweet-and-sour tonic for a sparky afternoon mood booster.

Passion meets William Wongso, an energetic figure who tirelessly promotes our country’s cuisine in international level for many years now. He shares the story of his endeavors and how we can make our Indonesian cuisine greater than ever.

Care to share some highlights from your recent travel in Indonesia?

I was asked to participate as a jury for this epic rendang competition held in Padang. I’m quite curious with the technicalities since it involves teams from 33 provinces all over Indonesia! Not just that, the competition also involves local students and home cooks from West Sumatra as well.

I was asked to participate as a jury for this epic rendang competition held in Padang. I’m quite curious with the technicalities since it involves teams from 33 provinces all over Indonesia! Not just that, the competition also involves local students and home cooks from West Sumatra as well.

Despite the huge potential we have, why is Indonesian cuisine struggling to be known internationally?

One of the most popular issues regarding Indonesian cuisine abroad is the availability of our restaurants. It’s in contrast when you’re comparing it with, for example, the plethora of Thai restaurants we can find in foreign countries. It takes years for them to finally be known and they’re now reaping the benefits. Thai cuisine took of internationally after the country had dedicated a lot of resources to introduce it abroad.

However in our case, it’s riskier. What most likely to happen is if we’re not investing wholeheartedly in this kind of venture, then there’s a high chance that in 6 months the restaurants will close. Quite surprisingly however, the latest international hype is Vietnamese cuisine. A question arises next, how come they’re more successful than us while the government’s not specifically doing what the Thai did back then?

How curious! What about it, Oom Will?

Indonesia is a generally a peaceful country. There was never a huge conflict here that forced its people to migrate for safety abroad. Unlike Vietnam for example, a whole village may migrated abroad and communities then established in American cities. This created a steady demand for ingredients from their original country. That’s why their culinary culture are more developed and gradually accepted by the locals.

As a comparison, we have over 130,000 Indonesians scattered in all over The States. Meanwhile, apart from other places in USA, there’s this whole 130,000 Vietnamese people currently living in San Jose alone, just an hour trip outside of San Francisco. A few years back, the city even had a Vietnamese vice mayor.

The same case might happen again in future Germany. We might witness the rise of Syrian cuisine there since many refugees have been fleeing the war-torn country. This I remember 40 years ago when I first visited Germany. I had my share of street-style doner kebabs back then when it was only to cater Turkish workers. Now, Turkish fine dining restaurants can be found in many places in Germany and even as far as Vienna, Austria.

What is the strategy you’d like to propose regarding this?

We must realize that it’s not easy to inspire Westerners to cook Indonesian food on daily basis at home. It’s the same with us, we don’t cook Western food that often as well, right? So, we need to create a nuance within their own dishes by incorporating our flavors!

For example, if we’re teaching them the recipe of soto ayam, they will think many times to actually cook it. But, how about if we teach the French to infuse soto ayam flavors into their pot-au-feu? It’s more applicable to them, right?

Quite recently, I visited Namibia. I had this rare opportunity to cook with game meats there and our team grilled it the Indonesian way - by applying kecap manis and our style of marination. The locals were all raving about it and asked me where they can buy these. Unfortunately they can’t of course, since we don’t have a trade route there for our ingredients.

Learning from these examples, we can actually create a huge economic value for our country by establishing an export route for our ingredients. This way, we can support our restaurants to creating authentic flavors and cementing our culture overseas.

Surely we can still find similiar ingredients as a substitute abroad, right?

I suspect that Thai and Vietnamese cuisines use the hybrid ingredients and the flavors taste different when compared with our authentic spices. That’s why the taste of our food affected as well. The export will help to fill this gap and also helps our restaurants to compete.

For example, Indonesian dishes usually require extensive preparations and this will cost the business a lot in terms of time, manpower, and money. By providing them with authentic, processed ingredients, they may save up to 40% of their cost!

Last question, where are you heading next for your food diplomacy events?

I will be heading to South Korea this September for a cooking competition between our migrant workers there. Next in October, I will be heading to Budapest and cook for an event. We’re adopting the strategy that I have mentioned before by creating a dish like foie gras combined with rujak Aceh - instead of using the usual sauces. We will also cook roti jala with gulai, nasi minyak Batanghari, and for desserts – kue lumpur with banana filling and cendol sauce or the serabi gulung filled with jackfruits.

Afterwards, I will be heading to Atlanta and support this event at WIN Indonesian Grill & Gastrobar, a brand new restaurant. Then, it’s Paris, Rome, South Korea again, and finally at the end of this year – a culinary tour in India.

On August 10th 2019, Association of Culinary Professionals (ACP) Indonesia invited Chef Heman Tan as a speaker for an event called “Basic Cooking Chinese Cuisine” in Modena Experience Center, Jakarta. The chef taught the students about Chinese cooking, but more importantly, gave them motivation based on his own story. It’s a story of how a bullied young boy, smoked drugs, suffering dyslexia, half deaf, becomes a 4 books author, a famous chef, owner of Iron Supper Club, a triathlon athlete, and an award winning ceramist.

Why people call me Iron Man Chef? Some people say that’s because Chef Heman loves to do ironman race. In this opportunity, I will tell you no! My Iron Man Chef means I came from a very difficult way. Today, you know me as the founder of Iron Supper Club, a professional chef, and a ceramic artist. How difficult it was before I reach today

When I was young, about Primary 3 (age 8-9), I’m half deaf, which means when I’m talking to you, I can only use my right ear to talk to you. If you stand at my left side, I can’t hear you. I’m also a dyslexic, it was a terrible experience for me, because I can’t read.

I was always being bullied and I dropped out from school because I can’t study properly. I still remember when I was in school, when I studied Chinese, because I didn’t know what to do, my teacher took an eraser, threw it at me and said, “Go die ah! If you can success, I will chop my head down!” So these are my early days of my childhood. And because of all this experience, people started to reject me, I felt helpless, nobody loves me, even my parents can’t accept me.

At age 12 years old, I started to smoke drug. And because of it, I went to rehabilitation center. Over time, I tried to conquer my journey. One of the points that I want to share with you is, ask yourself, “do you believe in yourself ?”

Believe in Yourself

Do you believe in yourself? That you can make it right now, schooling, and another 20 years, can you make it? I want to share with you about the ironman race. In this race, you need to swim 3,9 km, cycle for 180 km, and run for 42 km. How long did it take for me from start to finish? The first time, I completed in 11 hours, after that, because of some injury I completed it in 15 hours.

Why am I sharing you this example? In ironman race, if you don’t believe in yourself and train properly, you’ll never complete the race. Some people ask me, “is there any shortcuts?” I tell them, no shortcut, because I train everyday. Every morning, I do 10-18 km run, because if I don’t do that, I’ll never finish the race. Believe me, never!

Your journey is the same, if you say you want to be Chef, an F&B Manager, if you don’t study hard and train properly, you will never be successful. So working hard is very important, so does working wise. And for the young chefs, understanding ingredients is very important.

Know the Rule and Break it

The second lessons I want to share with you is know the rule and break it. You’ve learned how to fry sunny side up egg properly, then one day your boss tell you, “I don’t want sunny side up, I want something beyond it.” What can you do? You need to break the rule.

Do you know escargot? It’s one of my favorite dish. When I worked in a restaurant, my boss told me escargot is the restaurant’s signature, I can’t touch nor change it! However, this naughty boy here, change the escargot presentation.

In traditional cooking, you take out the escargot’s shell, sautee with garlic and butter, put it back to its shell, go to oven, come out, before you serve to customer you flambe it. I do the other way, I told my boss, that I would bring the flambe outside of the kitchen and flambe it in front of the customers. My boss told me I can’t do that, it’s very dangerous!

Did I break the rule? Of course, I know the basic but I break the rule. Breaking the rules allow you to be more creative. Whenever I present this dish in my restaurant in Singapore, everybody takes out their camera and post it on Instagram. Today, my boss is happily serving this dish in his restaurant.

3 years later, because I love escargot so much, I started to ask myself, “can I do another version of escargot?” And this is the version that I do, it’s called “The Garden of Escargot” and it was awarded by Cuisine & Wine Asia Magazine. So again, knowing the rule and break the rule. Today, if you happen to visit Singapore, come to my restaurant and enjoy The Garden of Escargot. And because of my love to ceramic, I even designed and made the ceramic!

Who knows about Chinese New Year dish called Pen Cai? We put so many ingredients together and we eat together in Chinese New Year. However, this dish requires around 10-12 people, sometimes it’s very difficult to find that many people. So, I created Pen Cai that can be enjoyed personally. I’m still holding my basic, but I broke the rule.

Make Failure Your Friend

The last one, is don’t be afraid, make failure your friend. I have failed many many times, even until today. But as journey goes on I tell myself, “I should not be afraid of failure!” Because when you start to afraid of failure, you will never be successful. Failure comes to you, every time. Who can tell me that he or she never failed before? You know why failure comes? Because it challenges you and it makes you a better person.

Back when I was a young boy with dyslexia, because I couldn’t study properly, the only thing I think I can do, is to be a chef, to be a cook, so I go to a school in Singapore called Shatec. When I go to the school, the school rejected me because I wasn’t qualified to be in the school. I walked out and cried. You know why I cried? Because to me, it was my last chance, and the school rejected me.

I remember clearly when I cried and walked out from the school, I told myself, “I’m not only want to be a chef, I want to be a very famous chef!” After that, I worked very very hard in my 20 years to be a chef. And thank God, now I’m a 4 books author, I have my own restaurant, I have my own TV channel. I want to share with you, live is never easy, just keep on working to pursue your dream.

Michelin star has come around the world and one of the journalist asked me, “Chef, if today your restaurant is not a Michelin star restaurant, do you still pursue your dream?” I looked at him, and I told him, “yes! Because I love cooking!”

How I can survive until today, is simply because I love to serve people. So ladies and gentleman, if you want to be a Chef, you must learn to serve people. If you don’t like to serve people, you can’t be in this industry. Because, our day to day work, we cook for people.

During the 2019’s Indonesia Pastry Cup event in Academy of Pastry and Culinary Arts (APCA) Indonesia, Alam Sutera on July 14th 2019, Vincent Bourdin was appointed as one of the judge for the national selection. We met the Founder and Director at APC-Productions Pte Ltd to dig deeper about Asian Pastry Cup (APC) and their next project, Asian Pastry Week, and his plan to inject some fun in the serious pastry business, involving pastry chefs, mixologysts, and DJs.

Tell me about APC Production, is it part of Valrhona?

No. APC-Productions Pte Ltd is my company, registered in Singapore, and this is a company which is here to promote pastry through organization of competition and events. So, it is an independent company from Valrhona. APC production is me, and Valrhona is Valrhona.

How long has it been established?

APC-Productions Pte Ltd is technically close to 10 years.

Tell us about this Asian Pastry Week.

We started first by the organization of Asian Pastry Cup, which is, of course, the qualification round for all the countries in Asia to go participate in World Pastry Cup in Lyon, France. From there, we move to accommodate other competitions, like C3 (Chef, Chocolate, Competition), which is chocolate plated dessert competition which APC Production is organizing and producing.

Plus, last year we had Global Starchefs Pastry Show where I asked all the top gun chefs, like the winner of World Pastry Cup, or MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France), sometimes both, like my friend Philippe Rigollot, to come and instead of just judging, they were there to do a magic show, with a lot of music and fun to do a big demonstration. So the chefs work together, sometimes do their own, to make about 2 hours show with lot of fun. We’’ll also have a new element which I bring in, it’s gonna be new next year. It’s a challenge where we bring together pastry chef, mixologist and DJ.

Very interesting, I never heard of it!

It’s a new concept because I think that today’s pastry is a very serious business. I’ve been in this business for 35 years, but we have to keep up to date. The very serious competition like we do for Asian Pastry Cup and C3, are competitions which take times, and sometimes the people wants to have more image and taste. So I combine this new way of communicating pastry with social media, fun and enthusiasm, with music, mixologist and pastry chef.

So, the concept is, every team would have 10-12 minutes with everything ready made, except for the mixologist, of course. But pastry chefs would have their mise en place and put the elements together, mixologists have to do some cocktail and mocktail, and the DJ will make the ambience. Each team has 10 minutes to make maximum noise and a very spectacular service. 10 minutes only! It’s a show, and a challenge as well. But there are some judgments for the best pairing, best combination, and the best altogether combination among the three. So it’s the very first time in the world we combine these 3 elements together!

When will we have the event?

During the Asian Pastry Week, at Food Hotel Asia (FHA) in 3rd-6th March 2020, Singapore. Asian Pastry Week is happening within one specific hall in FHA. Of course FHA has their own competition, but now, we’ll take half of the hall, which is around 1.500m2, to do our own event.

So, which nations will be there?

The first competition is the Asian Pastry Cup, and there will be 12 countries in Asia including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries. 12 nations will come for the very first 2 days at the Asian Pastry Cup, then the third day, we have this C3 for morning and at the afternoon, we’ll have cocktail, the pastry chef and music, closed with massive party. Then on the 4th day morning, because the show is closing in the afternoon, we do that Global Starchefs Pastry Show with 6 or 8 top gun chefs, that’s why we call it Star chefs.

Sejak dahulu kala, Indonesia telah dikenal sebagai negara penghasil kopi berkualitas prima, namun baru beberapa tahun belakangan budaya minum kopi mencuat sebagai salah satu gaya hidup / lifestyle bagi banyak kalangan di kelas menengah ke atas. Namun tahukah anda bahwa biji kopi murni pada mulanya bukan berwarna coklat gelap seperti yang sering kita lihat, melainkan hijau pucat? Di edisi berikut, PASSION ini mengajak para pembaca untuk mengenal lebih dekat tentang ‘Green Bean Coffee’ atau biji kopi hijau yang menjadi asal muasal kenikmatan di setiap gelas minuman berkafein alami tersebut. Mari kita simak bersama selagi bersantai di kala senja!

Kopi yang kita minum umumnya memang berwarna kecoklatan, bahkan hitam pekat, namun hal tersebut muncul dari serangkaian proses panjang dan rumit yang sering dikenal sebagai ‘roasting’. Sebelum melalui sederet tahapan tersebut, biji kopi mentah dari buah kopi (cherry) memiliki warna kehijauan. Bahan baku inilah yang jamak dikenal sebagai ‘green bean’. Secara global, kopi memiliki dua tipe utama, yakni Arabica dan Robusta; dan dapat dibedakan lewat bentuknya. Biji kopi Arabika cenderung pipih memanjang, sementara Robusta berbentuk bulat.

Secara umum, biji kopi yang telah diolah akan di-roast untuk mengeluarkan aroma dan rasa yang dibutuhkan, namun jika ingin membuat ekstrak green bean, biji kopi tidak melalui proses roasting; melainkan langsung direndam dan dikonsentrasikan untuk mengeluarkan ‘sari’nya. Lalu apa kegunaan ekstrak green bean coffee yang tidak di-roast? Rupanya penelitian membuktikan bahwa ia berkhasiat bagi kesehatan tubuh, terutama dalam hal menurunkan berat badan dan mencegah obesitas. Green bean mengandung ‘Cholorogenic Acid’, zat antioksidan tinggi yang berfungsi untuk meningkatkan metabolisme tubuh dan meluruhkan lemak berlebih. Bahkan sejumlah ilmuwan mengklaim bahwa konsumsi green bean secara rutin cukup untuk menurunkan berat badan tanpa program olahraga rutin sekalipun.

Selain Cholorogenic Acid, antioksidan dari keluarga fenol dan kafein juga menjadi kandungan utama dalam biji kopi. Selain dua kelompok senyawa tersebut, biji kopi juga mengandung beberapa senyawa seperti tannin, tiamin, santin, asam sitrat, asam folat, niasin serta mineral seperti magnesium, mangan, dan fosfor. Secara umum, biji kopi terbaik berasal dari daerah dataran tinggi atau pegunungan, tak terkecuali green bean coffee. Untuk menilai kualitas biji kopi yang baik, dapat dilihat secara langsung melalui fisiknya. Pilihlah biji kopi yang utuh, kering dan tidak berbau apek.

Bali Culinary Professional (BCP) kembali mengadakan gathering bulanan di Henry’s Grill & Bar restoran di Aryaduta Bali. Acara dimulai dengan networking cocktail dan dilanjutkan dengan makan siang yang langsung disajikan oleh Chef Daniel H. Chaney. Acara ini dihadiri oleh para anggota BCP, young chef, dan profesional F&B. Acara ini didukung oleh Lotus Food Service, Sukanda Djaya, Beer Bintang, Hatten Wines, Passion Media dan banyak sponsor lainnya.

Dilmah Tea menggelar kompetisi berjudul Tea Inspiration for 21st Century pada 19-20 Agustus 2019 di Pullman Hotel, Jakarta. Dilmah menyadari bahwa konsumsi teh harus bisa mengikuti perkembangan jaman, tidak hanya sekadar diseduh menggunakan air panas. Pada kompetisi ini, para peserta membuat berbagai macam kreasi, mulai dari makanan, dessert, hingga cocktail, semuanya menggunakan teh. Terdapat 4 orang sosok yang menjadi juri pada lomba ini: Dilhan C Fernando (CEO Dilmah), Peter Kuruvita, Tomek Malek dan Chandra Yudasswara. Hadir juga sosok Founder Dilmah yang merupakan ayah dari Dilhan C Fernando, Merrill J Fernando. Dari 20 kontestan yang berasal dari seluruh Indonesia, The Papilion Jakarta yang diwakili oleh Ellyas Syaban dan Saskia Auryn Nugraha menjadi “Overall Winner” dari kompetisi ini.

Suburnya bisnis per-kopi-an di Pulau Bali membuka jalan bagi hadirnya sederet sosok muda berbakat seperti Darryl Loandy. Bukan hanya jago meracik kopi, barista andalan Bare Bottle Kuta tersebut juga mengeksplorasi khasanah bidangnya lebih jauh dan kini telah menciptakan brand jug (wadah tuang susu untuk latte art) nya sendiri. PASSION mendapat kesempatan untuk berbincang hangat sang pemuda sembari menikmati Iced Capuccino nikmat racikannya.

Sateria Beachside Restaurant Melia Bali memberikan kabar menarik, spot hangout casual ini baru saja mengumumkan ekspansi untuk memberikan pengalaman kuliner santai yang lebih baik di tepi pantai dengan desain segar. Dengan pemandangan Samudera Hindia, open-air space berkapasitas 160 tempat duduk ini menambah lagi 70 seat agar lebih banyak orang lagi yang dapat menikmati hidangan lokal dan internasional seperti seafood segar, pizza, pasta, dan steak, hingga menu vegetarian.

Dengan sentuhan yang memberikan kenyamanan lebih, seperti sofa dan daybed, para tamu akan mendapatkan pemandangan terbaik menunggu sunset sambil menikmati cocktail, afternoon tea yang dilengkapi dengan berbagai varian dessert menarik. Sateria Beachside Restaurant buka dari jam 07.00-23.00 dan melayani breakfast, lunch, dan dinner setiap hari.“Javanese Brem” cake.

Sateria Beachside Restaurant, 

Kawasan Wisata ITDC Lot. 1, Jl. Raya Nusa Dua Selatan, Benoa, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80363, 

Phone: +62 361 77 1510, www.melia.com/en/hotels/indonesia/bali/melia-bali/...

Pecinta wine bisa bernafas lega, pasalnya salah satu restoran favorit di Bali akan menjadi surge bagi wine specialty. Da Maria mengadakan peluncuran acara berjudul “Bistecca + Vino + Vinyl” pada 29 Agustus, ini adalah kali pertama wine natural, yang diciptakan dengan intervensi minimal, hadir di Bali.

“Kami menyajikan makanan berkualitas dan wine unik ke Bali. Kami melakukan hal yang belum pernah dilakukan di Indonesia,” jelas Beverage Manager Mexicola Group, Nicolas Lento. Beberapa specialty wine yang akan disajikan bersama makanan di Da Maria adalah Lucy Margaux dan San Vinciullo yang disajikan dalam gelas pada para tamu. Tentu saja, tidak hanya wine, Bistecca juga menjadi fokus pada malam tersebut melalui 3 potongan daging sapi sebagai bagian dari kolaborasi dengan Stockyard Beef dari Australia. Tidak lupa, musik sould, funk, disco yang turut serta memeriahkan acara sepanjang malam.

Da Maria, 

Jl. Petitenget No.170, Kerobokan Kelod, Kec. Kuta Utara, Kota Denpasar, Bali 80361, 

Phone: +62 361 934 8523, damariabali.com

Roaster senior dari Expat Roasters, Sermy Samma mendapatkan pernghargaan sebagai roaster nomor 1 di Indonesia di acara Indonesia Roasting Championship (IRC) 2019 yang diadakan di Food Hotel Indonesia (FHI), Jakarta pada 24-27 Juli. Acara yang diselenggarakan oleh Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia (SCAI) ini merupakan sebuah platform untuk menghargai barista, roaster, dan profesional kopi terbaik Indonesia.

Shae Macnamara, Founder Expat Roasters berkata bahwa gelar ini merupakan wujud dari komitmen mereka di bidang pelatihan dan edukasi, baik untuk partner maupun karyawan internal mereka. “Saya percaya ini adalah cara yang sangat berharga untuk memaksa diri Anda keluar dari rutinitas sehari-hari dan meningkatkan kemampuan, sekaligus tetap up to date pada apa yang terjadi di pasar kopi specialty secara global. Ini merupakan salah satu alasan mengapa saya membuat Expat. Roasters di Indonesia. Saya melihat peluang tidak hanya untuk memperlihatkan kopi specialty yang tumbuh di sini, namun saya juga dapat melatih para barista dan roaster muda untuk menjadi yang terbaik di dunia,” katanya.

Expat. Roasters, 

Petitenget St No.1A, Kerobokan Kelod, North Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80361, 

Phone: +62 812 4614 0493, www.expatroasters.com

Sthala, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Ubud Bali berkolaborasi dengan Mozaic Restaurant Ubud untuk mengadakan dinner di Sungai Restaurant, sebuah restoran alfresco yang dikelilingi lingkungan hijau Ubud dan Sungai Wos. Pada acara Four Hands Dinner kali ini, Chris Salans, pemilik Mozaic Restaurant dan Spice Gastrobar, berkolaborasi dengan Aris Supriyanto, Executive Chef Sthala Ubud.

Four Hands Dinner ini menyajkan menu 6 course dimana setiap course dipairing dengan wine dari Two Islands Reserve dan Dragonfly. Two Islands sendiri merupakan wine yang menggunakan anggur dari Australia Selatan dengan rasa unik yang bisa dipadankan dengan masakan lokal. Melalui Four Hands Dinner ini, Chris Salans dan Aris Supriyanto membagikan passion mereka di bidang kuliner sekaligus mendukung Ubud sebagai salah satu destinasi gastronomi kelas dunia.

Sthala, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, 

Ubud Bali, Jalan A.A Gede Rai Mawang Kelod, Lodtunduh, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571, 

Phone: +62 361 301 8700

Jakarta Culinary Movement, sebuah grup kuliner profesional mempersembahkan collaboration dinner di sejumlah restoran di Jakarta. Kolaborasi ini bertujuan untuk mengumpulkan dana CSR untuk mempromosikan para chef muda di skena kuliner internasional. Dinner pertama diadakan di pada 9 Agustus 2019 di TWG Tea, Pacific Place dan dimeriahkan oleh 5 orang chef: Patrick Ramon (Corporate Executive Chef Batiqa Group), Ivan Mangundap (Corporate Executive Chef All In Group), Denny Boy Gunawan (Executive Sous Chef The Westin Hotel Jakarta), Daniel Edward (Executive Chef Pullman Central Park), dan Phillip Walasary (Executive Chef TWG Tea Jakarta).

Dinner yang terdiri dari 5 course menu ini semuanya menggunakan TWG Tea Exclusive Blend untuk memberikan cita rasa baru bagi para pecinta kuliner. Philip Walasary bertugas untuk membuat appertizer berupa Octopus Tombur, sebuah hidangan khas suku Tapanuli, Batak, Ivan Mangundap melanjutkan course kedua berupa sup melalui Slow Simmered Boneless Prime Oxtail Gyoza. Main Course disiapkan oleh Denny Boy Gunawan dengan Natural Poultry Spring Chicken Confit, lalu Daniel Edward dengan Seared Hydro Aged Australian Veal Striploin. Makan malam ditutup dengan manis oleh Patrick Ramon dengan dessert Valrhona Chocolate “Javanese Brem” cake.

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique

Pacific Place, Jl. Jend. Sudirman No.52-53, Senayan,Jakarta 12190,

Phone: +6221 5797 3272, twgtea.com

Megah Food Trading mengadakan acara launching produk Yuzu di St. Regis Bali Resort pada 29 Juli 2019. Acara ini juga dihadiri oleh Ageta (Deputy Fovernor) dari Propinsi Kochi, Jepang, Akira Endo (Chief Director kantor representative Kochi di Singapura). Yuzu sendiri merupakan salah satu jenis jeruk yang memiliki kulit aromatik, mengandung vitamin C lebih banyak 3 kali lipat dibandingkan lemon dengan rasa yang mirip dengan lemon, jeruk nipis, dan jeruk bali. Beberapa produk turunan yuzu adalah sirup, jus, selai, dressing, sambal, dan kosho (pepper paste) yang dapat diolah menjadi berbagai macam makanan.

The Papilion mengundang Anda ke The Penthouse yang berlokasi di lantai 4. Setelah mengalami proses redesain oleh Prasetio Budhi, The Penthouse kini menghadirkan suasana yang hangat dan memorable dengan 5 venue yang didesain secara individual, Anda dapat mengeksplorasi berbagai pilihan tema: The Pantry, The Living Room, The Library, The Dining Room, dan Gossip Room.

Diamond Group bersama perusahaan frozen fruit puree Prancis, Les Vergers Boiron mengundang Chef Julien Perrinet dari Grand Hyatt Taipei untuk memberikan resep menyambut Natal 2019 yang diadakan pada 7 Agustus di Heavenly Sweet Jakarta. Perrinet membuat 9 produk signature mulai dari Mont Blanc Pink Guava, Praline Kalamansi, Passion Sesame, Purple Tea hingga Cherry Black Forest.

Jakarta, Indonesia (September, 2019) - La Moda welcomes the only Indian Chef from Netflix's latest cooking show The Final Table from 11'11 until14111 September 2019. Born to a North Indian , Sikh family and raised amidst the lush greenery of North East India, Chef Amninder Sandhu currently works as the Executive Chef at Arth, Mumbai and is ready to take the global foodscape.

Jakarta, bertempat di hotel Grand Kemang, Jakarta. PT Sriboga Flour Mill menyelenggarakan baking demo yang bertajuk Sriboga Bakery & Pastries Fiesta. “Bakery Innovation & Digital Smartpreneur” menjadi tema yang diusung dalam kegiatan yang digelar pada hari Kamis, 05 September 2019 tersebut.

Sriboga Customer Center (SCC) sebagai pusat pelayanan pelanggan sekaligus penyelenggara acara tersebut menampilan beberapa Chef, yaitu Chef Riyandi Suherman dari SCC Jakarta, Ched Deny Panca dari SCC Surabaya, dan Chef roni dari SCC Semarang Bersama Chef Sponsor utama seperti Chef Trisulo dari Filma, Chef Dicky dari Emina Cheese mendemonstrasikan ragam aplikasi menarik menggunakan tepung kelas super premium, antara lain Hime (tepung khusus membuat roti). Dan Double zero (tepung khusus membuat pastry). Aplikasi yang didemonstrasikan antara lain membuat Chicken Croissant Chesse (Chickrocheese), Bluder Cheese, Pao Beef Maranggi, Brownies Cheese dan Palmsuiker Cupcake.

Throughout his vibrant career in Ubud, Bali, Chef Arif has developed award-winning menus for health and wellness spas and holds weekly herbal medicine and cooking classes at the acclaimed Sayuri Healing Food Café, as well as headlining the prestigious Ubud Food Festival and Ubud Writer and Readers Festival to impart his incredible knowledge about ‘jamu’ concoction. Each year, he also returns to Java to tour several cities where he presents workshops and cooking classes for local people, encouraging them to use the healthy ingredients on their surroundings. PASSION get the chance to spoke with the man himself and discuss about lots of things; from kombucha, turmeric to misconception about ‘jamu’ he wish he could tell everyone.

You were known as an award-winning raw food chef before establishing ‘Djamoekoe’. What inspired you then? And what are the biggest challenges that you have overcome so far?

Well, I still hold monthly raw and vegan cooking classes at Sayuri restaurant, one of Bali’s most renowned healthy eating places, so I haven’t abandoned my love of cooking at all. I love creating food, and one of my business’ next steps is to introduce healthy snacks and small bites as product lines for my customers. We’re all really excited about it. Back when I was working in kitchens, my raw food was based on the same principles I brought to Djamoekoe – fresh local ingredients used to create modern dishes based on ancient Ayurvedic diet principles. So, the transition across to running Djamoekoe hasn’t been too difficult at all from a creative point of view. However, neither me or my business partner Mark had any idea what a hard journey it would be, to start a business from scratch with a small budget, limited resources and a niche product that hadn’t been market tested. There’s been quite a few tough times – and a few nasty arguments behind the scenes! But I’m sure most small business people would say the same.

Luckily, we found the original jamu product quickly found an audience. It remains by far our best selling product despite us now stocking hundreds of great things in our store, and some of our customers today have been with us from the start. And, the challenges and problems are quickly forgotten because the experience has been such a wonderful adventure. We have so many happy customers, suppliers and resellers and some of them have become good friends, and so I wouldn’t change a thing.

Through ‘Djamoekoe’, you gain a lot of enthusiasm from Western and abroad market. Was that always been the part of your plan? What about domestic market?

My original plan for the business didn’t involve the Western market at all. I despair at the diets of most Indonesians, who eat almost nothing but instant noodle and fried food. My dream was to reintroduce Indonesians to the wealth of produce around them and to make healthier choices – and also to celebrate our nation’s culinary heritage. But it wasn’t a business model that could succeed, since brewing the jamu I do, which contains no sugar or flavors, requires the best quality ingredients and takes time, and I just couldn’t sell it for a price that most local people could afford. But the Western market loved it from the start, so I switched in my mind to having Westerners discover and celebrate Indonesian healthy eating traditions.

But now, with the business healthy and grown, I’ve taken some family land in my home area of Java, and we’re beginning to plant crops as well as install some heavy equipment there to prepare for large scale production. This will cut down on costs without compromising quality and our goal is to have our products in supermarkets all over Java, where local people shop. So, my dream will come full circle after all.

What is the most common misconception about ‘jamu’ that you wish to tell everyone?

That one glass won’t change your life. Living in Bali, there’s a lot of people – locals and Westerners - who want a quick fix, and sadly, enough shady operators who cater to that at huge profit. Jamu is a great way to get healthier – but only if you drink it regularly, and make other healthy choices, not just drink jamu to make up for the pizza you ate last night. A good balanced diet starts with jamu but continues through the day with better choices. You can have something junky if you like, you don’t have to become obsessive about it, but choosing to regularly drink jamu rather than, say, Coca-Cola, is a good way to retrain your appetite towards healthier living. It’s all about balance, and consistency – hence our wide product range of teas and honeys and even organic cosmetics. One healthy drink isn’t going to make a difference to you if the rest of your diet is garbage. You have to start adding more good stuff, and phasing out the bad stuff as much as you can. We don’t make false promises at Djamoekoe. We’re just here for people who want to start making healthier choices.

Can you explain about ‘kombucha’ in general, and what differs it from Indonesian traditional ‘jamu’ concoction?

Jamu is a brewed drink, offering a range of benefits to different parts of the body, depending on the jamu you choose. Kombucha is a fermented beverage, based on tea, which means it’s full of very healthy probiotics that are great for your gut health. Kombucha rebalances your intestinal flora and this helps your health in so many ways – bad stomach and intestinal health is a silent killer, and kombucha is a great way to keep your system squeaky clean. Also, kombucha originates in China in ancient times and spread first to Russia and Japan. Today, it’s the big trend in healthy drinks in most countries around the world. We have twelve flavors, all brewed on the premises.

Most of your ‘jamu’ concoction is made of turmeric as base ingredient. Could you elaborate more about it?

Well turmeric is our business’ gold. We source the finest turmeric rhizomes and also sell the highest quality powdered gold turmeric as a grocery item. Turmeric is a key ingredient in several of our non-jamu products, including a couple of our teas, and our bestselling Kickstarter digestive aid. Though we have one Jamu, “Coco Loe” that is based on Aloe Vera, mint and coconut water and doesn’t contain any turmeric at all, all the other flavours do and I suppose that’s because of my traditional learning and also my understanding of just what a versatile and powerful ingredient turmeric is. If you travel to India, you won’t find a kitchen without turmeric. It’s similar in Indonesia. Turmeric and its many variants (turmeric, or curcuma, is part of the ginger family) are a world that any healthy chef would love to explore.

What can we expect from Djamoekoe in the future? Any plan to open dedicated ‘Djamoekoe’ establishment anywhere soon?

Shh! It’s a big secret. No seriously, there’s plenty in Djamoekoe’s future including our move into Java as I talked about already, but we are taking it step by step. Like all good things – including good food – it needs time to come together. Watch this space. But in the meantime, anybody is welcome to order from sending us an email or a Facebook message – we have customers all over the world.

What did you usually do in your spare time?

No small business owner has any real spare time (laugh). If I do have an hour or two, I love to spend time with my pet dogs, and working in my garden.

Is there any kind of ‘jamu’ concoction that you would suggest people to drink daily? Please explain the benefit as well!

A basic “Kunyit Asem” is a great general jamu, good for cooling down the body and reducing inflammation. It helps recovery from illness, and also prevents illness from developing in the body. And like I said, you do need to drink it daily – get into the habit. A small glass in the morning, or at lunch, every day, is the best way to consume jamu. Your body will thank you for it.

Malaysia shook the world when they won 2019’s World Pastry Cup in Lyon, France. In the best pastry competition in the world, Malaysia is able to defeat other favorite countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Japan. Behind Malaysia’s gold, we have Niklesh Sharma the founder of Academy of Pastry Arts (APCA) Malaysia, where the members of the Malaysia team works and learn from. Here’s a story about a man with a great vision: to spread the culture and passion of pastry throughout Asia.

I heard from Jean Francois Arnaud (JFA) that you share the same vision, what’s your vision?

Chef Arnaud is the finest Pastry Chef in the world. All other Pastry Chefs that come to my school always said, JFA is different. The way he thinks about pastry, he doesn’t think like a businessman, he thinks like a pastry chef, how to grow the pastry chefs, he’s all about teaching.

We both have a vision that Asia’s (pastry industry) level should grow. And it can only grows when we have people who are much better than us, they come to us, we learn form them, practice the skill and then we give the knowledge to students. It’s a cycle that doesn’t stop.

Our vision is very clear, to spread the culture of pastry, to as many Pastry Chefs in as many countries as you can, and to motivate the younger generations who want to became pastry chefs, work in the industry, or pastry entrepreneurs.

I assume this is some sort of idealist project.

Yes, because we’re all pastry chefs, we’re not businessmen.

Does it contradict the business aspect of the school?

Yeah, lot of times. If I operate the school like a businessman, then I try to cut cost in many place, but we don’t do that.

For a competition people will see the chocolate and sugar display, right? But they don’t understand how much time the chefs have been practicing, how much time it needed for Chefs from Malaysia or anybody else to come to Indonesia to train them. It’s money, it’s cost, you don’t have to do that, but we know that we should, it’s the only way to grow up.

We give some students one month free training in our headquarter in Malaysia, of course they have to pay for their own accommodation but the training is free. APCA Malaysia is the best pastry school, I’d say in Asia, and one of the top 5 pastry schools in the world. We want students to learn from the best pastry champions from the World Pastry Cup, these are costly things. Competition looks like easy, until you know how much money we have to fund them.

Malaysia won the 2019’s World Pastry Cup, and the competitors are APCA’s instructors.

The 3 chefs who were part of the team (Tan Wei Loon, Otto Tay, and Loi Ming Ai) are part of the academy, they’re my family. I know Tan very well, he’s the first Pastry Chef who work in APCA Malaysia from day one. And then Ming Ai, he’s my student, he graduated from APCA and work in China, came back and join the academy as Assistant Pastry Chef.

APCA is not a 9 to 5 school. We open from 8 o’clock in the morning to 5,30,and after 6 o’clock, everybody practices until 9-11, because they all want to grow up. The place is pretty much open for anybody in the school to practice, in fact, we encourage them to practice. That’s the kind of culture we develop. It started in Malaysia, spread out to India, Philippines, and Indonesia. It’s kind of funny to see that we have people from our school represent each of their own country (for international competitions), but actually it’s a healthy, good thing, it means that we’re doing something correct, to be able to be the best in each of country.

What makes APCA different to any other pastry schools?

As I’ve said before, we’re not a 9 to 5 school, we have a strong, healthy learning culture that motivates each other. We’re also the only pastry school with the highest number of Master Chefs, be it chocolatiers, bakers, pastry chefs, sugar guys from all around the world. There’s no other schools in the world which invite so many chefs to teach. We conduct approximately 40 Master Classes per year, 25 of them are held in Malaysia, and the rest are in other countries.

How do you get to know these guys and invite them to teach in your schools?

Oh, they’re friends. They’re like family, you just have to call them. In fact, if we don’t call them, they’ll ask, ”why I’m not coming to Asia Pastry Forum?” or “how come you don’t invite me this time?” They help us to grow.

You just opened APCA in Indonesia in January 2019. How is it so far?

It will be fantastic school for Indonesia, I don’t think there will be any other pastry schools that will be able to touch it, as far as teaching standard and exposure is concerned. It will exactly follow Malaysia standard, it’s a same passion, vision, structure, motivation, everything’s the same, only the country is changing. It’s a beautiful stuff, it’s something you start in Malaysia and then people wondered, “how come the same culture can be spread to India, Phillipines, Indonesia?”

How do you standardize it?

We don’t, we just try to talk to each other. Every chef who joins here has to at least spend at least 1-2 months in Malaysia where they’re able to see the culture, behavior, and how the school operate. Although we have some schools, we are literally one, we’re interconnecting kind of thing.

What’s your ultimate goal for APCA?

There’s no ultimate goal, I’m just enjoying it as it is. I’m just happy to know something which I started 9 years ago, is able to win the heart of chefs like JFA and many other. The passion we share, our principles are able to replicate it into different countries. I guess, that’s the ultimate goal. We don’t need to have, let say, 50 schools in Asia.Trust me, this is the way it works. It’s not about how many schools you have. I always look at one school as one country, APCA Indonesia means development of Pastry Chefs in Indonesia.

However, APCA Indonesia’s is not complete without the support of Mr. William Chuang (owner of PT. Freyabadi Indotama) and Louis Tanuhadi (APCA Indonesia’s Director), because I can’t open the school from Malaysia, someone has to be here. Just look at Louis, he might be 50 something years old, but the passion he has is similar to a kid, we need that kind of motivation.

Whenever you mention the name “JFA” among Pastry Chefs, you’ll see amazement and respect on their face. Since getting his Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) in 2000, Jean Francois Arnaud has travelled around the world to share his knowledge on pastry. Fortunately, he’s stationed in Malaysia, therefore, his figure is quite popular among Pastry Chefs in Asia. Here’s an interview with the Frenchman, referred as “the best Pastry Chef in the world” by Niklesh Sharma, founder of APCA (Academy of Pastry & Culinary Arts).

How did you start your career?

It’s a long story, I was born to a family of Pastry Chef, my grandfather is a Pastry Chef, and he taught pastry to my father. I started to learn pastry very young, whether it’s before school, after school, during holiday, I went to kitchen everyday. After all, we’re living in the pastry shop, so if you want to see your father, you need to go to kitchen. I lived in south part of France, close to Bordeaux. After that, I wanted to see what’s happening outside my hometown, so I worked outside and started to know competitions.

Did you work at hotels?

Most of Pastry Chefs in France started their career in pastry shops, after that you can move to hotels, ice cream business, or other pastry affiliated business. Pastry shop industry was developing fast, in small cities you can have 3-5 shops, meanwhile in big cities, you can see pastry shops every 200 m.

Do you have special interest in pastry?

It’s sugar for me. I really like sugar, it’s like the artistic part of pastry. I also love chocolate, but sugar is more colorful, shiny. My father used to go to Paris every year to see exhibitions, that’s when I started to be interested in competitions and aim for the highest competition. I won the title MOF in 2000, it was a lot of work.

How did you get the title?

MOF is a competition, the highest level of competition. You need start by entering the selection, that was held in 3-4 different places in France. Only around 20 competitors are selected that can go to the final. From 20, sometimes we only have 2-4 new MOFs, sometimes only 1. When I got the title in 2000, there were 4 of us.

Wait, you got the MOF in first try? That’s quite something!

Yes. Not so amazing, as I prepared it for a long time. I was already focused on MOF, I wait until I’m ready for the competition. My boss was also an MOF, he told me in 1995, “You need to go for the competition!” Back then, I said no, because I had to take care of the shop first. I prepared everything until I was ready in 1999.

I think it’s important for people to enter a competition, it needs to be coming from themselves. You can’t push other people to go, it will take much longer. If someone wants to go for it, he will push himself and work harder, because it will take lots of efforts. Be it in Indonesia, Malaysia, or France, it’s all the same.

Do you have any special preparation time for the MOF competition?

From the moment you decide you want to enter the competition, everyday will be like a competition, every day! Because you already wanted to win, you need to prepare yourself. When I did my daily jobs, it’s like practice for the competition.There are 3 points in competition: the way you work, the taste, and the artistic part. If you have competition ahead, you need to think everything, from working clean, to be very creative.

Among those 3 factors, which one is the most challenging?

I think every chef has his own specialty that’s stronger than other, some are more artistic, some are better in taste. It’s about finding a balance of this 3 parts in every competition.

What happened after you won the competition?

After you get the title you need to share the knowledge, it’s part of the title’s responsibility. So, from this moment in 2001, I started to teach in Asia, from Malaysia and then move on to different countries around to teach classes, from 3 day classes, 1 week classes, and it continues until today.

You work for companies or you have your own company?

 I have my own consultancy business, but I also work for other companies as part of my business.

How did you get involved with APCA?

I met the founder, Niklesh Sharma in 2013, not a long time ago. He was just opened APCA in Malaysia and I felt his philosophy is the same as mine. He wants to elevate the level of young people’s knowledge, with more focus on European, western pastry. After a lot of talking, my company decided to permanently join the academy, but I only do the concepting. I joined in 2014 and I see this guy and the teachers in APCA going up ever since, the way they work, enjoy themselves, until they won the World Pastry Cup.

Malaysia managed to raise its competition level in relatively short years. What actually happen in those years?

What happened is, these guys, Tan Wei Loon, Otto Tay, Loi Ming Ai were very passionate and focused for the competition, they just want to win, they practice, collect information, knowledge and everything, and then work, work, work until they win. They’re teachers in APCA in for 6-7 years, they prepared themselves and entered the competition 3 times from 2013. There are no other teams in World Pastry Cup that join the competition for 3 times with the same team member.

What’s your role in the competition? Are you mentoring them?

For me, I was one of them. I always work around them, from the beginning I work in this place. Everything they wanted to know, everything I could share, I’d gave it to them, from finding the ingredients, tasting, finding the right temperature to consume the product, and we’re always trying to get better.

What’s the current trend in pastry industry?

In Europe, there’s no really new things coming up, it’s still the classic choux pastry, éclair, however, if you compare this classics with the classics 10 years, 20 years ago, they’re different. There’s evolution in taste, the sweetness is different, we are going more natural, healthy, and we try to cut more calories.

In Indonesia, the level of sweetness is similar to Europe, but if you go to China and Japan, we cut the sugar consumption much further. We also try to use as much natural ingredients as possible, from the selection of the ingredients and the coloring. Cutting calories has been very trending for the past 3-4 years.

I’ve talked with Amaury Guichon, he predicted that one day, pastry will be a luxury product, do you agree?

Yes it is, the problem is real. When you want to create something, you put more effort in researching the texture, the ingredients, the decoration and it is not cheap. In France, we have basic pastry and elevated pastry. We might have 1 or 2 pastry shops that are really high level, and then we have the classic pastry shop that serves products in bigger portion, less fine, but the taste is still very good. You can’t eat elevated pastry everyday, it would be too expensive.

Even in Paris, the elevated pastry shops actually don’t make a lot of money, unless they develop other business around it, like opening cafes. In France, we have different business model than Asia. Here, you can have pastry shop and café in one place, but in France, pastry shop is pastry shop, where you buy the products, go home and enjoy them, there’s no café.

Expertise comes from dedication and experience, and that’s what Chef Hendra Malena brings to Golfer’s Lounge & Terrace; the culinary facility of Bali National Golf Club (BNGC) Nusa Dua. With illustrious career that spans for almost three decades and counting, he is more than ready to take the mantle and make the culinary venue flourish through his finest renditions of International cuisine. PASSION gets a wonderful chance to spoke with the Chairman of ICA (Indonesia Chef Association) Bali Chapter about various interesting topics; from his routine, greatest achievement so far, to plan in the future. Peek into his mind through our interview below...

Tell us about your daily routine, and what is a ‘perfect day’ according to you?

My daily activity in the kitchen involves creating the menu. We try to make something special according to the guests request as well. Then we manage the kitchen properly; from food quality, belongings, ingredients, and we report the result of our operational to our General Manager. A ‘perfect day’ for me is when a big group (of guest) feels happy and satisfied with the great food. We often get large group of VVIP guest from government institution; including the President and Vice President.

As a Chairman of ICA Bali Chapter, what would be your main responsibility, and do you have any vision about the island’s culinary scene in general?

I have been a Chairman of ICA Bali Chapter since 2017 and will still be in this role until 2020. There are three things that have been instructed by (ICA) President to me: make good leadership, preserve the traditional culinary and transfer the knowledge to juniors. We have 7 regencies in Bali, and we also assigned ‘Pengurus Cabang’ or branch executive on each regencies with the duty to maintain the local food of Bali, give trainings about product knowledge, hygiene sanitation, and many more. We also do various form of events to maintain local food’s quality; one of it is called “Gemar Makan Ikan”, a seafood cooking competition held in collaboration with regional government. ICA sent some of our members to be judge on that event.

As for the vision, we have internal rule to keep and improve the product knowledge, especially for the local food. My own personal vision would be making traditional local food with international presentation.

As the Executive Chef of The MAJ & Nusa Dua, what do you wish to implement through your cooking creation?

When I first came to work here in 2015, the menu is pretty basic, consisting mostly of Western food and golfer’s ‘fast food’ dishes. But the owner and General Manager didn’t really like it. So I discussed with them to create something fresh. I ended up adding Asian influence to the Western one, and also improve the presentation and taste into a semi fine-dining concept. After I did that, both the owner and GM are so satisfied and happy. I feel so happy as well because they later changed my status to ‘permanent staff’; I’m the first one to be a permanent staff amongst all the head of department on this establishment so far!

What is ICA’s current activity? Any project that you would like to share?

We are currently planning to create ‘Hari Chef Nasional’ or Indonesian National Chef Day. So, on 24th January every year, we will create a huge one-day event where all provinces in Indonesia gather and showcase their diverse culture in form of food creation. In Bali scale, we still support some of the island’s largest festival; namely Nusa Dua Fiesta, Denpasar Festival, Lovina Festival, Tanah Lot Festival and Ulun Danu Festival. On the upcoming 24th August, we will collaborate with a big surfing competition and commence our own food competition during the event. Then, on September, we are preparing to do something big on this year’s Nusa Dua Fiesta

Name us some important traits that you think someone should have to be a successful professional chef?

First and foremost, a good professional chef should have a deep understanding about the ‘food cost control’. This is so important, because if the food cost is too high, the GM of the establishment you are working on will be nervous. Secondly, the chef also needs to have the skill to maintain quality and standard presentation. Third, we as chef should be communicative to the guest during their dining session. Sometime, the guest might complain about the cooking, so we have to apology, make the new one and keep them happy.

What is your greatest career achievement so far?

Actually I got my greatest achievement in 27 years of career here (at Bali Golf National Club). As I mentioned before, when I first came here, the owner is not happy with the restaurant. Then he gives me a great challenge: Gain success in three months with my project, and he will give me bonus. Long story short, I got hefty amount of bonus. I’m very happy in that moment.

Amazing! So what did you actually do in those three months?

In that period, I took no DO (Day-Offs), no holiday, I work every day to renew the menus and maintain the presentation. For three months straight I do what all staffs do; walk like them, work with them, and in the same time teaching them to keep up with my standard. The biggest challenge is because it is not a pre-opening, this restaurant has been running for years before I came and try to reshape the whole menu.

What are your hopes for the future?

In the future, I want to open my own restaurant; with a semi fine-dining concept. Maybe in the next three years, we’ll see.

Cikopi Coffee Journey, sebuah talkshow yang diadakan untuk merayakan kopi Indonesia di 5758 Coffee Lab, Bandung pada 11 Juli 2019 ini mencoba menjawab sebuah pertanyaan sederhana, “apa yang akan terjadi di industri kopi Indonesia ke depan?” Untuk menjawabnya, talkshow ini menghadirkan Adi Taroepratjeka (5758 Coffee Lab), Aga Muhammad (Indonesia Barista Champion 2018), Daroe Handojo (Juragan Pabrik Kopi Upnormal), Ucok Silitonga (Dailyroutine Coffee), Ronald Prasanto sebagai moderator dan tentu saja, Toni Wahid, sebagai penulis cikopi.com.

Talkshow ini membahas berbagai fenomena menarik yang terjadi di industri kopi belakangan ini, mulai dari euphoria berlebihan soal kopi, tren es kopi susu, komunitas kopi, hingga fenomena “pendekar kopi”. Salah satu yang menjadi fokus pembahasan ini adalah tentang konsumsi kopi per orang Indonesia, per, sekitar 1,2 kg. Angka ini relatif rendah jika dibandingkan dengan orang Finlandia yang bisa mencapai 11,4 kg, padahal Indonesia adalah negara produsen kopi. Salah satu alasannya adalah kopi di Indonesia masih dianggap sebagai lifestyle, bukan kebutuhan.

After a successful attempt to introduce his original take of high-end culinary venue in the island of Bali through Teatro Gastroteque Seminyak, Mandif Warokka immediately expanded his wings by establishing his second standalone restaurant, Blanco par Mandif in rural Ubud. Now, aside from running two prestigious eateries, the Biak-born chef / entrepreneur is ready to impart his comprehensive knowledge to young, enthusiast cooks and help them fulfill their potential. Here’s some of his delightful story..

Tell us about your childhood. Could you recall the first-ever dish that you cooked by yourself?

I spent most of my childhood in Manado, North Sulawesi. As we all (Indonesian) know, Manado people loves two things: eat and shopping. I am amongst those who love to eat. Ever since I was a child, my mum always cooks at home, and I’m helping her out in the kitchen. In our family tradition, there has to be a lot of dishes on the table when its dinner time. The first ever dish that I cooked was Bubur Manado, because it is so easy; just mix the entire ingredient together!

In-between your bustling career, you are known to successfully mentor several young talented chef for international championship; any memorable moment that you can share with our readers?

Training the staff from zero until they become champion is something that both unforgettable and priceless. I trained them until they cry sometimes. There were also moments when we have to stay up all night long to get the best result. These kinds of things are really memorable for me.

Tell us one thing that you wish you knew before starting a career as professional chef.

At first, I thought being a chef is something simple; even easier than office work. But then after I plunged into the field, being the chef is complex. We are obliged to use all of our senses and really adept in the art of cooking; not to mention the management aspect.

What’s the main difference between Teatro Gastroteque and Blanco par Mandif? What do you wish to convey through your culinary creations in latter establishment?

The difference is apparent in those restaurants’ concept. Teatro tend to serve French dishes with Japanese touch; meanwhile Blanco par Mandif serves modern Indonesian cuisine.

As local-born people, of course we understand more about Indonesia dishes than those who comes from abroad. Indonesian cooking is so vibrant with unique flavor which comes from many indigenous spices used as the ingredients. I really hope that Indonesian food can be the master in its own country and famous all over the world through modern style. Through Blanco par Mandif, I introduce Indonesian food with modern and unique way.

As a successful professional chef, what is your vision for Indonesia’s F&B scene in general? Have you ever planning to become a full-fledge educator after you done your career in the kitchen?

Indonesia culinary has to move towards a better form, like some other countries such as Thailand, Hong Kong or New Zealand. Nowadays, these countries have become the center of spotlight in international food scene.

As for the plan to teach full-time, I am moving towards there; bot formally, but rather just sharing my knowledge and experience in culinary world through modern media; such as Youtube, or also speak on campuses. I am also preparing a culinary book aimed especially towards young trainee chefs who are still learning.

Share with us a bit about ‘Ruang Tamu’. What inspires you to establish the artisan bar? And what’s your most favorite kind of cocktails? Share at least two

 I made Ruang Tamu with a concept of basic guest rooms on regular house. In Blanco par Mandif, before the guest arrived at the dining venue, they will walk pass the Ruang Tamu bar first. My favorite types of cocktail in Ruang Tamu are White Negroni and Mandif Gin Fizz.

What is the most recent food trend that catches your attention; and which one that you would avoid?

Food trend nowadays are not only selling the product, but the value and reason as well; such as ‘locally produced’ or ‘healthy food’ for example. I tend to avoid trend where foods are made without any message whatsoever.

Last, handy piece of advice for enthusiast young chef out there?

For all young chefs out there, or those who wish to have a career as chef, never stop learning!

Bahan:

Cabe merah besar 50 gr

Bawang merah 50 gr

Kemiri sangrai 30 gr

Lengkuas 30 g

Kunyit 15 gr

Terasi 10 gr

Ebi 15 gr

Santan encer 120 ml

Santan kental 150 ml

Garam 1 sd

tPepper 1 sdt

1 ekor dada ayam

Jamur Kulat pelawan 10 gr

Since established in 2016, Ragil Imam Wibowo is an identical figure to Nusa Gastronomy, a fine dining restaurant which pioneered the returning trend of Indonesian cuisine. However, what we don’t realize, is that he has created many restaurant brands that are close to us: from Sambal Tomat, Dixie, Mahi-Mahi, Warung Pasta, Segarra, Locarasa, and the latest one, Nusa’s “younger sister”, Spicy Geg. Here’s our interview about the origin, approach, to the philosophy of Chef Ragil’s in running his business.

When did you start an affair with culinary world?

Since I was a child, I just can’t stop eating, I eat 10 times a day. When I was 5-10, I acted as Executive Chef and order my maid to cook fried rice and insant noodle to my liking. So, I always wanted to have my own restaurant.

Where did you go to college?

I went to Balai Pendidikan dan Latihan Pariwisata (BPLP), Bandung, or commonly known as NHI (National Hotel Institute) majoring in Food Production. At the time, BPLP was the only place that focused in producing food, meanwhile, other tourism school would learn hotel industry in general, from managing rooms, front office, which I don’t really enjoy. Back then, we have new hotels every month in Jakarta. I chose to work in new hotels because I want to learn the system. I need to know the things I should prepare to set up my own restaurant.

After that, I also worked in TGI Fridays in 93, located in Ascott, Jakarta, in warehouse department to learn about storing, purchasing, ordering, everything. This is the most crucial part for restaurant as people often cheat here, I don’t want to be fooled by my own staffs in the future. My career grew too fast, after working for 6 months, I was offered a Kitchen Manager position, a position which normally belongs to people over age 40’s, and I decided to quit.

Too fast? Wasn’t it a good thing?

Basically, when you grow too fast before maturing, you’ll fall just as fast. As I still wanted to learn about culinary, I moved to Grand Hyatt, Jakarta, and worked there since 96. My career also developed quite fast, I got 2 promotions within a year, this time I accept it, because I’m more comfortable as a chef. Everything went well until we had the 98’s riot, hotel industry was suffering. If we had around 1.000-1.500 guests per day in Grand Café (Grand Hyatt’s outlet), we could have no guest, at all.

And then came the celebrity’s food stall trend. When I tried the foods, I thought, “the foods are messy, how come the place is so busy? I feel I can do much better!” Finally, I gathered 10 people and we collected Rp 10 million to start our own food stall called Sambal Tomat. Back then, regular food stalls would sell pecel lele, but we already served fried calamari, BBQ ribs, hainam rice. In the beginning we do the business in one of my friend’s house, behind Jalan Senopati, before we decided to move to Barito, in front of Hotel Mahakam. After a year, even though the place was quite busy, our profit is only Rp 1 million, perhaps the value is similar to Rp 10 million today.

We got an offer to make our own café in Kafe Tenda Semanggi. I gathered 20 people and we collected Rp 40 million, but actually, we spent Rp 45 million to build a café called Dixie. Because of our unique building, we became the talk of the town. In merely 6 months, we reached BEP and had euphoria, very typical for youths.

Did you still work at the hotel?

Yes, since I opened Sambal Tomat to Dixie, my daily routine was working in Grand Hyatt form 7.00 in the morning, finished at 19.00-20.00, I stood by at the stall to 02.00 in the morning, go home to Pamulang, and on 04.30, I had to go to work again. I did that for 5 years. Actually, I just wanted to have 1 Dixie outlets in one city, but due to demands, finally we have 9 outlets, spread across to Yogyakarta. To focus in business, I decided to leave hotel industry in 2003.

Then, we had the idea to build a beach club that could attract people in Jakarta. At that time, we moved our office to Jalan Antasari. With bigger place, we opened a seafood restaurant in 2004 called Mahi-Mahi, because back then, South Jakarta hadn’t have any proper seafood restaurant. We even brought sand to bring the experience of dining on a beach, until a representative from PT. Jaya Ancol came and said, “why bother playing sand here? You’d better set up a place in real beach.”

After surveyed the Pantai Karnaval, Ancol, we noticed Jimbaran, a seafood restaurant that was established there. To avoid direct confrontation, we proposed the idea of a beach club that we had before. Ancol management’s people laughed at us, “who would come? It’s too fancy to have this kind of place in Ancol!” For the picture illustration, we put some Porsche and Ferrari.

You’re talking about the story of Segarra Beach Club?

Yes. Finally, Segarra was established in August 2007, we made a sunset party called Sunday’s that had massive success. We aimed to have 3.000 visitors, but actually, 6.500 people came. Of course, the people in Ancol management were happy, as the placed was never filled with hipsters before. Among the guests, some people came in Porsche and Ferrari, we took photos, and sent them to Mr. Budi Karya (the current Minister of Transportation), he was the Director of PT. Jaya Ancol back then.

How about the origin story of Warung Pasta?

I’ve been a fan of pasta since I was a child, but in Jakarta, there hasn’t been any pasta place that serve affordable, but proper pasta. After Dixie outlet in Kemang suffered loss for 5 years, we decided to close it down and open Warung Pasta in October 2006. The loss for 5 years is replaced by Warung Pasta for merely 1,5 years. Until today, Warung Pasta is my most profitable brand, because in addition to large number of outlets, it has high volume sales

How do you handle such large number of business?

Actually, in a glimpse it might look confusing, but if you have strong team, there would be no problem. The most important thing is to build a central kitchen to produce all the sauce, spice, and main ingredients.

How about Nusa Gastronomy?

In 2016, we were thinking to build an Indonesian restaurant with our own style. Initially, we held some pop up dinners under the name of Maharasa Indonesia that involved many figures, such as Chef Adzan Tri Budiman, Helianti Hilman (Javara), and Lisa Virgiano (Kaum). Basically, we were presenting rare Indonesian cuisines based on research. I recalled to hold the pop up dinner in Dia Lo Gue, Kemang, and Akili Museum in Kedoya. We held the event for 3 days, and some people are upset because they didn’t get a chance to attend it. From there, we were thinking of having a permanent place, that will become Nusa Gastronomy.

What’s the idea behind it?

I hosted TV shows and travelled Indonesia for quite a while. In each trip, I always go to traditional markets. I found many good, but forgotten ingredients, in a sense that, the supply is much bigger than the demand. The initial idea was to introduce those ingredients to the chefs in Jakarta. With such quality, why don’t we make something that’s 100% Indonesia? Because, honestly, getting ingredients from Aceh is much more difficult than getting the ones from France.

Actually, the problem is, they don’t have networking. When I met people in traditional markets, I taught them to send goods to Jakarta. As long as they have bank accounts and profitable, they’d do it. It was difficult in the beginning, especially with the lack of trust, to overcome it, I paid for the goods cash, even before they arrived.

I went to traditional markets and found some exotic ingredients that I don’t understand how to use them. When ask the people, there was always someone who joined the conversation and willing to teach me how to cook them, actually people in village are much more welcome. I learned so much about some nearly extinct recipes. Most of them are taught among families, the problem is, by default, Indonesians don’t like to write, so there was no documentation and they were ceased to exist.

Wait, you can travel often and conduct researches, didn’t you involved in any operational aspects of your business?

In the beginning I designed my business to be as professional as possible so it doesn’t rely on my presence, and it took time. I built system, going through staff changes until I pulled myself into production and research department. When you run restaurant business, basically you’re doing man business. You have to deal with employees and customers, and in reality, there’s very little problems in products. In my office, we have relatively no major drama because I prefer to employ staffs that I educate from zero. I rarely took someone who already know what they’re doing. I had many elementary school graduates, to street thugs, most of the times, they’re more loyal.

Do you see Nusa as an idealistic project?

Yes, there’s no other way. If not idealistic, Nusa will never take shape. That’s my philosophy. One thing that makes me sad, is when we’re talking about Indonesian food, people always say that the presentation is suck. It was a big reason for me to present Nusa as fine dining. I want to prove that Indonesian can be as good, but we need to redesign everything

Ingredients:

Olive oil 30 mlBeef tenderloin 180 gr (cut into half )

Baby Potatoes 50 gr (boiled and cut half)

Zuchini 30 gr (cut square)beef bacon 30 gr (cut square)

Capsicum red 20 gr (cut square)

Capsicum yellow 20 gr (cut square)

Capsicum green 20 gr (cut square)

Jalapeno 5 gr (thin slice)

Mushroom champignon 40 gr

Garlic chopped 5 gr

Salt 2 gr

Black Pepper 1 gr

Onion 15 gr (cut square)

fresh mix herbs 5 gr

For toping:

1 soft Poached Egg

White vinegar 20 ml

Water

Sauce stir fry:

Demi glaze 40ml

Balsamic vinegar 15ml

Cream 40 ml

Stock 50 ml

Butter 30 gr

Blackpepper crusted to tasteFresh cream 60 ml

Parmesan cheese 1 tsp

Truffle oil few drop

Kuah Mangut :

Bumbu Putih (Basic Indonesian white paste) 130 gr

Bumbu Merah (Basic Indonesian Red Paste) 120 gr

Kaffir lime leaf 5 pcs

Lemongrass (Stalk & Crusted) 2 pcs

Galangal blended 40 grWater 1,2 kg

Chicken Powder 10 gr

Sugar 5 gr

Coconut milk 100 gr

Kencur / Kaempferia Galangal/ Aromatic Ginger (Blended) 50 g

Method of Cooking :

• Sauteed bumbu putih and other ingredients

• Add water and Coconut milk, bring to simmered

• Add the smoked Skate wing fish

Born from a father who’s also a chef, has a long history of working in hotel industry abroad, returned to Indonesia to start his own business, also his own TV show, Chandra Yudasswara’s story might be a dream for those who work in F&B industry. You might know his figure from his TV program Chef’s Table, but this time, we’ll dig deeper about one of the most challenging things in restaurant business: adapting with the changes.

Your father (Achmad Dien Solihin) is also a chef, how does the fact affects you?

His influence is not about knowledge in food, because he always knows recipes will keep on evolving. It’s more to the philosophy, character, how to build good personality as a chef, how to handle staffs. Those kind of things are more important because basically, those who want to have career in the kitchen should have strong mental, good discipline, know how to earn trust, also to give trust to others.

You worked abroad for quite a while, how do you compare the situation there with Indonesia?

Yes, I worked for years in hotel industry abroad, the longest one was in Middle East, Dubai to be specific. However, nowadays chef’s life tends to be much softer because the knowledge in culinary industry is getting more accessible. We have many people who learn culinary from the Internet.

Back then, when you want to learn a recipe, you have to be good to the Chef. There was no Google! You have to ask directly to the Chef, and then he might hand you a copy of the recipe, or he allowed you to take note, that’s all you have. If you weren’t being nice, don’t expect the Chef to share, you’ll end up peeling potatoes for the rest of your shift.

How does it relate to the “softer life”?

Because of the easier, wider access to the information, our bargaining power as a Chef is declining, am I right? I’m just being honest with you. Even, you might know something from the Internet that the Chef doesn’t know.

Of course, we still have organizational structure, from Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Demi Chef, we still stick to it. However, like I said before, people are getting more spoiled because they think they can get anything, without working together with the Chef. Even though, there are lot of things that Google can’t teach, such as discipline, work ethics, experience, especially when you’re faced with problems, how to deal with the damage control. You can only learn from experienced people.

As a Chef, what’s your specialization?

Since I got into the industry in 97, I never stay in one department continuously, because basically, I’m a kepo (curious) person. Usually, I set target, I’d be learning pastry for a year, move on to bakery next year, then to Chinese food, etc. At the end, I knew all the basic. Not all Executive Chefs understand pastry, but I do. Perhaps not enough (mastery), but enough for me to execute the whole concept of a restaurant.

Okay then, what’s your current interest?

More to local flairs, because there’s still lot of things I haven’t known yet. For the last 15 years, I was more into western cuisine, so these days, I want to learn more about local food.

Why did you decide to return to Indonesia?

Because my initial target to work abroad is just 15 years, however, actually I spent almost 17 years. Finally I decided to stop and start my own thing. In 2010, me and my friends started Kampus in Menara BridgingGeneration GapThroughout his career, Chandra Yudasswara lives between 2 completely generations, and he has to deal with the “softer” millennials.Word: FX FellyPhoto: Edwin PangestuPASSION56passionmedia.co.idImperium, and then I opened Negev, Bacco, Domicile in Surabaya, and 6 Portable outlets throughout Indonesia. Currently, I’m collaborating with Camden group to create a new concept.

On my observation, all of the restaurants serve western food.

Yes, but I’ve injected a lot of local flairs.

People knew you from TV show, Chef’s Table. Tell us a bit about it.

The owner of Net TV dined in my restaurant. We got to know each other and he asked me to make a culinary TV program, finally we started Chef’s Table in 2014, and we had so many episodes. Our initial objective was to make something that people never see before, we wanted to created fine dining cuisines with ingredients that are hard to get, and people can only watch, but can’t copy. Along the way, people complained and they asked us to make simpler food. We’re always open for those kind of feedbacks.

From hundreds of episodes, are there any memorable ones?

There are lot of memorable moments, as the program progressed, making some adjustments and changes from our initial concept, but the chance to meet new people, that’s the most important thing for me.

Talking about fine dining, now people are more into casual dining, do you agree?

Sure, because the customers are dominated by generation Y (millennials). Their priority is living in comfort zone, and they’re willing to do extra effort to achieve it. If the 3 basic needs were clothing, food, shelter, now’s different. Millennials are prioritizing to buy more (Internet) quota, having coffee in coffee shops, dine out, travelling, but most of them don’t have houses, they prefer renting, as long as they can enjoy life.

It should be good for you and F&B industry, shouldn’t it?

Of course, but still, millennials are a market segment with entry level buying power. In number, their salary’s ranging from Rp 3,5 - 6 million, but they want to have fun every week, be it to malls, cafes. Imagine, someone with Rp 4 million salary may spend more than Rp 2 million just for F&B consumption, but of course they are quite calculative.

If you target older generation, one of the benefits is they’re clearly have higher buying power. Usually, they have settled down, have everything on their hand, and they’re willing to pay extra. At the moment, restaurants can be divided into 3 categories: high, medium, and low..

Which one is your target?

Medium. High end market is dominated with mature people over 35, meanwhile, millennials in their early 20, even though they have lower buying power, they have higher dine out frequency, am I right? Do you realize, older generation will go to a fancy place, and become a regular there, however, with lower dining frequency. There will be an era where the millennial will level up.

Your challenge would be to serve quality dish, but still affordable?

Yes, we need to calculate. All of my restaurants are medium class, not a single fine dining, because I don’t see the market. If you look at this place (Portable Grill & Shabu, Gading Serpong) from outside, you’d assume it would be expensive, but actually, our food starts from Rp 35.000 and above. I have to admit, this outlet is quite challenging, even the sales here is lower than Portable in Samarinda. Because even though it’s small city, our target audience is a city, meanwhile Gading Serpong acts more like a satellite town.

I heard your dream was to be a restaurateur, how many % have you achieve it?

Let’s say 60%. I always wanted to make a consistent concept, that’s open for everyone, for all segments...

You mean, like fast food chain?

No, actually it’s segmented. I want something bigger than that, if possible something that’s similar to warteg, so I can have 100-200 outlets, more to volume.

Interesting, most people would aim for higher market?

That’s the big cake, it’s irreplaceable.

From numerous Chef’s tasks, which one is the most challenging?

Dealing with staffs, it happens not only Indonesia, but all over the world. For the past 2 years, we have too many new restaurants, so the employees think they can get new job in other place immediately. As a result, they tend not to take things seriously in their jobs, whenever they dislike one thing, they will leave rightaway.

Chances are, if you’re working in F&B industry, you’d have known the man, Stefu Santoso, Executive Chef of Aprez Catering, also the President of Association of Culinary Professionals (ACP). In the midst of his bustle to prepare 2019’s Salon Culinaire, Chef Stefu spared a moment to talk about the beginning of his career, his journey for almost 20 years with his mentor, Gilles Marx, the hype of Indonesian cuisine, and his activities with ACP.

Your career in this culinary industry, is it your dream, or did it happen accidentally?

It would say it’s a coincidence. When I was in high school, my parents’ economy wasn’t so good to fund “normal” college, I mean in Management or Accounting Faculty, because that was what my friends chose. Finally, my uncle suggested me to take tourism, because the study didn’t take too long, only 2-3 years and I could work straightaway. I went to Pusat Pengembangan Pariwisata Atma Jaya.

From there, I went to Singapore for training for 6 months, and I worked for the first time in a coffee shop in Menara Peninsula, I remembered it was in 98, when the riot happened. After that, I moved to Park Lane and met Gilles Marx (Chef Founder Amuz) in 2000 and worked there for approximately 10 years.

At the time I started as Commis 1 in Riva (Park Lane’s fine dining outlet). I was surprised because the service in fine dining was completely different from my experience of working in coffee shop. In coffee shop, whenever we got an order, I tried to prepare it as fast as possible, meanwhile in fine dining, you can’t do that as the food was sent course by course, and it was all managed by the chef at the frontline

in addition, there were so much ingredients that I didn’t understand, from vast array of cheese, beef, various fish, foei gras, truffle, they were all new for me. Finally, I became an Executive Chef in Park Lane until 2010 Gilles opened Amuz and asked me to join, around 1 year after it opened.

What is it between you and Gilles? You’ve worked together for almost 20 years!

Nothing, really. But I was fortunate to be able to work in Park Lane and met Gilles who became my mentor, also my boss, he thought me lot of things about fine dining, and other stuffs, not just about cooking. In addition, Gilles is not a typically fussy person, except when he talked about product, as it closely related to his image to the guests.

Are you the type of person who tends to follow certain figure than the company?

Whenever I moved, I look at those two things, with whom I work with, and how’s the company. If you just look at the figure while the company wasn’t so good, you’ll have problems, because we need continuity, in term of salary.

What’s your most memorable moment with Gilles?

Once, I helped Gilles to prepare set menu for HAPA (Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards Award, where he won an award. Each chef had to prepare 1 signature dish. Because it was in Malaysia, and he was only allowed to bring 1 staff to help him, Gilles designed the menu as simple as possible. Preparing set menu for 600 people wasn’t an a walk in the park.

The problem is, the kitchen was actually a certified halal kitchen, meanwhile Gilles prepared steak that use red wine. Gilles only had me to prepare everything, from mashed potato, vegetables, and the beef. We had to communicate with the local chef to prepare the ingredients, because we only came 1 day before the event. We also had to ensure that the food was delivered according to our standard. 

We had many fine dining restaurants closed down, is this the end of fine dining era?

The survivability of a restaurant is determined by many factors. Actually, restaurant is a bit complicated business, you can’t just start something, and after it was running, you can leave. You have to focus to monitor because the business is tightly related to service, product, and human resource. You can’t just make something delicious and you’ll have success, there are other things, such as management, interpersonal communication, etc. Most restaurants fell because those things.

Of course, each restaurant has its own target market. Fine dining is required for those who demand high quality food to entertain international guests or VIPs. However, the hype is on places that serve Indonesian food, whatever the format: fine dining, bistro, café, or simple restaurants. Be it Manado, Makassar, to Padang restaurant that actually has been established since 1973, but it’s just happening nowadays.

Is there anybody who designs such trend?

Food trend is like a wheel, it will roll down and get back up again. There were times when western food was king, then we moved to Chinese food, coincidentally, now it’s time for Indonesian food. The trend is actually difficult to predict, once we had people predicting molecular gastronomy and sous vide cooking will be trending, but in reality, they weren’t everyone’s cup of tea.

The success of local food is also helped by social media, which expose anything that’s related to local culinary. Perhaps our economy situation isn’t so good, so travelling abroad isn’t as accessible as it was, and what happened is, we turn our head to local food, and we found that we have great resources. We started to feel proud of our local food and the foreigners came to have a taste of Indonesian cuisine.

Not just local food, but also for unique local ingredients. For example, Kaum popularizes pepper from Bangka, jamur Plawan, and then we have Chef Ragil who exposes local scallop. People also start exposing food from other regions such as Toraja, Papua, Sulawesi, Makassar.

From restaurant owners perspective, the hype of Indonesian also caused by the availability and affordability of the ingredients. We had one Indonesian fine dining restaurant that serves carp, grilled chicken, and long satay.

Which means low cost, big margin?

Yes, they never have to worry about supply. Meanwhile, restaurants that serve western food often worry, can they have their imported cheese or ham this month?

I heard Aprez now has become the group’s (PT. API Metra Boga) breadwinner?

Not necessarily. The core of the group’s business is till Amuz Gourmet, it’s just when Amuz grew fast, we created Aprez to support, not to compete each other. Once, we had Amuz Gourmet with its French style serves Kambing Guling and Nasi Goreng. The customers are confused, to avoid such thing, we made different brand. There were times when Aprez’s revenue is much bigger than Amuz, vice versa.

Now let’s talk about your role as President of ACP. Before becoming a President, you were a Vice President right? When Vindex Tengker was the President?

Yes. It’s my third period as President of ACP. It looks like I was a Vice President to Vindex in 2011. People might see me closely related to ACP, but in reality we have people who stay in ACP much longer than me.

In reality, what is ACP’s main goal?

ACP was built by Mrs. Suryatini N. Gani and his wife who lived in Germany. When she returned to Indonesia, she was concerned on chef profession, she didn’t want the profession to be called merely as cook. In general, our goal is to help promote Indonesian culinary and raise chefs’ living standard. In order to achieve that, there are many ways, at this moment, our focus is holding education programs through workshops that target SMK students.

Why education and why SMK students?

Me and Mr. Vindex once judged a competition in a SMK, and we thought, “how come they only make western food?” Later, we found out that the curriculum refer to western cooking. Then, how about local cuisines? Indonesian chefs should master Indonesian cuisine first.

Of course, it’s difficult, because changing a curriculum is not an easy task, finally we decided to hold education workshops because we found out, they have very limited knowledge. Majority of the SMK teachers don’t come from industry, therefore we often invite my chef friends over from Singapore, Thailand, to teach the meaning of becoming a chef, how to be a good chef, food science. We’re more focused to explain where the products came from, the ingredients, the production process, instead of teaching some recipes.

We also do some charity activity on Palu’s earthquake. We made rice box for 6.000 people for 2 days with only 12 people. We made an emergency kitchen working together with local women.

Then, why SMK? Because it’s the root, junior high school wouldn’t be thinking about major yet. When you’re in college, education tends to be harder as they’ve been influenced by lot of things, we didn’t know how far they understand something.

July14th 2019 was a gloomy Sunday for culinary fans, it was the last day for Emilie French Restaurant, one of the best French restaurants in Indonesia. We, and many people in the industry were surprised by the sudden decision. Moreover, it’s peer French fine dining restaurant, Cassis, also closed down on June 1st 2019. Is this the end of French fine dining era in Jakarta?

Before closing down, we met Wahjudi Rahardja, aka Yen, the owner of Emilie, to discuss about Emilie’s story, from the beginning until he came to a decision to close it own. Once in a while, his disappointment shows, but not a single regret, as he always stands for what he believes. When other restaurants prefer to serve the more popular menus for its sustainability (such as Nasi Goreng?) Emilie opted for other approaches that are in line with its identity as French restaurant. This is our last tribute to Emilie! It’s a classic battle between idealism VS pragmatism, and for Yen, it’s a fight well fought!

Enerjik, dinamis dan dikaruniai segudang talenta, Aldi Alditsa bukanlah sekedar juru masak biasa. Sukses memegang kendali dapur di Habitat Ubud, pemuda kelahiran Jogjakarta tersebut langsung melebarkan sayap dan menjabat sebagai Head Chef di UNION Ubud. Menangani dua restoran sekaligus rupanya menjadi sebuah tantangan yang sangat dinikmati prosesnya oleh Chef Aldi, dan ia masih memiliki waktu luang untuk melakukan beragam hobi yang memacu adrenalin, termasuk otomotif. Seperti apa perbincangan PASSION dengan Chef Aldi? Mari simak berikut ini!

Pada Sabtu 6 Juli 2019, JakartaVegan Guide mengadakan cooking demo oleh Gillian Koh di Electrolux Taste & Care Centre. Salah satu tantangan utama untuk para vegan adalah membuat resep yang bernutrisi, namun tetap enak. Gillian Koh menjelaskan dasar-dasar konsep clean eating dan bahan baku nabati, serta beberapa menu seperti Green Smoothie, Ayam Goreng Jackfruit with Spicy Tempeh and Cabbage, dan menu favorit yang mudah dibuat: Overnight Oats with Chia Pudding.

Dalam rangka merayakan ulang tahunnya yang ketiga pada bulan Agustus 2019 mendatang, Li Feng, memperkenalkan menu baru karya Chef Fei, The Best Chef in China 2016 dari restoran Jiang di Mandarin Oriental, Guang Zhou. Jiang telah dianugerahi Michelin star pertamanya dalam edisi perdana Michelin Guide for Guangzhou 2018, dan hanya satu tahun kemudian ia menerima dua Michelin star – menjadikannya satu-satunya restoran di Guangzhou yang memegang penghargaan bergengsi ini.

Jakarta, Agustus 2019 - HARRIS Vertu Harmoni kembali meningkatkan kualitas produk dan layanan yang didedikasikan bagi tamu yang menginap. Sebuah fasilitas baru yaitu Executive Lounge di buka sebagai tambahan fasilitas khusus bagi para tamu yang menginap di kamar Vertu Suite.

Executive Lounge ini terletak di lantai 27 HARRIS Vertu Harmoni dan buka setiap hari mulai pukul 06.00 - 22.00. Fasilitas ini dapat dinikmati oleh tamu yang menginap di Suite Room lantai 28 dan lantai 29 serta tamu di Vertu Room yang berada di lantai 27. Executive Lounge menyediakan hidangan makan pagi prasmanan mulai pukul 06.00-10.00. Para tamu boleh memilih, apakah mereka ingin sarapan pagi di Executive Lounge atau di lantai 5 hotel - Restoran Voyage. Selain makan pagi, para tamu juga dapat menikmati Afternoon Tea yang disediakan setiap hari mulai pukul 15.00 - 17.00 dan dilanjutkan ke Evening Delight yang dibuka pukul 18.00 - 21.00. Pada saat Evening Delight para tamu di Executive Lounge mendapat pilihan Free First Drink yaitu 1 House Wine, 1 botol bir atau 1 gelas Vertu Delight Mocktail. Namun, para tamu juga dapat memesan makanan dari menu a la carte jika ingin pilihan makanan yang lain.

Lee Kum Kee, produsen saus dan bumbu dari Tiongkok yang terkemuka secara global dengan perjalanan selama 131 tahun, terus memperkuat kehadirannya di Indonesia dengan mendukung pameran Food & Hotel Indonesia (FHI) 2019 pada tanggal 24 - 27 Juli di Jakarta. Dalam pameran tersebut, Lee Kum Kee mensponsori Salon Culinaire Chef Competition (kategori masakan berbahan dasar kambing) untuk membina para chef muda Indonesia.

Pearl Chinese Restaurant di JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta kembali menawarkan kue bulan tradisional dalam rangka merayakan festival pertengahan musim gugur. Kerap disebut sebagai salah satu yang terbaik di Jakarta, kue bulan atau mooncake ini dibuat dari bahan-bahan terbaik tanpa pengawet, pewarna ataupun pemanis buatan. Cocok sebagai hadiah yang elegan yang dipercaya memberi keberuntungan kepada keluarga atau mitra bisnis, kue bulan ini tersedia mulai tanggal 13 agustus hingga 20 september 2019

Salah satu bar paling terkenal di Hong Kon, The Pontiac Stardust telah tiba di Seminyak, Bali. The Pontiac Stardust sendiri meruapakan salah satu langganan dari Asia’s 50 Best Bars, dan berada pada posisi 32 pada 2019. Proyek The Pontiac Stardust di Bali merupakan sebuah proyek kolaborasi antara bartender terkemuka Beckaly Franks, the Roopchand Brothers (Co-Founders of Hong Kong’s The Pontiac, and Rummin’ Tings) dan The Dandy Partnership (Founders of Singapore’s Neon Pigeon, Fat Prince).

Pameran Food Hotel Indonesia (FHI )2019 digunakan untuk beberapa perusahaan untuk memperkenalkan produk barunya, seperti yang dilakukan oleh PT. Ares Kusuma Raya melalui brand Chefmate. “Ini merupakan kali pertama kami menjadi peserta di FHI, kami memperkenalkan produk baru berupa chocolate stick yang sering digunakan untuk aplikasi filling Danish pastry dan croissant,” kata Fernando, Brand Development Head PT. Ares Kusuma Raya

So, I heard you have quite a colorful background story in the food industry. Care to tell us a bit about how you started it?

What I wanted most since the beginning was to study food science technology, however it was not well-known back then here. The closest thing that I can get was to enroll as a student of Animal Husbandry at Universitas Diponegoro, concentrating in animal nutritions. That was surprising, right?

It was later when I finally got the chance to study food science technology for my master degree at Curtin University, Australia. My thesis was about tempeh and much to my surprise, they have a complete collection of literatures about it. My lecturer even motivated me to pursue the topic. Now as we can all see, tempeh is the food of future and vegans are really into it!

What happens after you graduated?

Believe it or not, I was working for the confectionery giant Yupi. With over 3,000 employees that time, they’re exporting to as far as Japan and Brazil. I was part of their R&D and QA team. I did researches about flavors and the textures of confectionaries, and even experimenting new creations. I thought to myself after eight years working there, it would be nice to start my own business and taking it easy a bit. Finally I resigned, but not long, I found myself even busier than before! [laughing].

Why don’t you tell us about Bumi Herbal?

So one day, together with my business partner, Ilham Habibie, we had this vision to build a conservatory of herbs and spices from Sabang to Merauke. As we all know, Indonesia’s biodiversity is among the richest, only second after Brazil. Bumi Herbal was then founded on the highlands of Bandung. 

We wanted it to be a place of learning, where younger generations could relate and understand the very essence that makes their country special – its spices and herbs. Of course, food is automatically related to these aspects. Other than that, we also supply our ingredients for restaurants.

How curious! Surely there’s a root for all of these, right?

So when I was little, my mother and my grandma were the ones who introduced me about jamu (Indonesian herbal potions), tea time, and many other things. My father, on the other hand, he’s an accomplished chemist who used to work at Institut Teknologi Bandung. What they do in life was so inspirational and piqued my interest on food.Also, my parents always took the whole family to try out traditional food during our travels. My mom used to take me to wet markets and I was amazed by the whole dynamic there, especially when we visited the butchers. My dad even make his own tempeh. At home, I try to always help them in the kitchen. While I may not be a chef, seems that I have always been a foodie all my life.

Tell us a bit also about your latest venture, Ramurasa.

Ramurasa is a cooking studio for everyone who wants to learn about Indonesian cuisine in particular. Here, I try to be comprehensive with my teaching methods. Firstly, I show the students what to know about the ingredients and present the completed dish. With that in mind, we’re then showing the cooking process from A-Z. In the closing session, we will run a test to ensure that they have understood the whole process. They are to select their own ingredients, measure them, and cook the dish using their own pots and pans.

But it’s not just about cooking, Ramurasa has its own food writing and food illustration classes. In the food writing class for example, we are taking out everyone to visit a wet market and once back here, they are tasked to write about the experience.

By the way, congratulations for your book. What an accomplishment!

Leaf It to Tea was originally intended as a gift for my parents anniversary. Afterhours, the publisher, saw its potential and challenged me to finish it before Frankfurt Book Fair. I accepted the challenge even though I didn’t have any background as a writer at all. I immediately enrolled myself at Balai Pustaka School of Writing and finally I was able to finish the book. Imagine how happy I was when my book got the second place in the tea category of Gourmand Awards 2019!

Lastly, tell us about your other contributions for Indonesian food.

Six years ago, us culinary enthusiasts with William Wongso started ACMI (Aku Cinta Masakan Indonesia). It quickly became a melting pot to explore more about Indonesian food. We have put a lot of interest as well to support SMK’s students (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan/vocational high school) to pursue their passion in food. For example one time, we brought the students for Indonesian food promotions in Doha, Qatar. It’s good to see them cooking firsthand at a full-fledged kitchen there.

Recently, as part of the government’s program, I was asked to tutor SMK teachers from all over the country next year. During which, I will be traveling to identify their needs first and create an appropriate curriculum. This is a huge undertaking, but I’m very excited to do this. It brings me such joy to introduce and teach about Indonesian food to everyone that I meet.

Indonesia Pastry Cup diadakan di Academy of Pastry and Culinary Arts (APCA) Indonesia berhasil dimenangkan oleh Glenn N P Rotinsulu dan Christian Dewabrata dari APCA Indonesia pada Minggu 14 Juli 2019. Ajang untuk mencari wakil Indonesia pada Asian Pastry Cup 2020 di Singapura ini juga menghadirkan beberapa Pastry Chef kelas dunia sebagai juri, seperti Chef Jean Francois Arnaud, Direktur Asian Pastry Cup Vincent Bourdin, Chef I Made Kona dan Chef Rahmat Kusnedi.

Indonesia Pastry Alliance (IPA) bekerjasama dengan para sponsor untuk mengadakan demo Chocolate oleh Cacaobarry, Jajanan Pasar dengan Chefmaster, Fibber Creme dan Sriboga dari MKU, beberapa produk roti dari Multigrain Puratos dan Gluten Free by CV Pelangi. 

In previous issue, Chef Rahmat Kusnedi claimed that one of the most scary thing about those who want to start a new business is the marketing. We decided to discuss it further, especially for bakery industry that has always been Chef Rahmat’s real.

What are the most the most important things when we start a new business?

Whatever F&B outlet, what you really need is relationship as it plays important role for your future. Without it, you can also make promotion materials in billboards, standing banners, etc, but it wouldn’t be as effective to support the sales. 

You need to have relationships with friends, families, governments, private companies, anything. Whatever nature of your business, be it B2B or B2C, relationship is crucial. Of course, we have some people who are too confident, with lots of relationship in the beginning, they felt it was enough, however, relationships should be maintained.

Again, what’s your business concept? Owner should understand his target market: whether it’s the low, middle, or upper class? Many people make mistakes in opening, the products they sell is low end, but they invite the mid and hi end segment, vice versa. Sometimes, owner tend to be jealous of competitors’ success, he often ignore their struggle. And then, do you have any experience in this business? Experience and relationship are the key in starting a new business.

in addition, to boost your growth, one of the focused departments should be the sales & marketing. Do not hesitate to employ many staffs in this department, because as time goes by, the number of staffs will decrease. Sales & marketing are the frontliners for sales in the beginning.

It seems people often obey it, they think when they open an outlet, customers will automatically come.

Yes, most are waiting for customers, however it should be reversed. Please note, in bakery industry, what we’re selling is products with short shelf life. If the products aren’t sold today, what are you going to do? You can’t wait for tomorrow or the day after it, you need to make decision. Of course we have some products that can be stored in freezer, but if it takes too long, it will affect the quality.

When you say sales & marketing is the frontline, is there any estimation for the ideal budgeting in this department?

In general, for established companies, most will allocate 20% from their net profit, not from revenue. Meanwhile for new companies, they usually put 10-20% of their revenue. Let say I opened a new bakery factory with Rp 1M target revenue, I will allocate Rp 200 million for marketing campaign, from making posters, giving vouchers, social media campaign, etc.

Some bakeries have a policy to give discount in certain hours, how do you see it?

It can be good, but it can backfire also. It will be good when the daily customers are different people, it’s easier for your products to get viral among them. However, if it’s the same people, they tend to wait for the discount hours as they already familiar with the products. Of course your staffs can tell whether it’s the new customers or the old ones. Bakery and cake shop need to have innovation, for example by putting fish bowl for customer’s name cards so you’ll have database.

Along the way, you need to do menu engineering and evaluation. A bakery has many line of products: slice cake, bread, cookies, viennoiserie. What sort of products are the best sellers? You need to categorize it into products with high  sales, medium, to low, and you need to develop the next products based on the data.

in hotels, unsold products for the day can be displayed in the buffet for the next day. For cake shop, in addition to discount, resizing is a sound idea. I mean, a whole cake that’s sliced will sell faster. It’s a much safer way to manage waste as it doesn’t degrade the quality of the products.

Thank you, now we know how to pick the freshest cake in bakeries!

Definitely, whole cake is fresher most of the times. However, it doesn’t mean slice cakes aren’t as fresh, some fast moving bakeries will try to serve the freshest products.

Kendati namanya berbau ‘asing’, mungkin banyak yang belum tahu bahwa andaliman adalah bumbu rempah khas Indonesia. Ya, biji-bijian asal Batak Toba ini sudah lama mendunia dan menjadi salah satu bahan masakan favorit di kawasan Asia Timur dan Selatan. Seperti apakah kegunaan dan khasiatnya? Berikut PASSION rangkumkan untuk para pembaca. Yuk, kita mengenal lebih dekat!

Andaliman adalah jenis bunga-bungaan yang termasuk keluarga citrus. Di luar negeri, ia jamak dikenal sebagai ‘Szechuan Pepper’ karena citarasa khasnya yang meninggalkan rasa getir dan kelu di lidah. Masyarakat Sumatera Utara sendiri sering menyebutnya sebagai ‘Merica Batak’.

Selain rasanya yang cukup ‘nendang’ di lidah, Andaliman sendiri memiliki bentuk khas; yakni kecil bergerombol dan berwarna hijau. Rasa pahit dan aroma jeruk andaliman dikenal sangat ampuh untuk menghilangkan bau amis pada ikan, meski dalam keadaan mentah sekalipun. Andaliman menjadi bumbu wajib di sejumlah masakan tradisional Batak; diantaranya arsik, saksang dan mi gomak. Pada dua masakan pertama, andaliman bahkan tidak bisa digantikan dengan bumbu lain bila menginginkan citarasa yang otentik.

Spice by Chris Salans, Bikini, dan penyulingan Dewi Sri dengan bangga mempersembahkan seri kedua dari acara kolaborasi mixology “Arak and Spice” pada 7 Juni 2019 di Spice by Chris Salans di Ubud, Bali. Ketiga perusahaan ini bekerja sama untuk merayakan produk-produk terbaik dari Bali dan membagi budaya Bali dengan cocktail yang baru, cantik dan dramatis yang dibuat dari brem dan arak. Brem adalah beras yang difermentasi secara alami sementara Arak adalah alkohol sulingan dari fermentasi beras.

Gathering IPA Bali Semester 1 (14 Juni 2019) diadakan di Courtyard by Marriott Nusa Dua Bali. Acara yang didukung oleh Sukanda Djaya, Prambanan Kencana, CV Rex’s Pelangi, Squeeze, Megah Food dan Mastrada Bali sebagai sponsor tahunan dan vendor lain seperti; Pangan Lestari, Matchamu, Puri Pangan Utama, Classic Fine Food Masuya dan Clara dari Puratos

Bali Culinary Professional (BCP) kembali mengadakan gathering bulanan di Gracie Kelly’s Irish Pub di Bali Dynasty Kuta. Acara dimulai dengan networking cocktail dan dilanjutkan dengan makan siang yang dihadiri oleh para anggota BCP, young chef, dan kalangan umum.

Bali Culinary Professional (BCP) kembali mengadakan gathering bulanan di Jackson Lily’s Seminyak. Acara dimulai dengan networking cocktail dan dilanjutkan dengan makan siang yang langsung di masak oleh Chef Dean Keddell.

Untuk ke-11 kalinya, Krista Exhibitions kembali menyelenggarakan pameran Eastfood Indonesia & Eastpack Surabaya 2019 – Pameran Internasional di bidang industri makanan, minuman, bahan baku, teknologi & jasa layanan dalam bidang pangan dan teknologi pengemasan yang akan diadakan pada tanggal 20 – 23 Juni 2019 di Grand City Surabaya, Surabaya.

Pameran yang diikuti lebih dari 190 peserta, baik dari lokal maupun internasional, menampilkan berbagai teknologi dan produk-produk unggulan yang dihadirkan diantaranya adalah:• Bakery & Confectionery (bakery & confectionery machinery, equipment, supplies, ingredients); • Food & Hospitality (wine & spirits, equipment, supplies, storage, services & related technology for hotel, catering, restaurant, café); • Food Ingredients (food Additives, food chemicals, food ingredients, food materials); • Herbal & Health Food (herbal & health food and food supplements); • Retail products, • Teknologi proses & pengemasan untuk bidang Makanan Minuman, bakery, konfeksioneri, dan lainnyaBerkolaborasi dengan berbagai organisasi dan asosiasi, para pakar, chef, praktisi di bidang kuliner bertaraf nasional dan internasional, Eastfood Indonesia & Eastpack Surabaya 2019 menghadirkan beragam program menarik, yaitu:

Thaifex 2019 kembali digelar pada 26-30 Mei sebagai salah satu pameran industri F&B terbesar di Asia yang berhasil mengundang 67.000 pengunjung dari 134 negara, 2.745 eksibitor, termasuk 28 start up baru. Ini merupakan Thaifex terakhir karena pada 2020 acara ini akan direbranding sebagai Thaifex - Anuga Asia.

Untuk membawa pengunjung ke tema “Future of Food”, Thaifex mengadakan Thaifex Future Food Experience+. Salah satu acara dari program tersebut adalah Demonstration di Future Food Live! Sebuah acara cooking show unik yang diselenggarakan ASEAN Food and Insect Association, dimana Chef Frederic Legras dari Le Cordon Bleu menciptakan dessert dengan bahan bubuk belalang dan serangga utuh yang disambut meriah oleh para pengunjung.

“Exposure yang kami terima di Thaifex – World of Food Asia sangat fenomenal. Terutama, sesi networking, memberikan platform bagi kami untuk mempresentasikan food technology solution untuk memerangi diabetes pada media, pelanggan, dan investor potensial,” kata Alan Phua, CEO & Master Builder Foodtech Pte. Ltd, sebuah perusahaan startup Singapura yang menciptakan komposisi patent-pending untuk mengurangi glycemix index dari makanan berkarbohidrat seperti nasi.

Seated right on the magnificent valley at the inner side of Sthala Ubud Bali, Sungai Restaurant offers a quaint and memorable all-day dining experience to the guest. The spacious open-air venue serves arrays of delectable Indonesian menus, along with refreshing signature drinks and a scenic panorama of Ubud’s timeless natural beauty.

For the menu, one should try Sungai’s Treasure of the Sea; which is a type of mini-rijsttafel consisting arrays of tantalizing seafood with authentic Indonesian taste, served along with a portion of plain white rice. Some of traditional-style goodness including Pepes Udang (shrimp), Sate Lilit (fish) to Cumi Bakar (squid) meticulously cooked and best savored together with the hot rice, relished with a dip of tasty Sambal spicy sauce; which also comes in three different alternatives: Bawang, Matah and Merah. They also have a ‘Land’ option which consist selections of beef, chicken, and lamb dishes. If you crave for a more ‘modern’ take of Indonesian treat, try their Pizza Pelalah, which combines the famous Italian tin-crusted dish with ‘Sisit Ayam’ (pulled chicken) as the topping instead of your usual beef or salami. This brilliant combination works perfectly well especially with the addition of melt-y mozza cheese.

To wrap up your pleasant dinner, we highly recommend trying Dadar Gulung; Indonesian traditional snack which comes in form of soft pandan pancake roll, generously filled with brown-sugar sauce and grated coconut. This sweet and tender dessert is served along with vanilla ice cream for an additional creamy flavor, makes it a perfect snack for your tea-time or after-dine occasion. Last, but definitely not least, wash it all down with a glass of fine, fruity drink to compliment your meal with tropical delight; such as Wos Breeze or Basil Quencher

Chances are, if you’re living in Jakarta, you’ve already installed one of the 2 major digital payment apps, Gopay and OVO, if not more. Judging from the ridiculous amount of promotion available, you’d be a fool not to use any one of those apps. While the apps provide platform for new startups, Chef Rahmat Kusnedi always warn us about the risk ahead.

How do you see the new startups phenomenon because of digital payment platform?

Startup is definitely a tempting business because it was supported by a very accessible facility. Thanks o the digital payment apps, to start a business, you just need to register, become a member, and then you can reach your customers. Even my children can easily order food online.

It can be both positive and negative beginning. The positive aspect, of course it encourages people to gather courage to open their own business, because one of the scariest thing is the marketing. Let say your wife is very good at making pastel, but the product is only popular within the neighborhood, and you’d be wondering where to sell the products. If you want offline store, there’s no guarantee that people will come. At the end, those with great potentials are selling the products merely by order. With digital payment apps, if you can make good products, you can register at GrabFood or Go-Food, then you can manage lot of things to accelerate your growth.

How about the negatives?

Our culture tend to accustomed toward trying new stuffs, and it becomes saturated very quickly. On the other hand, for government, it’s a loss opportunity since we haven’t make any regulations for online transaction. Imagine if you can sell 2.000 pastels per day with Rp 10 million per day, you can make Rp 300 million a month, meanwhile the other established pastel brand which was registered as corporation and give tax contribution might have less income because of the new players.

Are there any attempts from the government to regulate these online transactions?

Let alone online tax, for the tax of informal restaurants, such as warteg, hasn’t been properly regulated. If you know, a famous simple meatball joint might have more income than your average Padang restaurants.Another thing to look out for, is that the online market is filled promotions that are very spoiling for customers. As a result, we have many startups who are willing to invest much, from renting new places or making production kitchen. Without you realize it, people who did the same thing is not just 1-2, but thousands. Imagine if the industry reach its saturated point, or when the trend suddenly change, what will you do with those investments?

Or perhaps the companies will pull out the promotion, like what happened in airline industry?

Correct. Therefore, the transactions in digital payment apps haven’t been taxed. Even though in terms of cashflow they’re still bleeding, Gojek’s valuation has reached Rp 75 trillions, amazing! But you also need to know, behind all of that, how much money they burned to subsidize. For big investors, it’s as if the battle of capital, it’s an unfortunate thing for the smaller player.

After the apps become so big, they have many users, and customers have been addicted, it’s very likely they will take out the promotion, we can even have paid listing. As a result, the online price will escalate, because in the end, people need to pay tax, will the customers stay loyal? These apps are hype nowadays after last year we had the celebrity cake trend, somehow, these kinds of things don’t last long.

So, how do we anticipate it as entrepreneurs?

Don’t be too spoiled with the wonder of apps, however, you need to put conventional business into consideration. Conventional business has physical showroom, you’d better make this sort of investment to strengthen the brand, except for the service based business. We have many things to set, from regulation, law enforcement, we need to have clear rules.

Basically, all businesses that rise very quickly, will have swift downfall. We already have many examples for this. Business that’s build with proper calculation is like making staircase, one by one, so you can go up slowly. No matter what business, you will have some declines, it’s inevitable, but it can be anticipated.

Hailing from Australia, Kieran Morland pursued his love for Indonesia & its vibrant indigenous cuisine for over a decade. Before taking an opportunity in the kitchen of Ku De Ta, his career spanned across top culinary establishments across three countries; Momofuku Ssam (new York), The Wapping Project (London) & Syracuse (Melbourne). He is now an accomplished chef through two well-renowned restaurants, Merah Putih & Sangsaka. Here is his story so far.....

What is the main difference between Merah Putih and Sangsaka? What do you wish to convey to the customers through latter establishment?

Sangsaka is a little 30-seated restaurant, and the main concept is modern-Indonesian food but made using wood fire. We have wood fire chargrill and wood fire oven, trying to get the flavor of smoke into Indonesian food. So many Indonesian foods are cooked with traditional ‘arang’ (charcoal), like satay. I’m trying to make traditional flavors, but combine it with smoky elements. No more molecular gastronomy, just really good ingredients created in really simple back-in-the-old-days style. That’s what I want to convey to the customers. Bali is a tourism island, so many tourists want to come to Bali and try local food in elevated way. If you have the same attention to detail in preparation, ingredients, details, and execution, Indonesian food can be at Michelin-Star grade, and that’s our number one point. The difference with Merah Putih is we’re doing 250 people a night there, so we create simple delicious food with rustic touch. But in Sangsaka we can really try to make it more fine-dining, high-end but still in casual atmosphere.

ell us a bit of your background. When did you start to get fond of Indonesian cuisine? What causes it?

In 1992 when I was eight years old, I spent time visiting my sister in Java. She was living in Semarang as an exchange student. I didn’t know if I would become a chef at that age, but I did know I was in love with ‘gado gado’ peanut sauce & sate. Later on when I was played football in Australia, all the end of season trips would be in Indonesia. I always had a connection to Indonesia & then I was offered a job at Ku De Ta along with executive chef Benjamin Cross. At that time I was thinking if I were a tourist visiting Bali I would like to try local cuisine. Not many people doing it back then except for Made’s Warung. Then I met my wife here, and her mom is a fantastic cook, she’s from Surabaya and she taught me a lot about cooking. Indonesian food doesn’t have a great reputation outside of Indonesia outside of rendang or sate, but she shows me there are so many good dishes across the country. The crazy thing is if you eat a soto in Makassar or Manado, it would be very different from the Javanese one. I never stop learning about Indonesian cuisine and how amazing it can be, so I decided to open Merah Putih, and then Sangsaka.

Name us one Indonesian traditional food that you love the most, and how would you turn it into a ‘modern’ culinary creation

That’s a difficult question to be honest. But let’s take Sapi Bakar Pantolo, it’s from Sulawesi and they use keluwek (Indonesian indigenous spice, also known as ‘kepayang’), but they don’t make it like a ‘rawon’ soup; instead combining it into a ‘sambal’ sauce with other spices, and put beef or buffalo meat, wrapped it in banana leaves, and cooked it on a fire inside of bamboo. Here, we don’t make it inside a bamboo, but we make a sort of keluwek emulsion and we use two different parts of beef, char-grilled it in wood fire grill and serve it with ‘talas’ (taro) cake as a dish or two. For the Westerners, it’s a steak done in two-ways, but has the flavor of traditional Pantolo inside.

What is your signature cooking style, and how did you implement it in Sangsaka?

My focus is always on flavour. Dishes don’t necessarily need to be beautifully presented, but has to be flavourful & perfectly executed. I just want to have a busy restaurant where everyone enjoys the food & also learn little about Indonesian culture. To implement it, Maxie (Milia, the Head Chef of Merah Putih & Sangaka) & I, will sit down together and discuss about what ingredients we want to use to create a dish. We are passionate about using unique ingredients that are rarely used whilst sticking to the Indonesian identity.

What is the most memorable moment in your career so far? 

One time, one of my best pastry chefs got her fingers stuck into the automatic pastry roller & crushed the tips of her fingers. That was a scary moment as we had to rush her to the hospital in the middle of service to make sure her fingers were ok. But the most memorable one is the first day we opened Sangsaka. We had some beer to celebrate after work. Before I went home I double checked the kitchen as we have a wood fired oven & grill. Unfortunately it seems that some wood embers ignited our log pile & at 6am I received a phone call from my business partner that ’the (beep) restaurant is burning down!!’. That was probably the most interesting moment in my memory so far

What is your favorite kitchen tool? 

I’ve had lots of good knives, but there is one Japanese knife that I really like. I bought it in New York when I started working at Momofuku. Chef insisted that I buy a good knife & so I bought a Misono. I still have it today & the knife has been though a lot with me (laugh).

Describe yourself in three words

Ambitious, hard working & fun loving

Ingredients 

600 g  Scallops

80 g mushrooms

60 g asparagus

40 g baby greens

10 g zucchini

20 g green pea puree

For the balado sauce

60 g shallot, sliced

15 g garlic, sliced

50 g red chili, sliced

20 g candlenuts

50 ml cooking oil 

2 g kafir lime leaves

2 g bay leaves

50 ml coconut milk

300 ml water

5 g brown sugar

2 tsp salt and pepper

Crab onde-onde

80 g crab meat

2 g garlic

1 g spring onion

20 g mayonnaise

2 tsp salt and pepper

As one of Bali’s most prominent local-born chef, Made Lugra always brings all his effort and skill in creating eclectic Indonesian dish with elegant modern touch. Now the head chef of Wijaya Kesuma restaurant of Ayung Resort, Ubud, he continues to produce delightful fusion food for the guest; amplifying authentic traditional flavor with international influences. PASSION gets to chat with the charismatic man himself in between his bustling kitchen activity and extract some of his brilliant thought; from Balinese cuisine to legacy he wish to left behind in culinary scene...

According to you what is the meaning of ‘gastronomy’ and how did you apply it in your cooking?

Gastronomy is a concept of culinary art, in which we process a product, starting from picking the ingredients, combination, how we create food based on what we have around us, including the farmers and their natural produce. Before we make a menu, we should be able to see what it can bring to the table, its signature. That’s why we go to the ‘pasar’ (traditional market) to find out what ingredients available daily. Our food creation will depend on the ingredients, so we have to know about its availability, because some ingredients are seasonal. Every region comes with its own gastronomy history / background, which are why I love to work upon something that has been around since past time; especially the method of cooking or technique, but then served in international presentation, so it becomes unique and modern.

Name us one of the most underrated Balinese traditional food that you would like to show to international food sceneWhen doing demo-cooking, I love to presents ‘sambal’ spicy sauce. There are tons variant of Indonesian sambals with its own distinctive taste and look. In one demo session, I made ‘sambal lindung’, which is quite popular in rural Bali. In my childhood moment, I used to go to ‘sawah’ (paddy field) and catch some ‘lindung’(eel), then I asked my mom to make something out of it. My mom then usually makes it into sambal sauce, and it’s so good to be savored with only a plate of plain white rice. So simple yet delicious! In my demo cooking, since I make it for Western people, I changed my method to suit more to the style. Western love savory taste more than spicy, so we use more lemongrass in the ingredient.

As a chef of Balinese traditional creation, could you name us local spices that you can’t live (or cook) without?

There’s a lot! But in terms of Balinese traditional spice, I think sereh (lemongrass) plays a pivotal role in making traditional sauces. In term of taste, sereh is strong, savory but didn’t destroy the taste from other spices. It can act as a great flavor balancer to the dish.

What is the secret of cooking a perfect sate lilit?

What a coincidence! We participate in food festival every year and one time, I presented my creation of seafood sate lilit; consisting of shrimp and tuna. I skewered them first before lilit (wrapping), because I would like for it to have a ‘bite’, and not only soft in term of texture. The audience loved my creation, especially because of the distinctive texture. It still maintain the traditional form and flavour, but added with some creative twist.

What is the concept of Ayung Resort Ubud’s menu, and what is your most memorable creation so far?

Here, the concept of our basic taste is Asian and Balinese traditional, but we combine it with modern cooking method. For example, the scallop, I made it using ‘Balado’ sauce with a hint of cream. Apparently, this kind of fusion creation impressed the customers and reminds them of us. That’s why I used that similar fusion concept on other dishes; an Indonesian goodness, not too strong in taste, but combined with modern ingredients, cooking method and presentation. For my most memorable creation, if I have to pick, would be the steak. I use ‘lengkuas’ (galangal) for the sauce. It blends Western classic favorite with Indonesian-style sauce. Our guest loved it so much. I love to take existing concept and cooking method but dig deeper into it; combining it with other kinds of ingredients. It is hard, but when you find the successful combination, the feeling is indescribable.

What do you love the most from your profession?

As a chef, we ‘dig’ unto a product (cooking) and try to make the best out of it. When we do that and gain the result, good feedback from the guest, that’s the ultimate satisfaction for us. That means we have made our own signature from countless trial and error process into perfection. There is a lot of story behind every dish we create, which are not the same from one to another. When that creation is well-accepted by the guest, that’s something to be proud of.

If you could only eat one type of dish for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Fruits; and this comes from experience. As a chef, we work in tense situation, especially when we have to serve a lot of guests. Sometime, it’s very hard to find consistent eating hours, because we are so busy! I had chronic gastric pain for several times that has to be treated by doctor, and they always said that I have to pay more attention to my eating habit. Then I started to study about it and start by reducing my dependency to rice and eat more fruits. It has been 12 years since and I feel healthier. One of the main reason is actually, with rice, you can’t eat it while working in the kitchen, but you can do it with fruits. I made salad to chow it in-between my cooking activity. It was hard at first, but slowly, my body is able to adapt and my condition is fitter than ever! I can work from day to night in peak performance thanks to this kind of diet. My most favorite fruit is papaya, because it can be easily made into salad, juice, or eaten raw.

How do you want to be remembered?

I want to implement my knowledge and creation to as many as possible. That’s why I often encourage and motivate others to become chef. In my workplace, I give people chance to step up. As food consultant, we are obliged to mentor people and inspire them. I don’t want to bring this knowledge to my grave, but rather sharing it with others. If I can make other people success, even surpassing myself in term of career, I would be very happy.

Located in the ground floor of Plaza Indonesia’s atrium, La Moda served wide array of food, from brick oven pizza, pastry products, cake, bread, to tapas and cocktail. In addition, La Moda that’s surrounded by many world-class high-end fashion boutiques, is also a prestigious social place to show your existence, especially in social media. However, in the midst of various international dishes, Indonesian cuisine is still the favorites among La Moda’s customers.

Designed by Mark Ormsbly Interiors from Singapore, the place has a European piazza inspired-theme with sky ceiling and garden ambience. Do you know any other restaurants that can effortlessly combining food and fashion elements as good as La Moda? Come on, we’ll wait for your answer.

La Moda was managed by Keraton at The Plaza, a Luxury Collection Hotel’s management since 2015. The fact should answer your curiosity on why Indonesian cuisines in La Moda is the star.

You can’t go wrong when you order one of the selected menus that represent a region in Indonesia, but you’d better not miss Buntut Mercon, marinated oxtail cooked in chili and garlic flakes with soup accompaniment.

And then, our favorite, Iga Bakar La Moda, grilled marinated rib with peanut sauce served with warm rice and soup. When you have a restaurant that uses the place’s name on the menu, we always assume that’s their best shot to represent the brand. Iga Bakar La Moda didn’t disappoint with its tender texture, super rich flavor, and fine dining style presentation. In the future, if we visit other places that serve iga bakar, we’ll use Iga Bakar La Moda as standard. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t like it!

Another menu that’s also a favorite here is Kambing Bakar, lamb leg grilled in coconut charcoal, soy sauce with chili served with warm rice. We know, as opposed to the more common chicken and beef, lamb is not for everyone, but a lamb fan shouldn’t miss this menu. With generous portion, we didn’t even need a knife just to cut this tender lamb, any regular spoon and fork will do.

Of course, it’s impossible to discuss Indonesian food without mentioning its street food. La Moda serves some modern rendition of “jajan pasar” such as Kue Pancong and Baked Klepon. La Moda’s Kue Pancong is a street style kue pancong made with quality ingredients. If you never like a kue pancong before, perhaps it’s time to give the menu a second shot. Baked Klepon is a modern version of klepon with the melting Lava Cake style presentation, served with palm sugar ice cream. It’s a fresh new presentation and texture from the old klepon we always know and love.

There are many more Indonesian dishes, or other international menus that are worth trying for. However, it’s actually quite satisfying when you know most of Plaza Indonesia’s visitors that are mostly A+ society, prefer Indonesian cuisines to La Moda’s international dishes. If you order any of the aforementioned menus, it’s actually not difficult to understand the reason why.

Eastern Opulence is situated on the corner of Jalan Cipaku, near to what some people would call as the trinity of Jakarta’s gourmet streets – Senopati, Gunawarman, and Wolter Monginsidi. The neighborhood is home for many foodie haunts, from street food to upscale restaurants. Among the latter, is Eastern Opulence with its wide offerings of Indonesian and Asian dishes.

Flaunting its whitewashed exterior and the numerous windows, it becomes more glamorous once you’re heading deeper inside. Marbles, columns, a grand staircase, aristocratic dining tables and chairs, and the attendance of many waiters and waitresses are the welcoming theme of this restaurant. The restaurant can house to more than a hundred diners even on the first floor. Heading up, you will be witnessing the opulent private rooms, all color coded and each representing the name of a jewel.

The grand menu is developed by the young and talented Chef Kevin Zhu. Trained since the tender age of 16, the chef honed his skills further at a prominent culinary school and by delving deeper into New Zealand’s gourmet food scene. There’s a level of sophistication and cleverly intertwined elements between modern techniques and Indonesian influences from his dishes here. That clearly came from his years of experience abroad and his love for Indonesian food.

Heading straight to the main course section in the menu, one can see that the chef employs various modern cooking processes by using premium ingredients. For instance, the 12-hours, slowly cooked Australian beef tongue with green chili sambal. My personal favorite would be the sous-vide Australian lamb rack grilled to medium-well temperature and glazed with spicy kecap manis, Balinese sambal matah, and serundeng. Other than these two, savor also the flavors of charcoal-grilled oxtail or the wagyu cubes with black pepper sauce, and many more.

From the poultry section, it is recommended to choose the delicate Bebek Betutu - duck’s leg braised in 20 types of herbs and spices and topped with sambal matah. The Lollipop Chicken Salt and the Salted Fish Crispy Kailan would also serve well as the accompaniments. The latter is a unique combination of crisply fried kailan leaves, the mild texture from cooked stems, and salted fish.

With its extravagant look, it is no wonder that Eastern Opulence also becomes a perfect venue for events such as weddings or even fashion shows. On a personal level, it’s also a place for give a special treat for your loved ones or a perfectly amicable family dinners. After all, Indonesian food is best when eaten together and Eastern Opulence has many things to share with you for that.

If you were to entertain expatriate guests who want to have a taste of Indonesian cuisine, where will you take them? It’s quite challenging question since we have so many restaurants that serve regional local food, such as Padang, Sunda, Betawi, but not too many serve authentic Indonesian food in general. The second issue, most of these places are not convenient. However, since 2007, Bunga Rampai has gathered the best of Indonesian dishes into a representative Indonesian fine dining restaurant.

Bunga Rampai is a brand from Pakis Culinary, a culinary group that specializes in Indonesian cuisine with their extensive brands. With rich mixed cultural heritage of its owners, from Dutch, Chinese, to Indonesian (of course), Pakis Culinary tries to recreate the home-style dishes from their childhood.

It all began from Waroeng Kita in 2000, located Plaza Senayan and served Indonesian street food. The use of the name “Waroeng Kita” is a visionary step from Pakis, as at the time, Indonesia was mad about everything western culture, including the name of the restaurant.

Pakis’ journey proceeded to Dutch colonial’s inspired theme, Kembang Goela, along with Dutch’s dishes such as croquette, bitter ballen and poffertjes, and then Meradelima which displays Indo Chinese peranakan cuisine. Their latest project, Seia is a modern rendition of Indonesian cuisine.

Bunga Rampai offers Indonesian cuisine from Sabang to Merauke with a luxurious, rustic fine dining setting, in a Dutch building that was built in early 1900s. The legend said that the building was used as a meeting point for independence fighters back in the 1930’s.

As one of historical spot, Bunga Rampai wasn’t allowed to alter the façade of the building. However, it doesn’t stop them from innovating, they turned the backyard into 3 storey buildings. The total renovation was conducted in 2014 and it stopped the operational activities of the place for 9 months.

As a result, every storey in Bunga Rampai has its own very Instagrammable interior theme! Bunga Rampai used to THE CITY38passionmedia.co.idbe visited by older generations, over 40 years old, but nowadays, you can find any millennials to expatriates hanging out here. Bunga Rampai is also frequently used to host private events, such as bridal shower, baby shower, wedding receptions, to culinary festivals.

Some of the favorite appetizers here are Kembang Pacar (deep fried prawn wrapped in spring roll sheet with chili mango sauce) and Selada Menteng (carrot, cucumber, apple, pineapple, cherry tomato, lettuce served with deep fried boiled egg and sweet sour peanut sauce).

For the main course, Nasi Buketan (steamed aromatic pandanus served with diced omelette, beef skewer, galangal, and turmeric fried chicken, potato and shrimp light curry, corn fritter, sweet soya bean cake fritter, served with chili bilimbi fruit peanut sauce and shrimp crackers) is the talk of the town, along with Konro Bakar (grilled back rbs with sweet soya sauce served with nasnaran mandarin, caramelized shallot and chili sauce) and Gurame Pesmol (deep fried battered gourami in sweet sour turmeric candle nut sauce with cucumber, carrot, green bird eye chili and shallot). Kue Pancong (baked riceflour with chimera coconut and coconut milk, served with durian compote, and palm sugar sauce) is an updated version of the traditional kue pancong that you can see in streets’ food stalls.

The menus in Bunga Rampai were designed as sharing menus, it’s no wonder if you’ll have very generous portion. They also offer Indonesian set menu options, traditional fine dining style based on special request that catters 30 people minimum. So if you have any VIP guests from abroad, now you know the best restaurant to represent Indonesia.

At the moment, we have many 5 star hotels that give special attention to Indonesian cuisine, however, Grand Hyatt is willing to take the extra step through one of his outlet, Grand Café. If previously it was known as a place that served international cuisine, on May 2018 Grand Café was relaunched, after the full renovation process that took 4 months, with strong local influence.

There are times when street food and 5 star hotel fool was an antonym. “It seems that we didn’t have too many 5 star hotels that are serious about local food. Many people love street foods, but they want to dine in a more convenient, clean place, finally they go to hotels,” said Susanto, Grand Café’s Chef de Cuisine.

For research purpose, Grand Café’s culinary team never hesitate to visit the origin place of the street food to understand it’s true flavor. “We want authentic street food. I’ve had Sate Maranggi in Purwakarta, while it tasted really good, the beef was quite chewy. Here, we use Australian tenderloin to achieve the tenderness. We’re always into getting the same flavor, but using better quality ingredients,” explained Susanto.

Authentic Taste

Sop Buntut (Oxtail Soup) is definitely an icon in Grand Café. It’s a bold move, as we already had another 5 star hotel that’s already famous for the same menu. “Why we chose Sop Buntut? Just ask the customers, whose Sop Buntut is better? We’re very confident our Sop Buntut is the best. The statement came not from us, but from the guests. Whether it’s our regular or old customers, they keep coming back for Sop Buntut,” said Susanto.

Furthermore, Susanto explained that Grand Café only uses the best ingredients, from the local spices, to the imported beef. “We use Australian oxtail because the local ones are too small,” he added.

In a day, Grand Café can make up to 100 kg of oxtail as the menu is also available in its buffet. “During lunch time, if Grand Café is at full capacity, around 200 people, we use 80 kg of oxtail, not to mention the dinner and ala carte,” Susanto stated. To get that distinctive clear, umami soup, Grand Café employs the slow cooking method. “We spend 4 hours just to make Sop Buntut because we use low flame,” he added.

Aside from Sop Buntut and Sate Maranggi, no one seems to dislike Mie Ayam (chicken noodle). Once again, Grand Café walks the extra miles to recreate one of the most common street foods. “We make our own noodle using lamian technique. We also cook the chicken for 1 hour with low heat. And then, we make our own meatball broth using beef bone and striploin trimming,” said Susanto. 

For the Indonesia’s traditional salad Rujak, they use familiar ingredients such as sweet potato, peanut, tamarind, shrimp paste, brown sugar, cucumber, starfruit, pineapple, but Grand Café also use pomelo as a twist that you rarely see in the street. 

On the trending Indonesian cuisine, Susanto has his own perspective. “Food trend tends to be cyclical and repeat itself. In the 80’s we knew Bubur HI. In 90’s. when our tourism was booming, we have many expatriates that highlight western foods. Usually, the cycle last around 5-10 years,” he explained.

It’s difficult to discuss about taste in printed media. Don’t just believe the customers’ testimonials and Susanto’s claim. You need to see it for yourself to check the truth about the flavor. One thing for sure, enjoying the common street food that was made with 5 star hotels approach is definitely an inspiring experience.

Selama ini kita mengenal istilah mabuk ‘kepayang’, namun nampaknya masih sedikit yang tahu dari mana kata tersebut berasal. Ya, ‘kepayang’ diambil dari nama buah yang bila disantap begitu saja akan membuat orang merasa pusing, namun bijinya bisa diolah menjadi bahan masakan nikmat nan misterius. Di edisi kali ini, PASSION mengajak para pembaca untuk mengenal lebih dekat buah asli Indonesia penghasil warna hitam alami yang menakjubkan ini. Yuk, kita ‘kupas’ bersama!

The place offered brewing method options, from the most intense Rok Presso, French Press, to the mildest one, V60. They even have espresso machine Rancilio, Mahlkonig grinder, and Gene Coffee Roaster. Everything sounds common (and expensive, of course), but when you know they sell jamu, it’s a whole different story. 

Acaraki was started when Jony Yuwono, the owner, felt that jamu is moving away from its root in this modern day, as medicine. Acaraki is actually a term used to call a person who prepares jamu, similar to barista in coffee industry. Since established in 2018, Acaraki introduced jamu as lifestyle drink, akin to coffee and tea, along with its derivative business models. Adopting the third wave coffee shop concept, Acaraki claim itself as Jamu New Wave. “I want people not just hanging out at coffee shop, but to kedai jamu as well,” said Jony.

Jony was inspired to build Acaraki when he was hanging out in some coffee shops. “I often conducted small surveys while having cups of coffee. People know jamu is healthy, but most of them admitted they don’t drink it. 70% said jamu is bitter, 20% is not drinking because for them, the ingredients are unclear, the rest 10% is having difficulty in finding it. To me, the 70% majority is interesting, because if you say jamu is bitter, so does coffee, how come coffee is trending?”

As opposed to coffee industry that has fixed standards and regulations (which you can always break, of course), for example making espresso, jamu doesn’t have any rules. Every factory, even individual “mbok jamu” can make their own version of kunyit asam without involving themselves in endless debate with a bunch of jamu fanatics (if there’s any?). Setting its own standard, that’s what exactly Acaraki is doing.

Third Wave Coffee’s Approach

As opposed to other kedai jamu which offers many variants of jamu, Acaraki’s exploration is focused on 2 of the most popular ones: beras kencur (rice & kaempferia galanga) and kunyit asam (turmeric & tamarind), but they’re available in various brewing methods. “Some might say we have too few jamu variants, but when you come to a coffee shop and see many menus such as americano, latte, affogato, or cappuccino, they’re basically just variants of one product, coffee. Meanwhile we have 2 products,” said Jony.

Acaraki believes every region produces rice, kaempferia galangal, turmeric, and tamarind with certain notes, exactly like single origin coffee. “We’re not promising any health benefits, what we can guarantee is the integrity and honesty of ingredients from production process to the brewing method. What are the ingredients in jamu beras kencur? Rice and kaempferia galangal. Kunyit asam? Turmeric and tamarind. The method? Just boil it. For so long, jamu has been very open about its ingredients. But what are the ingredients of X (naming one of the most popular modern jamu)? How do they produce it? They’ll say, it’s secret,” stated Jony.

Along 3 manual brewing methods, Acaraki doesn’t limit itself in its creative process. They also have other “modern” creation, such as Saranti (beras kencur, creamer, milk, and sugar), Dutch Jamu (cold drip method for 8 hours), Golden Sparkling (kunyit asam, sugar, soda) and Rigalize (beras kencur, sugar, soda).

Ingredients from each region are dried using the fluid bed dryer method, and then, to add flavor, Acaraki also roasts them. When they have order, the roasted ingredients will be ground using coffee grinder, and then brewed using many methods. “We adopt coffee brewing methods, but it doesn’t mean without any further research. In the beginning, we try to brew using espresso machine, the extraction took very long time. We hope we can give inspiration to others, who knows we’ll have other kedai jamu that serves bajigur, bandrek, wedang uwuh, and many other regional drinks,” Jony explained.

Saranti is our favorite. This Beras kencur brewed using espresso machine and then they add milk, creamer, and sugar doesn’t taste like jamu, at all. Thanks to the roasting process that gives it nutty aroma that reminds us of hazelnut. If you add bobba, the milennials won’t even recognize they’re actually drinkin a glass of jamu! Then when we tried kunyit asam V60, we swore we smell the aroma of mustard. Suddenly it reminded us of burgers that exploits lots of mustard.

The New Wave Jamu is opening many possibilities in the future. The business can be built vertically by aiming certain target markets, from bubble tea format, the trending es kopi susu, and café format like the tea brand from Singapore. “We can also develop it horizontally, by introducing more jamu variants. There’s so many potentials, why not?” asked Jony.

With third wave coffee approach, Acaraki uses the true and tried business model, along with its equipments, in the coffee industry for jamu products. Even though they only have one outlet, Acaraki is currently preparing to open its second outlet in Kemang, around mid July 2019.

Lately, we’re kind of concerned about the growth of ice coffee milk trend that start to become saturated. Even though they exploit cute name for the brands and products, basically they’re selling the same product, also in similar price range. When these players are having the natural selection process, perhaps going for this New Wave Jamu direction is a rational choice, at least, they already had similar equipments. In addition to Indonesian’s burning nationalism spirit in culinary industry, we’re waiting for an era where kedai jamu can stand head to head to coffee shop.

In the past, jamu was part of people’s life. From the tradition of consulting about your own health to mbok jamu before she made you the jamu mix, or just to maintain health. Now, the jobs were pretty much replaced by modern medicine that’s more heavily marketed. However, Suwe Ora Jamu reminds us of our ancestor’s cultural heritage, along with the new and exciting modern format.

Suwe Ora Jamu was established by Nova Dewi Setiabudi and Uwi Mathovani in 2013. “In 2011, I moved to Jakarta from Surabaya, and actually I was in graphic design business. At the time, I was having a hard time finding jamu. I wondered, why do Jakartans don’t drink jamu? There are many reasons, from those who see jamu as medicine, the taste is awful, afraid of its negative side effects,” Nova recalled.

As someone who was born in Solo and attached to the jamu tradition, her longing for jamu took shape as Suwe Ora Jamu, the first modern jamu cafe in Jakarta. “In the beginning we called it Jamu Café and Coffee. We want to introduce jamu as healthy lifestyle drink, of course you need extra effort and time to change people’s mindset about jamu. It’s tough if we should solely claimed it as jamu coffee, because it was proven that many people started to get interested in jamu through our spice coffee,” explained Nova.

Initially, Suwe Ora Jamu introduced 5 jamu variants: kunyit asam (turmeric tamarind), (rice kaempferia galangal), wedang jahe (ginger water), rosella, and reeds. “We deliberately served lighter tasting, sweet jamu so it can be enjoyed more easily, but along the way, we introduced its original taste that’s not too sweet. Sometimes we even make out mocktail jamu using many vegetables and fruits that don’t reduce the health benefits,” said Nova.

Even though it’s closely associated with health benefits, Nova Dewi doesn’t see jamu as medicine. “To me drinking jamu is prevention, meanwhile you take medicine when you’re already sick. Therefore, in my family, jamu means jagalah dirimu (take care of yourself), even though the word came from ancient Java language that means jampi usodo (prayer for health),” said Nova. We don’t have any medical record on jamu’s health benefits, but for Nova, her family that rarely got sick is a living proof of jamu’s health benefits. 

One of Suwe Ora Jamu’s main concerns is about the ingredients, and they try to serve the most natural ones as possible. They sourced the ingredients from Cihaur Village, Sukabumi that employs no pesticide.

Now, Suwe Ora Jamu’s products have grown into many variants, from bottled traditional jamu, to the house blend tisane jamu with unique names. Let say Seduh Tentrem (fennel, cinnamon root, cardamom, kemangi, clove) that can rebalance organ’s function and as antioxidant, Seduh Anubhawa (lime leaf, white ginger, cardamom, kemangi, lemon peel, lemongrass) that can add stamina and spirit, to other variants such as Seduh Asmara, Seduh Sukma, Seduh Prana, Seduh Anigmaya, Seduh Tiyasa, and Seduh Jelita.

For the first time visitors, Sapta Sari is the best choice. 7 jamu variants is served in shot glasses consist of beras kencur, kunyit asam, wedang jahe, sari jamu sehat, reeds, rosella & green tamarind. Suwe Ora Jamu also serves local favorites such as Bubur Kacang Hijau, Bubur Ketan Hitam, Tahu Sumedang Isi Sayuran, Singkong Goreng, Tempe Mendoan, Pisang Goreng, Mie Goreng Tek Tek, Nasi Nusantara, and many other traditional foods.

With interior and ornament that reminds us of our childhood, Suwe Ora Jamu presents the nostalgia, also the future of the jamu sale’s format in modern era. If we always see coffee and tea and lifestyle drink, why don’t you give our ancestor’s legacy a shot here? With lighter taste and many modern renditions, we guess millennials won’t have a hard time adapting with the taste of jamu here.

The good news is, even though Suwe Ora Jamu’s outlets were located Petogogan, Warung Jati, Alun-Alun Indonesia, and Salihara, their products are also available in modern retail markets such as Ranch Market, Gelael, some restaurants in Jabodetabek, Surabaya, and Bali, to the modern apps like Go Food. It seems that you need to visit Suwe Ora Jamu’s Instagram (@suweorajamu28) for further information, along with some jamu workshops for those who want to know jamu better.

We wanted to discuss about the role of jamu in modern culinary scene for quite a while. If we know jamu as medicine, now we have some people who introduce it as lifestyle drink, similar to coffee, one of them is Acaraki’s owner, Jony Yuwono, who was also a Vice Chairman of 2014’s Gabungan Pengusaha Jamu. Here are Jony’s perspective about jamu’s essence, the development which seems to move away from its root, to its endangered existence.

How did you get introduced to jamu?

It all began from curiosity, I was also a member Jamu and Traditional Medicines Association (GP Jamu) in 2012-2013 where I frequently interacted with the members. From there, I started to gather information, and I felt the industry is filled with conflicts.

What sort of conflicts?

Let’s take the regulation for example. In headache medicine, producer claims brand A can cure headache, simple, clean and clear. Meanwhile on jamu, the claim is “traditionally believed to be able to help relieve headache symptoms. The claim may change every 4-5 years.

Many jamu producers are conflicting with The Indonesia Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) or the government. They complained, “how can we compete with modern medicines with such regulations?” On the other hand, I can’t blame BPOM, because according to them, modern medicines have the supporting research, laboratory test result, meanwhile for jamu producers, what sort of data they have?

Didn’t you guys have any data?

Look, if you dig deeper, such research costs lots of money. Let say you want to research a guava, they will find out the contents, extract, gather them, then test them on bacteria, mice, humans, then we’ll have the conclusion. Can you imagine how much guavas, mice, and time needed?

On the other hand, jamu has different philosophy. Why bother doing the extraction? Just drink it everyday, don’t wait until you get sick. Our education and health system refer to western world, when we apply the western standard to our local tradition, you should expect conflicts.

Then, BPOM argued that jamu has to obey the GMP (Good Manufacturing Process) of traditional medicines, from using stainless steel container, sterilization, to the hygiene of production facility. It’s not a big deal for industrial scale producers, then how about the regular “mbok jamu”? Do they have to paint their floor with epoxy like hospital standards?

To me, the biggest conflict in the industry is about the claim. Producers claim that jamu is empirically believed for centuries to give certain benefits, couldn’t we consider it as data? The problem is, our ancestors never write them down.Fortunately, in 2014 I was appointed as Vice Chairman of GP Jamu in third field which consists of research, educationand communication. Although I didn’t have any backgrounds as researchers, pharmacist, nor doctor, they chose me just because I was young, and GP Jamu needed regeneration. Thanks to the mandate, I did more research, and I found out that jamu tends to move away from its root.

Move away? What do you mean?

The name jamu came from ancient Javanese word, it’s an abbreviation of “jampi usodo”, jampi means prayer, usodo means health. If the name means prayer for health, why does nowadays people see jamu as medicine? Prayer is something spiritual, where’s jamu’s spiritual aspect? I ask you, if a pencak silat master were to fight against a boxer, who will win?

It depends, how will they fight? Which rules are we going to use.

Exactly, no matter how great a pencak silat master is, if he were to fight in a limited boxing ring, and he wasn’t allowed to use any kicks, he will surely lose. It depends on which standard we use, so does jamu. In modern medicine, we refer to stop watch, I mean, if you’re sick and you take a medicine, we count how long until you recover. If such standard is applied to jamu, of course jamu will never win. Then, if you look at most jamu packagings, you’ll see some claims, from improving stamina, to the outrageous ones, such as curing diabetes or cancer, we had over claims. Don’t forget, jamu also has spiritual standards, or we refer it as holistic: body, mind, spirit.

Please elaborate!

Look, in 2014, we had national meeting to inaugurate members of GP Jamu, introduced by President Jokowi, he said that jamu is an Indonesian brand that has to be focused on. When asked by journalist which jamu he had so he’s strong enough to do his signature “blusukan” (impromptu visit), he answered “curcuma”. Some media heavily exposed it, we had Ministry of Health intensified curcuma research, the agriculture sector was developing it, and then we had new instant curcuma jamu.

What most people ignored is, after that, a journalist asked a very interesting question, “who makes your jamu?” Jokowi answered he made it himself, from buying ingredients in the market, separating the juice from the leftover, and he’s doing it every morning for the past 17 years, without failing.

Then, my question is, what makes Jokowi strong to do his blusukan?

1. The curcuma. 

2. Jokowi’s mental who’s willing to get up earlier to prepare his own jamu, every morning for the past 17 years.

3. The positive energy of his prayer and expectation that this heritage recipe can maintain his health.

4. All of the above.

Of course it’s the 4th!

Then, an inspired young man started to buy instant curcuma jamu. In the beginning, he felt it tasted weird, in a week he drank it on and off. On the second week, third week, he felt it was expensive and he started to doubt its benefits, then on the fourth week, he got a cold. What’s his conclusion? “Curcuma is not effective! Jokowi was lying!”However, it was solely because he didn’t meet the holistic factor.Now, people see jamu as medicine, but in fact, it’s only a fraction of the health, along with mental and spiritual. Then it got me thinking, why don’t we just market it as lifestyle drink, like tea or coffee? Historically, both tea and coffee were drunk because people wanted their health benefits, even thoughm of course, we realize we can’t reap the benefits instantly, especially for tea. In Japan and China, drinking tea has its own ceremony to honor its spiritual aspect.

What’s the hottest issue in jamu industry right now?

We’re facing ingredient scarcity. Farmers prefer to grow coffee and tea which were more valued, commercially. Based on research, the world has around 10.000 plants, meanwhile Indonesia has around 3.000, that means 30%. Big industry only exposes 300 out of the 30.000 plants.

In 2012, The Ministry of Health conducted Ristoja (Research of Medicinal Herbs and Jamu) in Indonesia by simply surveyed the Indonesian tribes to ask for their local jamu recipe, benefits, and content, without judging it’s effectiveness. They only managed to survey 209 out of 1.084 of tribes outside Java and Bali. Guess how many jamu recipes they got?

i don’t know... thousands?

From merely 209, tribes, they managed to get over 15.000 recipes that used more than 1.700 endemic plants! Since New Order, “jamu” is used as a term to call traditional potion. So, even though people assume it came from Java, actually local people all over Indonesia has their own names to call their potions.Interestingly, in 2015, Ristoja was conducted again, and they found out that this traditional medication (batra) was done 49,5% by people over 60 years old, and only a third of them has disciples. Can you imagine the next 10-20 years when these guys retire? When local medication is no longer use the recipe, people won’t demand the ingredients, and farmers don’t want to grow them, at the end they will become extinct.

WHO has warned us upon the issue, the wording was interesting. “We can’t let the cure for future disease goes extinct even before the disease comes.”When you were a child, have you hear anything about SARS? Monkeypox? Zika virus? The disease keeps on evolving and science is playing catch up.

Allegedly, Quran stated that God has prepared solutions for every problem around you, you just have to look for them. It means, 30.000 plants in Indonesia is database that we’ll never know the benefits in the future. Decades ago, people wouldn’t expect quinine can cure malaria. While we just exposed to 300 of them, we still have other 29.700 plants. There should be some ways to preserve them!

Kendati sudah cukup lama menekuni bidang kuliner, karir Billy Leonardo sebagai Food Consultant bermula dari ketidaksengajaan. Namun pada perkembangannya, pria yang sempat mengenyam pendidikan di Berklee College of Music, Boston, Amerika Serikat tersebut bisa menjalankan profesi tersebut dengan baik dan kini, bersama rekan-rekannya yang bernanung di bawah brand Table Turns Hospitality Management Consultancy telah dipercaya menangani sejumlah klien prestisius di usia yang masih relatif muda; diantaranya Recolta, Nirvana Strength Bali dan Arnold’s Coffee. Kepada PASSION, Billy membagikan sejumlah pemikiran cemerlangnya; mulai dari filosofi, tantangan, hingga latar belakangnya di dunia musik.

Kenapa kamu memilih untuk menjadi Food Consultant, dan kapan semua itu bermula?

Sebenarnya bermula dari ketidaksengajaan. Awalnya dari membantu teman yang ingin membangun café di dalam sebuah gym pada tahun 2018. Kebetulan mereka juga belum punya pengalaman, jadi saya masuk di sana. Saya mulai membantu dari masa konstruksi / pembangunan, tapi pada perkembangannya, mereka sepertinya merasa kurang cocok dengan saya dan memiliki pandangan yang lain, jadi saya hanya sebatas melakukan pengecekan dan memberikan ide atau masukan. Saat itu saya belum dibayar juga karena saya belum terpikir untuk membuka jasa konsultan. Akhirnya setelah dua bulan dan gym tersebut sudah berjalan, tiba-tiba partner bisnis ownernya pergi, dan sang owner pun menghubungi saya. Pada saat itu saya juga tengah sibuk, namun saya mencari waktu untuk bisa rutin pergi ke kafe tersebut setiap pagi. Dalam waktu tiga minggu, saya membantu mereka start-up hingga akhirnya running sampai saat ini.

Ceritakan apa yang kamu lakukan sebagai seorang konsultan. Apakah kamu mengimplementasikan suatu sistem, atau semacamnya? Jelaskan untuk para pembaca kami

Sebenarnya ada dua tipe model yang saya sering lihat; pertama bisnis yang sudah ada, yang kedua start-up. Untuk tipe kedua ini, kita mulai benar-benar dari awal, bahkan terkadang sampai penentuan lokasi tempat bisnis, jenis produk yang dijual, bagaimana pemasaran atau marketingnya, bagaimana mempersiapkan modal. Detil-detil semacam itu, berlandaskan pada prediksi dan statistik. Kemudian untuk tipe pertama, yakni bisnis yang sudah ada, ini yang sedikit lebih sulit, karena ‘kanvas’nya sudah ‘tercoret’ (tertawa). Kami percaya satu hal, yakni mencari produk untuk pasar (market) yang sudah ada. Itu ditentukan dari lokasi juga. Figur market yang mereka bayangkan seperti apa. Kita carikan market dan tools yang benar untuk menjalankan bisnis tersebut, termasuk SDM (Sumber Daya Manusia) nya. Bila talent sudah di-hire, kita juga menyediakan sistem evaluasi untuk para staf tersebut.

Apa filosofi kamu sebagai Food Consultant, dan bagaimana metode pendekatan kamu untuk membangun sebuah fondasi dalam bisnis kuliner?

Filosofi kami adalah ‘temukan produk untuk market kamu’. Ini sebetulnya sama dengan konsep reverse engineering (rekayasa mundur), kita cari tahu lebih dahulu apa yang dicari orang-orang, apa kebutuhan customer. Hal ini membuat kami sampai harus membujuk beberapa klien untuk merombak total konsep makanan mereka agar lebih kena dengan market yang mereka inginkan.

Di era Internet, segala hal yang Anda butuhkan bisa Anda cari menggunakan Google, termasuk dalam membuat sebuah coffee shop, lalu mengapa kita harus mengikuti kelas barista lagi? Paling tidak itulah pertanyaan kami di awal ketika mengikuti Esperto Barista Course pada 8-11 Mei 2019.

Hari ketiga dimulai dengan penjelasan dasar mengenai teknik seduh manual, mulai dari peralatan, hingga perbedaan hasil seduhan berbagai alat seduh manual populer seperti French press, V60, syphon, dan sebagainya. Kemudian sesi kedua dilanjutkan dengan teknik membuat latte art yang membutuhkan keahlian motorik, komentar para peserta cukup seragam, “ternyata tidak semudah kelihatannya.” Pada hari terakhir, terdapat ujian tertulis sekaligus praktek untuk mengetahui sejauh mana kita memahami materi yang diberikan selama 3 hari terakhir.

Discovery Ancol menawarkan Klepon Cake spesial di bulan Juli hingga Agustus 2019 ini dengan harga Rp.117.000++, sebuah jajanan pasar tradisional khas Indonesia dalam bentuk kue yang modern. Dengan sentuhan khas klepon, Kelapa parut dengan gula merah diluarnya membuat cita rasa tetap sama dengan rasa aslinya. Cake tradisional namun istimewa yang dapat Anda nikmati bersama keluarga, saudara, teman dan sahabat, yang disuguhkan dan tentunya akan mengugah selera Anda. Dengan sentuhan nyaman dan modern yang diterapkan Kemang Lounge, Discovery Ancol menjadi tempat yang sangat tepat bagi Anda yang ingin menghabiskan waktu bersama.

Bertempat di Ubud, Manisan Bali merupakan tempat untuk menunjukkan kekayaan rasa Pulau Bali yang beraneka ragam dan eksotis. Sebuah jalan setapak akan menuntun Anda ke Joglo Jawa berusia 350 tahun yang kerap digunakan untuk pesta pernikahan dan private event. Saat ini, Manisan meluncurkan menu baru yang dikurasi oleh Chef legendaris Indonesia, sekaligus Presiden Indonesia Chef Association, Henry Alexie Bloem yang ditunjuk sebagai Culinary Advisor Manisan sambil bermitra dengan Executive Chef Alaya Resort Ubud, Ganesha.

Sana Sini Restaurant, Pullman Jakarta tidak pernah berhenti membuat inovasi kreatif. Pada bulan Juli ini, Sana Sini Restaurant dengan bangga mempersembahkan Indonesian Smokehouse Brunch pertamanya dengan sentuhan lokal yang tersedia setiap hari Sabtu. Hidangan yang tersedia merupakan menu-menu khas Nusantara seperti Hot Smoked Salmon Dabu-Dabu, Chicken Sambal Matah Sausage, Smoked Sirloin Taliwang, dan masih banyak lagi.

Ratusan Self Cooking Center® meninggalkan pabrik Rational di Landsberg am Lech seperti hari biasa. Namun sebuah unit yang diproduksi akan memiliki tempat khusus dalam sejarah perusahaan karena ini merupakan unit ke-satu juta. “Ini merupakan tonggak sejarah bagi Rational,” jelas Peter Wiedemann, Chief Technical Officer Rational AG. Ketika Sigfried Meister mendirikan perusahaan ini pada 1973, tidak ada yang menyangka Rational akan dapat meraih kesuksesan ini dalam waktu singkat.

Rational membuat combi-steamer pertamanya 3 tahun setelah perusahaan didirikan, dan mereka terus menyempurnakan teknologi tersebut. Sekarang, lebih dari 130 juta makanan disiapkan setiap harinya di unit Rational yang tersebar di seluruh dunia. Sebagai bagian dari perayaan, combi-steamer ke-satu juta ini akan diperlihatkan di berbagai event di seluruh dunia. Unit bersejarah ini memiliki angka “1.000.000” yang tertulis di knob rotary emas dan panel kontrolnya.

Italian Trade Agency (ITA), sebuah divisi dari Kedutaan Besar Italia di Jakarta, berkolaborasi dengan GAPMMI (Gabungan Pengusaha Makanan dan Minuman Seluruh Indonesia) dan IPF (Indonesia Packaging Federation), lalu didukung oleh SACE (Italian Export Credit Agency) dan BRI (Bank Rakyat Indonesia) untuk menyelenggarakan workshop berjudul “Advanced Technology of the Italian Food Processing Machines for Indonesian Industry” di The Dharmawangsa Jakarta, Nusantara Ballroom pada 26 Juni 2019.

Workshop ini bertujuan untuk mendukung industri manufaktur Indonesia yang sedang diprioritaskan untuk meningkatkan ekspor di bidang food and beverage processing. Workshop ini memberikan profil lengkap mengenai perusahaan teknologi Italia yang sesuai untuk UKM hingga perusahaan besar bagi lebih dari 100 orang undangan yang bergerak di bidang manufaktur F&B.

Terinspirasi dari 8 kabupaten Bali, The Warung di Alila Villas Uluwatu mempersembahkan “8 Regencies Journey” untuk memberikan 4 malam gastronomi istimewa oleh 4 guest chef. Selalu konsisten menghadirkan hidangan Indonesia otentik, The Warung merupakan destinasi wajib bagi para penggemar kuliner dan turis lokal mau pun luar negeri, hingga para chef yang mencintai warisan kuliner Indonesia.

Good food is the reason to explore Plaza Senayan these days, especially the lower levels of it. Traditionally here, people are going upstairs for the renowned food court and the shopping mall’s signature restaurants. Downstairs, a gourmet supermarket has many other things aside from its goods and the foreigners visiting it. As a foodie, it’s a playground full of wonders to explore.
 
The Pancake Co. by DORÉ resides within the area of the supermarket, at a lot once rented by several curated shops. The name DORÉ it self came from DORÉ by LeTAO, which has been known for the past four years for its successful cheesecake business in Jakarta. Last November, the management decided to venture into new terrain and The Pancake Co. by DORÉ opened just a couple of months back.

You might think that it’s another pancake shop but quite surprisingly, it isn’t. Unlike the American-style pancake - flat, floury, and with flavors coming from the toppings only, this one is the total opposite. But before you can taste one to see the difference, a friendly word of advice, you need to build up your patience to wait for 20 minutes of cooking preparations.

The dough needs to be shaped into thick circle over the grill pan and then cooked evenly. It is in contrast with the usual flat pancake we have been very familiar with. Currently, you can choose over four types of toppings to accompany the pancake here. Ask for the original that has vanilla ice cream, maple syrup, and nama cream. There are options also for chocolate lovers and those who want to enjoy fruits with it.

Once served, it is recommended for you to enjoy the pancake immediately. Its fluffy consistency cannot be retained for long and will quickly shrink in just under 5 minutes. So, unlike the usual floury pancake, The Pancake Co. by DORÉ’s version has the souffle-like texture that’s both spongy and creamy. DORÉ’s specialization in anything cheese makes it possible to create a formula that has a lot of flavors offered inside. Add a bit of ice cream or maple syrup if you will, but personally, I like it just the way it is!

Heading to other parts in the menu, The Pancake Co. by DORÉ offers all-day brunch dishes. Among those that are recommended are the Spiced Eggs Benedict with beef and chicken bacon or Emmental Cheese Toast using brioche and served with the house specialty corn soup, perfect also for dipping. The Chicken Quesadillas proved to be a decent sharing menu and served with homemade sour cream, guacamole, and mango salsa.

As for the main course, the Classic Carbonara is a must-have, especially because it’s complemented with onsen egg and the luxuriously smoky, sliced Scarmorza cheese. Another must-have would be the garlic fried rice topped with steak, onsen egg, and a drizzle of truffle oil. And for the desserts, you can always opt to have sliced cheesecakes - courtesy of DORÉ by LeTAO.

Described as a happy and lively place, The Pancake Co. by DORÉ would be a worthy visit if you are planning to have your daily dose of pancakes with your loved ones and enjoying European-style brunch dishes with Japanese touch. Come prepared for the waiting list and the 20-minute wait for its unique souffle pancake. But need not worry because not far in the future, The Pancake Co. by DORÉ will open another outlet. Can’t wait for that!

Regal Springs Group, yang dikenal memproduksi Tilapia berkualitas tinggi serta memiliki komitmen untuk peduli terhadap lingkungan hidup dan komunitasnya, mengumumkan sebuah Merek Konsumen besar dan Strategi Investasi Berkelanjutan di Indonesia.

Achim Eichenlaub, Chief Executive Officer Regal Springs Group, pemilik Regal Springs Indonesia mengatakan:

“Sebagai produsen Tilapia bertanggung jawab terintegrasi terbesar di dunia, dengan lebih dari 27.000 lapangan pekerjaan baik langsung maupun sekunder, kami dengan bangga mengumumkan fase pembangunan selanjutnya setelah selama 31 tahun perusahaan ini mempelopori budidaya perairan yang bertanggung jawab serta mendukung komunitas.

Di bawah kepemilikan baru, kami berkomitmen untuk memastikan bisnis kami di Indonesia masih terus memimpin budidaya perairan dan pemrosesan ikan. Untukmembuktikan hal ini, kami memperkenalkan produk Tilapia kelas dunia yang diproduksi secara lokal kepada masyarakat Indonesia, di bawah merek Regal Springs Indonesia - Naturally Better Tilapia.

Saya sangat bersemangat dengan investasi ini, mengingat Indonesia adalah asal usul Regal Springs Group kami yang sudah mendunia. Kami ingin membawa standar pangan kelas dunia ke Indonesia dan memang sudah sepantasnya hal ini memberikan manfaat bagi konsumen baru di Indonesia. Produk Naturally Better Tilapia kami didukung oleh sebuah program berkelanjutan terintegrasi unik yang disebut KAMI PEDULI 2023, yang juga membantu menempatkan Indonesia di posisi terdepan dalam budidaya perairan dan pemrosesan ikan yang bertanggungjawab.”

Regal Springs Group mengerahkan sumber daya yang signifikan untuk meluncurkan merek konsumen Regal Springs Indonesia - Naturally Better Tilapia dengan cara ini. Setelah mengembangkan selama dua tahun, rangkaian produk Regal Springs Indonesia - Naturally Better Tilapia kini sudah tersedia di Indonesia.

Yeri Afrizon, Head of Sales & Marketing, Regal Springs Indonesia, mengatakan:

“Selamat datang ke acara Naturally Better Tilapia Regal Springs Indonesia! Ikan bernutrisi tinggi dengan kualitas terbaik tanpa antibiotik atau bahan kimia – ikan murni, tinggi kandungan protein dan rendah lemak. Saya sangat bangga karena sekarang rangkaian produk Regal Naturally Better Tilapia Regal Springs Indonesia sudah tersedia untuk masyarakat Indonesia.

Strategi investasi ini mengawali sebuah era baru bisnis kami di Indonesia. Pemilik baru kami berinvestasi hingga lebih dari US$3 juta hanya untuk mengembangkan KAMI PEDULI 2023, yang secara internasional dikenal sebagai Regal Springs KAMI PEDULI, dan kami memetik manfaat baik bagi negeri ini.

Kami bangga bahwa program budidaya perikanan berkelanjutan yang pertama di dunia ini didesain dengan begitu komprehensif, juga menjadi program budidaya perikanan dan
pemrosesan ikan berkelanjutan yang paling ambisius di Indonesia. Ini adalah dasar dari rangkaian produk Naturally Better Tilapia Regal Springs Indonesia. Ini artinya, masyarakat Indonesia kini dapat menikmati ikan berkualitas dunia yang sama seperti produk yang telah kami ekspor untuk memenuhi permintaan pasar internasional,” kata Yeri Afrizon.

Regal Springs Group, pemilik Regal Springs Indonesia yang beroperasi dan memiliki pelanggan dari seluruh dunia, memastikan bahwa KAMI PEDULI 2023 juga sejalan dengan Tujuan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan (Sustainable Development Goals) dari PBB. Tujuan utama pada fase pertama program ini adalah untuk memproduksi rangkaian produk Naturally Better Tilapia Regal Springs Indonesia secara konsisten untuk pasar Indonesia dan pasar ekspor, dengan program manajemen lingkungan hidup yang tertata, mendukung komunitas, serta memiliki standar produk. Rencana KAMI PEDULI 2023 akan memastikan produk Naturally Better Tilapia Regal Springs Indonesia terus menjadi jawara produk kategori Tilapia.

Sammy Hamzah, Presiden Komisaris, Regal Springs Indonesia, menambahkan:

“Sejumlah besar pekerjaan telah dilakukan dalam perjalanan ini. Kami merekrut pakar-pakar dan manajer-manajer baru, serta memulai menjalankan filosofi bisnis KAMI PEDULI ke seluruh penjuru bisnis, untuk bergerak menuju standar keberlanjutan operasi yang baru. Cara menjalankan bisnis seperti ini diperlukan untuk mempertahankan standar operasional yang tinggi di seluruh penjuru Indonesia dalam memproduksi rangkaian produk Naturally Better Tilapia Regal Springs Indonesia.

Hal indah yang bisa dipetik dari Regal Springs KAMI PEDULI adalah, induk usaha Regal Springs Group mengizinkan kami untuk menginvestasikan keuntungan bisnis ekspor kembali ke Indonesia untuk mendukung program KAMI PEDULI, yang pada akhirnya akan memberi manfaat kepada produk dan konsumen Indonesia.

Seluruh bisnis bersatu di balik strategi ini. Saya sangat terkesan dengan bagaimana pemilik baru yang tak hanya berharap Regal Springs Indonesia yang baru menjalankan standar internasional sangat tinggi dalam budidaya perikanan dan pemrosesan ikan, namun juga dengan tidak mengesampingkan warisan komunitas yang merupakan perintis bisnis ini di Jawa pada tahun 1988.”

Danish Recipe :

Bakerstar Merah 1600 gr

Bakerstar Biru 400 gr

Green tea powder 30 gr

Bruggeman Brown Yeast 40 gr

Bruggeman Red Improver 3 gr

Sugar 180 gr

Milk Powder 80 gr

Unsalted Butter 150 gr

Salt 40 gr

Ice Water 850 ml

Whole Egg 2 ea

Fresh Cream 100 ml

Coloring as needed

Lamination Butter :

Corman Express Butter Sheet 1kg

Filling :

Matcha Filling 500 gr

Red bean Filling 500 gr

The surge of coffee shop industry doesn’t only pave way for barista to be the new rockstar, some of the connecting business is also affected as well, just ask, Wilfred Tan, Technical Advisor of PT. Dairyfood Internusa. As distributor of Corman Butter Sheet, in the past few years, they have more and more people mastering the art of viennoiserie and laminated products. Even though he has fascinated many people with the faster straight dough method, actually Wilfred has strong background in chocolate.

Let’s start from the beginning, where did you study?

I went to Trisakti’s Faculty of Tourism. I chose this major to avoid mathematic, so I went to Trisakti. At first, I began to have interest in F&B, bartending, then I moved to hot kitchen, until I knew the world of baking.

Why did you finally choose pastry?

Perhaps it’s love, we played with science a lot here. In hot kitchen, if you lack some spice, you can put it in the end of the process, but in pastry, if you made mistake in the beginning, you can’t do anything. It’s a hassle, but that’s the challenge, in addition, pastry is more artsy.

Before mastering viennoiseri, actually I was into chocolate as I was working in Nirwana Lestari (Tulip Chocolate). I was doing internship there as daily worker back in 2012-2013. I was introduced to Chef Benty Diwansyah (Corporate Pastry Chef PT. Nirwana Lestari), and after graduated, I worked permanently for 3 years. Actually when I worked here (PT. Dairyfood Internusa), my basic knowledge about baking was very low, because in Tulip, I was more into petit four, pralines, or cakes.

Who do you consider as your most influential mentors?

Chef Benty educated me to put standard in making any products, he also taught me to be creative, to make something that others never think of, and the last one, of course about discipline. Working under Chef Benty is something I never regret! And then, in here, I learned how to make bread and viennoiseri from Ricky Salim. In addition, he also taught me a lot how to sell, thanks to his background in sales.

Did you go straight to Dairyfood Internusa from Nirwana Lestari?

Actually, I managed Moriz Chocolate (also selling retail chocolate bar under the name of Vel Moriz). We didn’t rely to machine too much there, we do the tempering, making praline shell, and filling manually. But I didn’t stay there more than a year.

As a Technical Advisor, please tell us your daily activities.

My job is to create new products, also to solve customers’ technical issues, everything around those two. I also help the sales department when they had issues, usually we visit the customers to discuss about the technical issues in baking.

Please tell us a bit about PT. Dairyfood Internusa’s products.

We have of our own private brands: Bakerstar flour and Cheesy cheese, and of course, we act as distributor for Corman Butter Sheet. Butter sheet really helps bakers to make laminated product because you don’t need to shape and freeze the butter yourself.

What are Corman’s competitive edges?

We have many butter sheet variants, from margarine, butter blend, to the 99,9% butter. Theoretically, higher fat content will produce better, milky aroma, and flakier croissant texture.

What’s the biggest challenge in producing viennoiserie?

For any laminated products, the biggest challenge would be knowing the right timing and temperature. Every butter sheet has its own melting point. For example, Corman 99,9% Extra Butter Sheet’s melting point is at 36o C. If you work at higher temperature, the butter will melt and you won’t have the layers. Meanwhile in Corman 82% Express Butter Sheet, the melting point is lower, at 34o C. Ideally, you need to proof the dough in 2o C bellow its melting point.

Does the vast growth of coffee shop industry directly related to croissant business?

Yes. Corman has the widest selection of butter sheet, we have 6 variants. Since thelast 3 years, we have more people who want to master viennoiserie, of courseour sales have been significantly increased. Even though we have many coffee shops which sell viennoiserie products, not all of them are willing to produce their own products. As a result, we have more people who want to start frozen dough business.

How do you describe your baking style?

Hmmm, how should I say it? Actually, for croissant products, if you can make something that’s very aromatic with flaky texture, most customers would be happy. However, the straight dough method that I taught to my customers allows shorter, simpler production process. It’s an answer to customers who demand faster production process while maintaining satisfying result.

Normally, we need 3 days to produce croissant: first day to make the dough, second day to make the folding and lamination, dan third day to bake, meanwhile, I can produce it within 5 hours. Many people doubt this straight dough method, but actually, they’ll know that this method is possible, and the result is not too different.

What are the things we sacrifice in this faster method?

The taste from the fermentation process and volume. Usually, overnight method produces stronger aroma, in addition because it has more elastic dough, overnight dough has bigger sized croissant. But actually, the difference of bith methods is not too significant, the quality of ingredients play more important role. I mean, if you make croissant with overnight method using margarine, it won’t be as good as the one made with straight dough method using butter.

More than just a pastry product, Le Meridien’s is a witness to the golden era of hotel’s pastry industry in the 1990’s. Since its inception in 1992, Millefeuille has been an icon for the French hotel brand. According to Tri Setyadi, Le Meridien Jakarta’s Executive Pastry Chef, globally, the hotel actually has its own signature pastry product. Here’s our interview with the Pastry Chef who spent years working in Indonesia and abroad, especially the Middle East.

Please tell us a bit about your career.

I began in pastry in Grand Mahakam Hotel on 1999 for 5 years. Then I moved to Alila Pecenongan, Abu Dabhi, Kempinski Jakarta, Dubai, then Hotel Nikko which was changed into Pullman, then to Grand Sahid Hotel, Saudi, and then, now in Le Meridien Jakarta.

It seems that you love the Middle East?

Perhaps that’s where my luck is. The pastry industry there is more developed, thanks to its higher level of competition. In Abu Dabhi, I worked for Kempinski Emirates Palace, in the beginning the hotel was designed for the royal family, or to host the King’s VVIP guests. Everything is made of gold there, even the plates.

Meanwhile in Dubai, I worked in Atlantis The Palm. Most of the customers came from all over the world for vacation as the hotel’s concept is quite unique, with giant aquarium in it, it’s as if the visitors are in the depth of the sea. Meanwhile in Mecca, Saudi, I worked to serve customers who went for hajj and umrah, so I tend to work for quantity. In high season, we can serve up to 6.000-7.5oo people, minimum!

Do you have any influential mentors for your career?

Of course, it was my Executive Pastry Chef when I worked at Abu Dabhi, a French named Pascal Clair. He taught me how to work in big hotels, we made everything from scratch, from chocolate, bread, dessert, even ice cream. He even asked me to come along with him in Kempinski Jakarta and Atlantis The Palm in Dubai, so I worked with him 3 times. Thank God he trusted me, so I can be where I am today.

What’s your current activities in Le Meridien Jakarta?

We’re promoting our wedding cakes, last week we just held a wedding exhibition and we introduced 3 types of wedding cake. At the moment, naked cake is trending, a cake that’s not fully covered in tiers. The concept is quite simple, open, and filled with flower ornaments. Of course we can make any design as customer’s requests, but we try to give them some inspiration and options.

Of course we can’t come here without mentioning anything about your legendary Millefeuille, tell us a bit about it.

Le Meridien originated from France. Since we opened in 1992, we aimed to serve traditional French pastries. Actually, Le Meridien hotels all around the globe make Éclair as their signature pastry, including in Indonesia, it’s compulsory for us to present it. However, it’s Millefeuille that caught everyone’s attention, so we decided to make it our signature.

Are there anyone who try to copy your Millefeuille?

Actually, there are many, but based on my experience of working in many places, nothing compares to the sales in here. Perhaps it’s because Le Meridien is already
identical to Millefuille, so whenever people want Millefeuille, they come here.

What’s so special about Le Meridien’s Millefeuille?

Since its inception, I would say that our recipe remains unchanged, consistent; we also have crispier texture Millefeuille. It’s our best selling products, especially in Ramadhan and Christmas. We just change its presentation a bit, we used to put some sugar dusting as topping. We offer 2 flavors: vanilla and chocolate, however, with some special requests, we can also provide other flavor, such as strawberry or blueberry.

Is Millefeuille that hard to produce?

Technically, it wasn’t too difficult, but I have to admit that the production process takes longer time. Unlike making bread, we have to make dough and prepare the butter in the same temperature. Therefore, we need to keep them in chiller for 6 hours to 1 day. You can’t get perfect layers if the temperature of the dough and butter is different. Then, we proceed to the folding process, baking, put the layer together, some pastry cream as filling, and then fondant topping. Actually the process is quite similar to making croissant, however Millefeuille requires less folding.

Aside Millefeuille, what are Le Meridien’s other favorites?

We have eclairs with some local flavor. If éclair is commonly served with coffee, chocolate, or vanilla filling, in here I use coconut and mango

As a French brand, you must be using lot of dairy products. What are your criterias to choose some certain dairy product brands?

Of course, we use lot of butter and cream. The main criteria is definitely the taste, and since the beginning, we’ve entrusted it to the brand from France. For common people, the difference of the butter and cream’s taste might be unnoticeable, but we tried using other brands, the taste and the umami is very different. In addition, you need to consider the
different taste after you bake the product.

If you want to start a career as a Chef, but you don’t have the required education background, you’ll be inspired by M Jackson Kaimudin’s career. From a cleaning service staff of a kitchen, he travelled around the world until he decided to return to Indonesia as a Chef and consultant. Chef Jackson reminded us the importance of speed in service and food preparation in F&B business.

I heard you start your career from bottom?

I started my journey in East Australian in 1984. At the time, there were many people from Timor, Papua, and Ambon, like me, who worked there, the restaurant name was Asia Seafood. Initially, I began as cleaning service there. In Australian kitchen, a Chef is fully responsible for the restaurant, not the General Manager. The Italian Chef, Phil John Alexander, noticed my performance and he wanted me to clean the kitchen.

What happened next?

Phil John asked to me to come with him to work in cruise and we travelled around the world together. In 93-94, I moved to Wynn Hotel Macau until I decided to return to Indonesia in 2000 to work in Palembang. In 2003-2004, I went to Papua to manage a Freeport’s property. In 2006, I moved to Bogor to manage a hotel in
Sentul while joining some events in Jakarta, do some consultation and training.

What’s your cuisine specialization?

Chinese food. I’m keen on learning Chinese food as it was more challenging, they even have their own type of stove. Chinese is not only about the way you cook, but also how you maintain ingredients’ quality, and understanding the basic ingredients. In Indonesia, people know different types of Chinese food such as Szechuan, Kanton, Hakka, etc, then for a restaurant, do you really have to hire 2 Executive Chefs?

A Chef has to be able to master everything, because he was judged by his skill and knowledge. Not only limited to food, he has to know what to do when there’s something wrong with the kitchen equipments. It’s a long process and it’s back to the willingness to learn.

When I started to clean the stove and other kitchen equipments, I was learned how they worked. As I finished my job, I helped other kitchen staffs, until I was appointed as kitchen staff and introduced to 23 ingredients. They asked me to recognize the aroma of the ingredients and do the blind taste, I failed to recognize the smell of 2 ingredients: salt and sugar.

Why did you decide to return to Indonesia?

Because I’m Indonesian, I love Indonesia. Then, nowadays I’m more into Indonesian food, it’s more challenging, even when I compare it to Chinese food. Indonesian cuisine showcases more combinations of spices that you need to understand.

How do you describe your cooking style?

I tend to stress more about speed. Because, from what I’ve learned, no matter how good your food is, if you don’t serve while it’s hot, the quality declines, people won’t rate it as good. I love playing with speed, a good restaurant or hotel can deliver the service to the customers as fast as possible while maintaining its quality. For example, if you order grilled fish, there’s no way you’d clean the fish first, while preparing the grill after the order. You need to do all the preparation beforehand.

A restaurant needs to have good service and food. If you’re hungry and people ask you to wait for 1 hour, would you do that? Another infuriating thing is when the restaurant serves the food to another guests who come after you. The best food need to be served fast, you need to prepare everything before, there’s no other way.

With such speed, what are other things that you compromise?

One of them is the menu’s number. Before opening a restaurant, you need to calculate the kitchen’s capacity and the number of staffs you have. Can you imagine, a small kitchen with 2 staffs while you have 30 menus? Most restaurants only serve 10 menus and employ sekitar 4 kitchen staffs, not including the butcher, waiter, etc. However, 10 menus is not too small If we have Black Pepper Fish, Black Pepper Crab, and Black Pepper Squid, we consider them as 1 menu.

In the hand of an unexperienced Chef, vast number of menus is actually dangerous, moreover when the menus chosen by customers are not available. If a customer asks for a menu that’s unavailable for 3 times, they’ll start to disappointed, and they will ask you back, “okay then, what do you have?” It’s a bad sign for a restaurant.

What do you consider as biggest challenge in running restaurant business in Indonesia?

The partnership of owner and Chef. If owner interferes too much, not giving full responsibility to the Chef, there will be troubles. At the time, I have to admit managing human resource is more challenging. If a restaurant open at 10.00, we used to always come at 8.00 to prepare. In 9.00, everything’s ready. Now? Sometimes the staffs come on 10.00. Nowadays employees tend to be more calculative when it comes to working hour. If you have dualism of leadership between owner and Chef, it will create confusion for the staffs.

One of the most challenging things about running a French bistro resides in the mind of the customers. Although it was closely associated with fine dining, thanks to its reputation (and Michelin Guide, of course), French also has their own everyday food, like the one displayed by Lyon, located in 5 star hotel, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Jakarta.

“Lyon is not a fine dining restaurant, it’s a gastronomic bistro where we serve quality food in a casual ambience, at gentle price. Because of our location in a prestigious 5 star hotel, people often think it’s fine dining,” said Edi Tan, Lyon’s Chef de Cuisine.

The name of the bistro came from French’s capital gastronomic, Lyon. In 1935, Curnonsky, one of the most celebrated writer in gastronomy, even regarded the city as “the world’s capital gastronomy”. Lyon is also linked to Chef Paul Bocuse, the pope of French cuisine who has his main restaurant “L’auberge du Pont de Collonges” in Lyon.

“French cuisine is all about flavor and respect of ingredients. In this cuisine, the quality of fresh ingredients hold crucial part, our job as chef is to bring out the best flavors and elevate the original ingredients, without overdoing it neither. The natural flavor should still stand out. It’s like a symphony of an orchestra, every single ingredient that are presented in a plate holds important role, everything is carefully thought through,” explained the young chef.

“From the source of protein, the side dish, the sauces, everything is thought through to create a harmonious dish. Sauce also plays important role in French cuisine, it takes a lot of time and effort to create a good sauce. Sauce is what link all of the ingredients in the plates became harmonious together,” Edi added.

If Indonesians are famous for putting chili sauce in almost all of the dishes, French is known for their love of dairy products, be it butter, cream, or cheese. In fact, dairy products are the 2nd largest agrifood industry in France, right after meat. France is the 2nd biggest producer of dairy products in Europe, especially from Britanny and Normandie region. France is also ranked as 1st exporter of soft cheeses. There are many different varieties of French cheese and every different region has their own specialty. “Every family meal in France are normally ended with cheese, so we can imagine the quantity that is consumed,” said Edi

It’s no wonder that French embraces the frequent use dairy products in their cuisine. “For instance, cream is used a lot in soup and sauces for balancing the flavor and bring out the right consistency. Butter in everything, they believe everything is always better with butter! Butter makes the dish more gourmet and flavorful,” he added.

Edi Tan displayed the flavor balance concept throughout Lyon’s menu. For starters, he served Buffalo Mozzarella, a very simple, refreshing menu consisted of fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar. It’s as if the chef let the ingredients “speak” for themselves. And then we had Brie de Meaux, from Meaux region, a definitely cheese lover heaven. Served on crispy baguette, mixed greens and truffle vinagraitte, the menu is an absolutely recommended to understand why French love their cheese so much.

Of course, you can’t go to a French bistro without mentioning the Classic Onion Soup, a heartwarming menu to remind you that French is not all about fine dining. For the dessert, we had the 22passionmedia.co.idTHE CITYBaked Lemon Tart. Actually, we thought it’s “just a regular” lemon tart, it was not too sweet, had the pronounced tangy, acidic, refreshing lemon. We took a bite, and the only moment we stopped, was when we realize the plate was already clean. Seriously addictive! Thanks to the Edi’s flavor balance concept. Some other must try main courses here are Pan Seared Foie Gras and Striploin with Café De Paris sauce for meat eaters, or Dover Sole Meuniere for fish lover.

“We also propose weekly business lunch set menu for Rp 220.000. Our menu changes every week, here I play more with my creativity in the dish and I put more contemporary twist,” said Edi. “In Jakarta, the trend is unpredictable and keeps fluctuating. Jakarta people always want to try something new, one moment French cuisine is a trend, and it changes rapidly. That’s why we also keep evolving with our menu. We change our business lunch every week, our brunch menu every month, so people have choices. French cuisine is related to fine dining, like it’s an occasional meal, while it’s not, it’s very accessible for everyone, and you can enjoy it anytime,” he added.

Hidup adalah tentang proses, bukan hanya hasil, dan Reinaldo Christian paham betul tentang hal tersebut. Berawal dari menonton acara masak memasak di televisi, ia kemudian tertarik untuk meneruskan studi di bidang kuliner. Beragam tantangan pun dilalui dengan semangat tak kenal lelah hingga tak terasa ia sudah pernah berkarya di tiga negara berbeda. Kini, pria asli Bandung yang menjabat sebagai Head R&D Development Pison Coffee Bali ini telah mantap menjalani karir sebagai chef professional, dan ia membagikan secuplik pemikiran cemerlang serta latar belakangnya kepada para pembaca setia Passion dalam rubric Y&D edisi kali ini. Check them out!

Ceritakan sedikit tentang latar belakang kamu; apa yang menginspirasi kamu untuk meniti karir di dunia memasak?

Waktu kecil saya suka nonton acara memasak di TV; Rudi Choirudin, Sisca Soewitomo, dan kelihatannya memasak koq menyenangkan. Lalu waktu SMP saya mulai mencoba memasak, dan ketika SMA saya diberi pilihan untuk melanjutkan ke sekolah memasak di Singapura. Pertama kali disana, saya jadi benar-benar tidak suka memasak, karena tidak menyangka bahwa waktu saya akan habis hanya untuk belajar setiap harinya. Saya tidak memiliki waktu lagi untuk mencari relasi dan kenalan baru, di samping proses belajarnya yang memang sangat high pressure. Namun akhirnya saya bisa lulus dan pulang ke Bandung.

Di tahun 2012, saya melamar dan diterima di Mozaic Ubud. Di sana saya banyak berkenalan dengan para perantau seperti saya, dan mereka benar-benar memiliki passion di dunia memasak; membaca buku dan semacamnya. Hal ini kemudian memantik semangat lagi dalam diri saya hingga akhirnya saya kembali ke Singapura dan bekerja di Andre; sebuah restoran dengan dua Bintang Michelin dan sempat masuk ke 50 restoran terbaik di Asia. Dari sana, saya semakin mendalami dunia memasak dan mendapat banyak ilmu serta dorongan dari chefnya hingga memutuskan untuk terjun sepenuhnya ke dunia kuliner hingga saat ini.

Sebagai kepala pengembangan (R&D) divisi kuliner Pison, inovasi semacam apa yang hendak kamu buat untuk menu restoran ini?

Selama ini saya melihat Pison sangat relevan dengan pasar lokal maupun asing. Mulai dari remaja yang gemar memfoto makanan, karyawan kantoran, hingga ibu-ibu yang membawa anak mereka, semua cocok dengan rasa masakan yang kami tawarkan, jadi untuk berikutnya saya ingin mengembangkan makanan kami ke arah ‘comfort food’; dimana orang bisa datang empat hingga lima kali seminggu kemari dan tidak bosan menyantapnya. Karena saya pernah merasakan posisi dimana saya hanya mengkreasi makanan yang berbentuk cantik, tapi orang belum tentu mau kembali untuk menyantapnya lagi, jadi saya ingin membuat sesuatu yang juga relevan untuk menarik para pelanggan untuk kembali.

Kalau kamu hanya bisa memilih tiga bahan untuk membuat satu makanan, bahan apa yang akan kamu pilih, dan masakan apa yang akan kamu buat dari masakan tersebut?

Saya akan memilih bawang merah, daging dan salah satu bumbu seperti cabai. Saya akan membuat seporsi steak dari bahan tersebut. Ini adalah masakan sederhana, namun orang akan bisa menikmati rasa yang kuat dari perpaduan ketiga bahan itu. Jika boleh menambah satu bahan lagi, mungkin saya akan membubuhkan kecap untuk menambah citarasa saja.

Sebutkan 3 tantangan terbesar yang sudah kamu lewatin selama berkarir

Yang pertama; bekerja di restoran dengan bintang Michelin (Andre, Singapura), meski kemudian saya tidak bisa melanjutkan karena terkendala visa kerja; kemudian menangani pastry yang saya tidak pernah lakukan sebelumnya, di negara orang pula. Jadi waktu saya bekerja di Sidney, Australia, saya diminta menangani divisi pastry padahal saya tidak pernah punya pengalaman di bidang tersebut. Tekanannya lumayan besar waktu itu. Kemudian di Ambrogio Bandung, saya menangani 400 pax sekaligus secara rutin, hampir setiap weekend, di dua lantai yang berbeda dengan konsep penyajian yang berbeda; a la carte dan buffet.

Sebutkan satu selebriti wanita yang kamu nilai sempurna (10/10), dan apa yang akan kamu masak baginya jika ada kesempatan.

Elizabeth Chase Olsen (pemeran Scarlet Witch di seri Avengers), dia itu cantik banget. I think I will make a dessert for her. Fudge brownies dengan cokelat dan es krim hazelnut yang meleleh, saya pikir itu akan jadi hidangan yang cocok untuknya.

Ceritakan pengalaman kamu di Ambrogio Pattiserie, dan bagaimana itu telah membentuk karir kamu saat ini

It shaped me a lot, terutama dalam hal idealisme. Di sana kita dituntut untuk idealis, namun tetap relevan. Terlalu idealis kadang membuat kita tidak relevan; apa yang menurut kita sudah bagus, terserah orang lain bisa menerima atau tidak, tapi di Ambrogio, kita harus bersedia untuk kompromi dengan keinginan orang lain. Salah satu owner Ambrogio, ibu Theresia, memiliki lidah yang luar biasa, dan dari dia juga saya banyak belajar untuk menyeimbangkan citarasa masakan, mereka sangat mendukung kami dengan bahan masakan dan peralatan yang berkualitas. Saya juga belum pernah merasakan pengalaman meng-handle tamu sebanyak di sana. Ada 90 staf dapur, dan kami harus menangani sekitar 400 pax per hari di dua periode; breakfast dan dinner, jadi perputarannya sangat kencang dan intens. Saya sangat respect karena pihak Ambrogio juga sabar dan memperlakukan saya dengan baik, sehingga kami tidak merasa grogi meskipun kerap kewalahan.

A YouTube personality, athlete, pastry master and entrepreneur, there seem like only a few things Rafi Papazian can’t do. The mind behind Monsieur Spoon went all the way from France to Bali to fulfill his culinary passion, and now he reaps the sweet fruits of his tireless effort. Rafi credits curiosity and energy as the key aspects to his success, and willing to share some of his insights to the readers in this edition. Here goes...

So tell us about the beginning of Monsieur Spoon. Why did you choose Bali, and what’s the meaning behind the beautiful name?

For a long time I was searching for a place where I can do artisanal (pastry), where I could make them by hand, where I can cut apple for three hours a day. When I came to Bali I saw people here like to carve wood and make beautiful stuffs. In one traditional ‘Ayam Betutu’ restaurant in Denpasar, I saw four ladies sat on the floor, cutting shallot. In other places, people don’t have time for this small task, but here, it’s artisanal and spiritual; ‘More temple than house’, so that interest me. In Bali, people believe in something, and when people believe in something, they give energy for it. People who give energy like that will be able to make a croissant for 8 hours and put up with the intricate process. I feel Bali really fit with my cooking philosophy.

As for the name, when I was in school back in France, I used many kind of tools; but the most practical one is spoon, so I always bring them everywhere with me, and then one friend told me that I am Mr. (Monsieur) Spoon, so I decide to use that name. It also blends the sophisticated French words with a simplistic English one, and so easy to remember. There are stories behind each of my creations, not only the brand, but the pastry as well. I love the story behind the names.

What is your craziest dream so far that you wish you could achieve?Diversity, for me it is what makes thing beautiful; more structure, more color, and the more successful I can bring diversity to my creation, the happier I am. So every month I try to make something new (at Monsieur Spoon). I want people to try something different. If I can successfully have 200 different pastries and each one is sold, that’s my craziest dream.

All of the success of Monsieur Spoon aside, you also known as an Ironman Athlete. When did it started, and what kind of mindset that you think the people should have to compete in that level?

Everything we do is about the energy we have. The more inspiring we are, the more we do something, the more curious we are, the more we are excited about life and by everything we see around, will gives us energy. With this energy you can do something more and your impact to the world will be better. If you want to make the world a better place, get more energy, do more things. So every year I try things I never did before, and Ironman was part of it. So last year, I did Ironman and jumping solo from the plane. In Ironman, of course you have to train hard to do it, but it’s just the same as what I do here (at Monsieur Spoon). People always asked me ‘what is your secret’, I have a YouTube channel, so if you want to know my (cooking) secret, it’s online, it’s not secret; but what makes the difference is the energy that I put in. When people only put one layer of syrup; I put three, when people do two folding; I do six, so I put more energy in everything I’m doing. The more time you give, the more attention you give, the more love you give, it creates quality.

What about your childhood; how did you discover your interest in cooking for the first time, and have you always wanted to become a pastry chef?

My childhood is not related to cooking whatsoever. When I was 23, I began to develop interest in pastry because we always went to one pastry shop to look around, and then I started asking around to find out about things; why there’s a hole in éclair? And things like that. Then, when I was 25, a friend gave me a book titled ‘Gastronomic Revelation’ from a famous molecular inventor, Herve This, in which I get deeper explanation on the chemical side of a food creation, and it increases my interest even more. So on 2008, I established a YouTube channel, Inratable, to give some cooking tips; which now has generated around 15 Million views, and then it leads me to start my career in pastry business until now.

What is the most common misconception that you wish you could tell people about dairy ingredients, and which dairy ingredients that you love to work with the most?

(Favorite ingredients to work with are) Egg, milk, cream and butter! (laugh) for me, the source is very important; milk that we use comes from Java, I personally went there and search for the natural one. I brought the butter from France, from someone that I know well. Where the ingredients come from is more important. If you take ‘alternative’ but you don’t know where it’s from, it’s not always better. It is the most common misconception that people think alternative of dairy product is always healthier, it’s not! For example, soya milk or almond milk that comes from genetically modified beans might not be better. It is important that you know the source. We have to understand the making process of the ingredients; doing research and actually come to see it for ourselves.

To cater the ever-increasingly healthy market, do you substitute the dairy with other alternatives?

Let’s put it this way: if you eat 10 kilos of French fries, it’s bad for you, but if you eat 200 gram of French fries with 1 kilo of salad, it’s good. So for me, everything is all about proportion. It’s not good to just remove one, but the intelligence is in the balance. If you drink lime juice, don’t drink pure lime juice, it destroys the taste, add a little water. Respect proportion, balance everything, and the more diversity you have, the better it is. Don’t remove things, don’t substitute; balance.

What is the biggest challenge of working with mostly dairy product?

Most important thing is adaptation; it’s all in the mind. If you come to a new country, with new ingredients, and think you should make food with the recipe from before, then you missed the concept. Travelling is about discovery, so you have to come with the mindset of discovering something, and to adapt. The philosophy is to come as an adventurer, you come, you balance, adapt again, and you change everything you know. When I first came to Indonesia, the ingredients are different, the people are different; so I have to rework my entire previous recipe. If you are being arrogant, you’re stopping adaptation, you have to come and discover something new.

Where would you see yourself five years from now?

I want to keep developing in Indonesia, that’s why we do franchising now (of Monsieur Spoon brand). Maybe we’d do five more shops in one year or something, but all will be in Bali, this is for one or two years ahead, then on the third and fourth, we’ll probably open some in Java, then in the fifth year, I would like to see myself back in Paris and doing this concept there. I want to open a bakery in Paris where you can sit, eat the croissant hot, and you can see the making process behind the glass, and have a good quality coffee not only made by an espresso machine (all of which are not conventionally done by bakery in Paris). My travel in Indonesia has opened up my mind so I can bring new experience to my people back home, and also tourist who travel to Paris.

As a restaurant brand, METIS is one of the most iconic names on the island which often associated with ‘luxury dining’ and it’s easy to see the reason why. Not only meticulous selections of French-Mediterranean induced menus, the venue also boasts elegant interior design which deliberately mixes contemporary French architecture with local influences.

METIS solid architectural structure provides a warm ambience of semi-alfresco dining concept that overlooks a stunning view of tropical garden. The U-shape patio comprises 160 seats with outdoor areas that allow guests to enjoy a romantic under-the-stars dining setting, and can cater up to 100 guests for their private event; family gatherings, cocktail party to corporate meetings. 

For those who seek exquisite taste of French-Mediterranean, METIS is a definite place to-go. The menus are made from high-standard ingredients by Bali’s prolific culinary maestro Nicolas ‘Doudou’ Tourneville and his talented kitchen team. For a starter, Trio Tartare is a great choice; three chic portion of fresh seafood goodness rich in topping to create a creamy, salty and sweet masterpiece to tease your appetite. For a sharing-plate type of delight, try Mediterranean Meze; a vibrant portion of tasty bites with exotic names; such as hummus, tzatziki, tabbouleh, falafel, halloumi cheese, baba ghanoush, and many more. The generous size means it can easily cater up to three people at once.

If the appetizer selections are already impressive, the main menu of METIS is on another level altogether. We recommend trying the Short Ribs “Persillade”; a portion of tender, fall-off-the-bone, enormous Australian organic grass-fed beef with tantalizing blends of cannellini bean ragout; it is a satisfying treat for your grand dinner occasion. Or, you may order one of METIS latest menus; Le Lagouse “Frites” Lobster; whole lobster grilled to perfection with spicy-creamy sauce and crunchy French fries on side, best savored with a sprinkle of lemon. It’s the kind of exquisite food that will leave you wanting more and more. To wrap it all up, have a portion of Millefeule; crispy French-style pastry with sweet and sour blend of tasty goodness consisting layers of crushed organic strawberry and pistachio nuts. About 60% of METIS menu are made using dairy products, but they are more than willing to adjust with what the customers need.

Pair your lovely dine with METIS special beverages; such as Spicy Mule—a strong ginger-based cocktail with a hint of spicy kick, served cold on the rocks, or The Fog; which features a refreshing tropical fruity flavors to cherish Bali’s beautiful summer ambience.

Overtaking VIN+ dining venue, Botanica turns the interior into a verdant tropical garden; with green tone that comes from the blend of natural indigenous plants and decoration’s pallet. The Air-Conditioned open-courtyard dining space and foliage setting provides cozy atmosphere for people to dine or simply enjoy their quaint me-time with a glass of refreshing drinks.

The menus of Botanica consist of modern Australian with an emphasis on ethically sourced, local Indonesian produce. To start your dine session, a portion of Burrata is a must; fresh Italian cow milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The solid mozzarella outer shell blends perfectly with stracciatella cream filling; giving it an unusual soft, full-bodied creamy texture which pleasantly melts on your palate. Then for the main menu, Rib Eye is a recommended treat for a feast; 300gr juicy, rump beef rib eye medium-grilled to perfection, best enjoyed with creamy mushroom puree and fresh vegetables on side.

After finishing your main menu, don’t leave without trying one of Botanica’s favorite dessert; Crème Brulee. Chef Brenton Banner certainly put all of his expertise to create a fresh representation of the sweet treat we all know and love. Instead of using the usual bowl of crème, topped with crunchy caramel, the Australian Executive Chef deconstructs the menu and gorgeously reassembles them in a plate for an elevated look and taste. The lemon sorbet provides great touch to wrap the whole flavor with icy sweet-meets-sour delight.

During our visit, we take our chance to skip the wine and try Botanica’s signature beverage, the Zespri Cooler; an amazing blend sizzling concoction made of vodka, strawberry, lime and kiwi. Brilliantly refreshing!

“What’s so interesting about service charge?” asked Chef Rahmat Kusnedi to Passion Media. For someone who spent years in hotel & food industry, perhaps service charge is quite a boring topic for him, but, for the rest of us, we might be tempted when you know the amount.Please note that service charge is different from service tax. Service tax is government tax for the service provider, but it’s actually paid by customers. However, you might not notice it as many places have included the tax within the price of the product/service. Here’s our discussion about service charge with the President of Indonesia Pastry Alliance (IPA), from the theoretical definition to the actual practice.

What does service charge actually means?

In short, it’s a payment for a service. If Americans have the habit of tipping, let say it’s the official tip. Service charge will be accumulated and then shared to the employees. In hotels, the service charge is around 2%, however some 3 star hotels, or the ones in remote area might not charge. Restaurants usually charge higher, around 5%, because the revenue of a restaurant is relatively smaller than hotels.

Who has the right to get the service charge?

Permanent and contract employees. It’s uncommon for daily workers to get it, as it could be difficult to calculate, however, if they get it, usually it’s thanks to company’s policy. Generally, executive committees such as director won’t get any service charge. Of course, they have many other privileges, they also deserve to get annual bonus if they managed to achieve certain targets by the end of the year.

Based on your experience, give us an actual example of how this system works.

Most hotels apply the 2% service charge. So, if the average room rate for 5 star hotels is Rp 2 million, the service charge would be Rp 40.000. The revenue of one of leading 5 star hotels I know can be up to Rp 50 billion/month, which means the total service charge is Rp 1 billion. Before sharing it to the employees, usually management would take 2% of it (Rp 40 million) as loss and breakage cost. For a leading 5 star hotels, the service charge per employee can be Rp 8-12 million.

Do they share this service charge equally to all employees?

We have 3 service charge sharing systems: pro rate, point, and combination, each with their own plus and minus. Most international chain hotels apply the prorate system, where the total amount of service will be distributed equally to all employees. Lower level employees prefer this. Let say the lowest level jobs in hotel, such as gardener or toilet boy might have basic regional salary (Rp 3,7 million) but they can bring home Rp 8 million service charge.

On the other hand, point system is preferred by higher level employees. For example, a Senior Manager might have 10 points, meanwhile the lowest level employees might only have 4 points. After you get the total amount of service charge of the moment, they will determine the value of 1 point. Let say if 1 point worth Rp 200.000, it means Senior Manager will get Rp 2 million. If both system is not satisfying enough, we have the combination of this prorate and point.

What are the down sides of each system?

Lower level employees will see injustice in point system, because they think all employees share the same effort level. In prorate, it might be more democratic, however, there’s a comfort zone trap that you need to pay attention to.

Comfort zone? Please elaborate!

Big chain hotels prefer this system as it’s much more simple. In addition, in hotels with high service charge, the employee turnover can be minimized. However, the service charge they get can far exceed their basic salary, as a result, employees don’t really care much about promotion.

For example, a senior commis 1 with Rp 4 million basic salary from a hotel will move to other hotel with smaller service charge, but he will be promoted and have higher basic salary, let say, as a demi chef with Rp 5 million salary. However, if he got Rp 10 million service charge but in the new place he’ll only get Rp 5 million, he will think twice. This is what I meant as comfort zone.

In the end, those who work in hotel will face 2 options: career or money. Being in 1 position with no promotion is a dangerous thing. The prorate system doesn’t seem to educate people to grow. Smart people usually know when to move, even though they might have smaller income, but they will fight for higher salary.

Dengan banyaknya jumlah sekaligus variasi konsep coffee shop, semua orang paling tidak pernah bermimpi untuk membuka coffee shopnya sendiri. Namun harus diakui, tingkat kegagalan di bisnis ini cukup tinggi, terutama jika Anda tidak memiliki latar belakang pengetahuan yang cukup di bidang ini. Oleh sebab itu, mulai bermunculan sekolah-sekolah barista seperti Esperto Barista Course.

Dengan lebih dari 1.700 orang yang telah mengikuti kelas Barista Course sejak 2009, Esperto telah berhasil menghasilkan banyak lulusan yang sukses membuka coffee shopnya sendiri. Beberapa di antaranya adalah Dancing Goat Coffee. Giyanti Coffee, Green Door Kitchen, Scandinavian Coffee Shop. Selain itu, banyak juga public figure yang mengikuti kelas di sini sekedar untuk mendalami tentang kopi atau untuk membuat kopi sendiri di rumah.

“Kami mulai buka Esperto Barista Course pada 18 Agustus 2009. Awalnya kami adalah supplier mesin espresso dan roasted bean, lalu kami memberikan pelatihan kepada para klien secara cuma-cuma. Akhirnya kami memutuskan untuk sekalian membuka kelas untuk masyarakat umum agar kami bisa memberikan ilmu ke lebih banyak orang, sehingga secara umum akan meningkatkan level industri kopi ini,” jelas Franky Angkawijaya, pendiri Esperto Barista Course.

Aryaduta mengundang Chef Petty Elliott untuk berkolaborasi dengan Matteo Meacci, Executive Chef Ambiente untuk membuat masakan Italia dengan sentuhan Manado pada Kamis 2 Mei 2019. Selain dikenal sebagai seorang food writer, Petty Elliott juga diakui keahliannya dalam mengolah masakan Indonesia, terutama Manado.

Keduanya berkolaborasi untuk menyajikan 5 menu makan malam unik yang belum pernah dilakukan Manadonese Flavored Italian Cuisinesebelumnya. Meski memiliki penampilan khas hidangan Italia, ternyata Petty memberikan sentuhan rasa Manado pada semua menu tanpa berusaha untuk mendominasi.

Makan malam dimulai dengan hidangan pertama: Sup Udang, Tomat, Paprika, Bumbu Woku yang tampak seperti sup tomat ala Italia. Kemudian, Ikan Gohu merupakan menu tuna carpaccio yang disajikan dengan bawang merah, cabai, perasan jeruk limau, dan extra virgin coconut oil. Bisa dibilang, ini adalah gohu tuna yang disajikan dengan gaya carpaccio, sangat menyegarkan!

Bagi kami Lodeh Labu Kuning merupakan highlight pada acara ini. Meski penampilannya cenderung sederhana, seperti ravioli yang disajikan saus, jujur saja kami belum pernah makan hidangan seperti ini. Bayangkan Anda makan sayur lodeh dengan rasa otentik dalam bentuk ravioli. Kombinasi konsistensi saus yang begitu nyaman di lidah dan rasa lodeh yang familiar membuat Anda merasa “di rumah”.

YCCI Bali menyelenggarakan event pada 24 Mei 2019 bekerjasama dengan Santo Asih, Manager PT. Puri Pangan Utama sebagai supplier Kikkoman dan Blessing Fish di Bali. Mereka memperkenalkan produk kepada para chef muda melalui cooking demo oleh Chef Hendra Mahena, Ketua Indonesian Chef Association menggunakan produk Kikkoman dan Blessing Fish.

Perusahaan Kikkoman merupakan perusahaan manufaktur makanan yang didirikan pada 1916. Kikkoman memproduksi berbagai produk kecap, bumbu makanan, mirin, shochu, sake, jus, dan minuman lainnya. Kikkoman yang dikenal dengan slogan “seasoning your life”, bertujuan untuk memberikan kepuasan pada kehidupan Anda secara keseluruhan.

Bagi para penggemar makanan sehat, tentunya sudah tidak asing lagi dengan Almond. Ya, kacang berukuran besar asal Timur Tengah dengan citarasa khas nan gurih ini telah dikategorikan sebagai salah satu superfood yang banyak manfaatnya bagi tubuh. Selain disantap langsung atau dipadukan dengan kue dan coklat, almond juga sering dikonsumsi dalam bentuk susu lho! Yuk, kita kenalan lebih dekat dengan kudapan alami yang satu ini!

Meski termasuk dalam kategori kacang, pohon Almond sangat berbeda dengan ‘saudara-saudara sejenis’nya seperti kacang panjang, kacang tanah dan kacang kedelai. Di Indonesia sendiri, almond juga dikenal dengan nama kacang badam atau kacang amandel. Secara genus, Almond sebetulnya lebih banyak memiliki kesamaan dengan buah persik.

Secara umum, Almond bisa dikonsumsi atau diolah dalam beragam cara. Ia dapat disantap langsung setelah dipanggang, menjadi campuran salad, ataupun coklat batangan yang beredar di pusat perbelanjaan terdekat. Namun belakangan, banyak penikmat makanan sehat yang menikmati Almond dalam bentuk susu. Cara pembuatannya pun rupanya relatif mudah;

Bali Culinary Professional (BCP) kembali mengadakan gathering bulanan di Wanaku Heritage, IndoAsian Cuisine, pada 24 May 2019. Acara dimulai dengan networking cocktail dan dilanjutkan dengan buka bersama para anggota BCP, young chef, dan kalangan umum. Acara ini didukung oleh Lotus Food Service, Sukanda Djaya, Pamerindo, Passion Media dan banyak sponsor lainnya.

There are many of myths in local coffee competitions. The winners should come from big companies, have large amount of money to buy expensive bean, to the more political sponsorship issues. However, Muhammad Fakhri Murad’s victory in 2019’s Indonesia Brewers Cup (IBRC) on 22-24 February broke all those myths. Fakhri is an independent homebrewer, he didn’t have that much money, he was even born with only 1 hand. However, when we saw him brew a cup of V60 coffee in our meeting at Harapan Djaya, we didn’t see his condition limited him in any ways.

On 11-14 April 2019, Fakhri and Mikael Jasin (Common Grounds Coffee, 2019’s Indonesia Barista Championship) represented Indonesia to compete in BostonWorld Coffee Championship. Mikael managed to get the 4th place in World Barista Championship, it was Indonesia’s best achievement so far in international coffee competition. On the other hand, even though he was ranked 11th in World Brewers Cup (WBRC), Fakhri admitted that he was quite  disappointed, as he aimed to be in the final (top 6). Here’s our interview with the man who was born in Samarinda, on his first affair with coffee, joining local and international competitions, to how he see his disability.

What are your activities before you start your affair with coffee?

I graduated with Bachelor degree in Psychology from Universitas Diponegoro, but on 2015, I decided to start Master degree in Criminology in Universitas
Indonesia.

So, how did your story start?

I got into the coffee industry because of a film Filosofi Kopi (2015) that I watched in Semarang. I was curious, “do they really have the actual coffee shop?” Finally, I went there (Blok M) and I was impressed by their hospitality.They really care about their customers, they gave detailed information about the coffee, I never had such experience in Semarang nor Samarinda.

As a result, I was a regular there, until I was introduced to Coffee Smith (now Smith) which was closer to my apartment. I learned a lot about coffee there, they even encouraged me to join the competition. Until mid 2016. I was wandering around coffee shops until I knew manual brew. I felt click in as the tools are accessible and affordable, we can make it anywhere.

When did you join your first competiton?

It was the end of 2016. At the time, I often brewed my own coffee in friend’s coffee shop, they said it was good, probably just to make the discussion fast. But I began to wonder, “what if I had my coffee properly judged?” The first competition I joined was Battle of Brewers by ABCD Coffee in Hype, PIK. After that, I joined various small competitions held by opening coffee shops, but I  never won.

Why you keep doing it?

First, I made more friends. I began to realize that my coffee was not good enough, so I had to re-learn everything. But the main point is friendship, as I have more friends, I had more invitations to hop around the coffee shops.

Please name some stand out coffee shops in Jakarta.

The first one, of course, Smith, because they’re responsible of getting me in this competition scene. When they went door to door to offer their roasted bean, they brought me along, it’s like free lesson. Then we had Harapan Djaya, Wisang Kopi where I also learned so much, and then Pigeonhole, KLTR, so many. I think all coffee shops in Jakarta are worth it, from the most expensive to the cheapest ones, from the one located in malls to street stalls. For those who want to get into coffee, Jakarta is the best place as we had all good concepts
here.

So, what happened with your competition journey?

I was involved in 2017’s Indonesia Coffee Event (ICE) to help my friend’s girlfriend, Andi Fakhri in brewer competition. After his girlfriend step was stopped in regional stage, I helped Andi in national stage where he was ranked as 6th. I saw the practice room, backstage, the preparation process, the equipments, it’s like an internship. I applied the knowledge I had for 2018’s IBRC.

I had also joined Bandung Brewers Cup, from 90 competitors, I was ranked 60th. I started to lose confidence and think, “am I really capable?” On the other hand, Andi promised to help me as a return for my help in previous year. In 2018, I had the 8th position in national stage. From there, I made big evaluation, from handling the practice room, time management, to the necessary equipments. Finally, on 2019, I won the IBRC.

After that you went straight to represent Indonesia in Boston World Coffee Championship, how was the preparation?

We only had about 1 month to prepare, but as a matter of fact, I only had 2 weeks to practice, because the first 2 weeks were spent to deal with my visa. Fortunately, I had so many help from friends. Even, Yoshua Tanu (IBC Champion 2014, 2016, 2017) from Common Grounds said, “you’re an Indonesian representative now, let’s not talk about companies, whatever you need, just name it.”

Many people said similar thing, so even though I had only 2 weeks, I believe it was enough. Common Grounds helped me in providing Finca Deborah, boutique Geisha Panama, meanwhile Mira Yudha with Bon Café appointed me as employee because as independent competitor, I need a company to be held accountable to make it easier for me to get my visa. Then I also had Hario Indonesia that provided me with manual brewing tools, I got so many help.

Tell us a bit about competing in Boston.

I was accompanied by Otniel Christofer (KLTR Coffee) and Ryan Wibawa (Starbucks Coffee, also a 2016’s IBRC Champion). So, in this event, we were allowed to bring along a coach and a helper so I can focus on performing, managing the script and workflow. Initially, there’s only me and Otniel, but accidentally, Ryan had some things to do in US so he offered himself to help us. I was like, “I’m very honored to have an ex IBRC champion by my side!” Finally, the three of us went to Boston.

Of course, I was a bit nervous, it’s a world class event after all. However, in the first presentation and open service round, I felt people don’t know me, it was easier for me to go all out. Actually, Miki (Mikael Jasin) had similar experience. I saw him performed effortlessly compared to his performance in Indonesia. We gave our best as we fight to represent Indonesia, but we also thought we had nothing to lose.

There are competitors from 39 countries in WBRC and we only had 6 finalists. In the elimination round which consisted of compulsory and open service, I brought 2 manual brew tool: clever dripper and V60. They gave us random coffee, grinder and water, and we had 1 hour to tweak them. After that, we had 8 minutes preparation time, and 7 minutes to perform.

One of the critics from coffee communities is, this kind of competition requires big money, do you agree?

Who won this year’s IBRC? It’s me, right? Do I have any big companies behind me? No. When I won, I broke many myths that said the champion of such competitions are rich, I just rely on my salary from my freelance jobs. When people came with lots of expensive bean, I only had 900 gr bean. If you think this competition needs lot of money, it means they haven’t tried.

Then we had a myth that the champions always come from certain companies, perhaps because they’re the ones who are working hard. When other baristas are sleeping, Mike got up at 4.00 am every morning to practice. When other people are chilling, I was practicing 3-4 times a day, it’s that simple. If you think you need to have expensive bean to win, the WBRC second runner up only use Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Worka, it’s a relatively affordable and accessible bean. But he managed to win because of his well prepared concept and presentation. All of those factors are not significant, my victory broke those kind of myths.

How does it feel to have 11th world rank?

I’m not happy. Perhaps people think 11th place is cool, but I think it was a shame because my aim was to get in the final as the top 6. In earlystage, my scale was dead and I’m quite panicked, meanwhile the score difference  among me and the top 6 finalists are only 2 points. I was depressed because I felt I should be able to get to the final. But if I had the chance, I’m still up for the next year’s competition, moreover, 2020’s World Coffee Championship will be held at Melbourne, it’s closer to Indonesia and it will cost less. I think you need to go there!

We had some competitors from other countries fighting in the same competition for years. Why don’t we have similar thing?

Some of the competitors said to me, “see you next year!” Perhaps it was easy for them to win national competition, but in Indonesia, we haven’t had a single person that managed to win 2 IBRC in a row.

What are the judgment criterias?

We need to have 1 big theme, let say, Tetsu Kasuya (2016’s WBRC champion) with his 4:6. I’m more interested in giving the information that are needed by the judges, from the bean, roasting, to brewing, but because all of those things, the judges consider me too general.

How different is the taste of national judges compared to international judges?

Not too different actually, it’s still resolve around Geisha, it’s just the international judges are far more detailed. For example, I used a brewing tool that can keep the heat, after that I can suggest the protocol to enjoy the cup, in my case, you need to stir it 10 times to have the aroma blooms better. For the judges, my idea doesn’t make any sense, why should I use tool that can keep the heat while I asked them to stir the coffee, which may cause the temperature to go down. In Indonesia, the judges never complain about it, but international judges are more detail oriented. The 3 of the judges said the same thing, I will put it into my consideration for next competition.

Born with only 1 hand, how does it affect your performance in competition?

I see it this way, when I was first introduced to coffee, I tried, and it appeared that I was able to do it, it boosted my confidence. Perhaps it will be a different matter if I was a barista with 2 hands, and then I had an accident that cause me to lose one, perhaps I will find difficulties. I was born like this, so I’m used to it. I can even make coffee using espresso machine, it got me thinking, “shall I join IBC for my next competition?” Nowadays, we have so many additional tools that can help me to access coffee.

What’s your biggest advantage by competing with only 1 hand?

The trend now is when the competitors finished their presentation, they will clean up their desk in the stage and move their tools to the preparation desk. Other people can go back and forth to clean up, but I overcome it by using 1 big tray to contain all of my tools, and then move it to the preparation desk. Because of that, I got 9 for my workflow point.

I always do something that I can. In my junior high school years, I was a bowling athlete and joined some competitions, even though I didn’t win. And then in senior high school and college, I was in a basketball team. I never think, “with my condition, I shouldn’t do certain things.”

Is there anything you want to do, but your disability won’t allow it?

Of course, I’ve always wanted to play music instruments, like guitar, but I can’t barely hold it. But then there you go, I have someone else that’s good at it. There are other fun things I can try, like when I got back to Samarinda, I really love to fish with my dad.

Do you have any plan to open your own coffee shop?

Perhaps after I became the world champion, because if I were to open it now, people would think, “come on, you’re just the 11th place!”

Untuk menyambut Ramadhan 1440 H, Vin+ Arcadia mempersembahkan menu khusus yang disiapkan oleh Chef Djoko Sarwono, yaitu Ayam Sambal Matah dan Nasi Bakar Empal Daging. Pemenang kompetisi masak lokal, Iron Chef ini menyajikan paha ayam yang dimarinasi oleh sambal matah, disajikan dengan sayuran dan sate udang. Nasi Bakar Empal Daging merupakan nasi yang dibungkus dalam daun, kemudian dibakar dan disajikan dengan empal daging, sambal kentang, daun pepaya, dan sate udang.

Since the booming in 2015-2016, Kelapa Gading’s coffee shop scene has been the talk of town by many coffee experts. With such vast growth of number, even, too vast, they worry that the number of customers in the region will be far left behind. However, we believe, there’s still space for newcomers, as long as they come up with strong concept, like the new Copper Club which just opened its door in July 2018.

Copper Club was found by Calvin Widjaja, who got interesting challenge from his parents. “I had a plan to open a coffee shop for quite a while, then my parents challenged me do it. Of course, I gather some courage and make something different,” said Calvin.

As opposed to most coffee shops in Kelapa Gading that tend to meet customers’ demand, Calvin tried to introduce lighter roast coffee. “Most people in Kelapa Gading prefer bold, stronger coffee, but we believe light roast coffee is the way to go to showcase the flavor of its origin. Actually such concept is quite common in South Jakarta, but in North, we only have a few. In addition, we also provide 4-5 coffee origins for manual brew, it can be from local roaster, or the one we brought from abroad,” said Calvin. Copper Club offers 2 manual brewing methods: V60 and Kalita Wave. “We love their clarity and flavor,” he added.

Fruity, floral, acid, if you prefer such coffee, you’ll have a good time in Copper Club. At least that’s what we tasted when we had the Ethiopia Guji coffee, roasted by Modest Man. “ Our consideration in choosing roaster is based on our vision. We want to introduce single origin specialty coffee that showcase the flavor, so we’re looking for roasteries that shared similar vision from their products,” said Calvin.

So far, Copper Club has been fond of bean from Modest Man, Nagadi, and they’ll have Common Grounds’ Flora Technica soon. By now, coffee lovers should be able  to expect what sort of coffee they’ll have here. “I got the information about roasteries mouth to mouth. We have a solid coffee shop community in Kelapa Gading, we often share information,” he explained.

Homey Atmosphere

One of our reasons why we came here (along with many other Copper Club visitors) is the people’s post on Instagram. As soon as we know that it was located far from the main road, we thought, it’s a nice place to hangout while discussing urgent matters, such as Game of Thrones’s ending, or MCU phase 4’s prediction, perhaps? The place’s first floor wasn’t altered too much from its original design to get that homey and rustic ambience, while the second floor that’s filled with white element, is designed more as coworking space.

“We deliberately offer both concept so customers won’t get bored. The idea was to provide neighborhood coffee shop for the locals and Kelapa Gading residents. It’s tough to get similar vibe if we’re located in shophouse,” explained Calvin.

Along with specialty coffee, Copper Club also offers some favorite drinks, such as Mashed Avo Coffee (signature avocado blend and coffee) and Copper Coffee (the trendy ice coffee milk with brown sugar). Meanwhile for the food, some of their recommendations are Club Lamb Burger, Club Aglio Olio, and our favorite, Quesadilla with fresh tomato salsa.

In the midst of neck and neck competition in Kelapa Gading, Copper Club offers different concept. With their courage to go against the mainstream by offering fruity coffee and homey interior, if you think the coffee shop scene in Kelapa  Gading is already saturated, perhaps you need to rethink.

Penggemar steak tentu tidak asing lagi dengan nama Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Sejak didirikan oleh Ruth Fertel di New Orleans pada 1965, Ruth’s Chris telah berkembang hingga ke seluruh penjuru dunia. Di Jakarta, Ruth’s Chris terletak di ground floor Somerset Grand Citra Apartments, tepat di seberang Raffles Hotel, Kuningan. Ruth’s Chris dikenal melalui produk US prime beef yang dimasak menggunakan broiler dengan suhu 982o C yang dibuat secara khusus oleh Ruth Fertel.

Seasonal Tastes dan Henshin menjadikan bulan suci Ramadhan sebuah pengalaman memorable bagi teman dan keluarga melalui acara buka puasa sambil memandang sunset Jakarta. Function room Henshin yang terletak di lantai 67, Warya, yang terletakdi area rooftop merupakan titik tertinggi di Jakarta. Dengan konsep kaki lima, Wayra menyajikan berbagai hidangan khas Indonesia mulai dari appetizer, main course dan dessert, termasuk Tajil corner.

Mengikuti kesuksesan di tahun-tahun sebelumnya, Raffles Jakarta kembali menghadirkan Turkish Ramadhan by Arts Café ke-3nya pada 5 Mei – 4 Juni 2019. Setiap tahun, Raffles selalu memberikan pengalaman dining di Istanbul, Turki yang semakin baik, mulai dari sajian kuliner, musik, hiburan, dekorasi dan karya seni. Pada tahun ini, Chef Umut Tabak dan Chef Bilal Keser, Chef dari Raffles Istambul, Turki menyajikan berbagai hidangan otentik Turki, mulai dari Lamb Kebab, live Shawarma station, pizza Turki thin crust, salad Turki, dan Baklava yang terkenal.

Bagi masyarakat Indonesia hidangan kari tidaklah asing. Salah satunya adalah Kari khas Jepang yang semakin populer di Indonesia. Keistimewaan Kari Jepang yaitu kuah kental dan tidak mengandung santan sangat cocok untuk dinikmati seluruh anggota keluarga.

House Foods membawa House Kari ala Jepang ke Indonesia sejak 2016 melalui House & Vox Indonesia. Kari ala Jepang bersertifikasi Halal ini tersedia dalam kemasan 935 gr atau setara untuk penyajian 50 porsi. Kari ala Jepang dapat ditemukan di pusat perbelanjaan yakni Grand Lucky, AEON, Lotte Grosir, Jakarta Food Market, Ranch Market, LuLu Supermarket, dan KemChick Pacific Place.

DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta - Diponegoro memperkenalkan promosi khusus untuk berbuka puasa. Menawarkan dua suasana, konsep dan penawaran yang berbeda; Kampung Air di OPEN} Restaurant dan Eight Hands Iftar Culinary Journey di Sea Grain Restaurant, DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta menampilkan sajian dan suasana yang otentik di masing-masing restoran.

Tahun ini, OPEN} Restaurant akan menampilkan pasar malam apung tradisional ala kampung yang akan dimulai tepat setelah bedug sebagai tanda waktu berbuka puasa. Memutar kembali kenangan dan pengalaman kuliner asli di kota asal dengan menikmati berbagai macam pilihan makanan tradisional yang disajikan di kapal-kapal ala tempo dulu, di area kolam renang dan juga sesi menikmati durian sepuasnya mulai dari jam 7-8. Para tamu dimanjakan dengan berbagai ragam panganan dengan standar kuliner yang tinggi seperti Pempek Palembang, Siomay Bandung, Batagor, Bakso Malang dan Nasi Goreng Mawut.

Passion Media June Giveaway 

Menangkan (untuk 2 orang pemenang), masing-masing Mendapatkan : 2 Day 1 Night stay at Arjani Resort @prasanabyarjaniresorts

Caranya Mudah!!

1. Follow instagram @passionmediaid dan @prasanabyarjaniresorts

2. Repost foto diatas kemudian tag 3 orang temanmu dan jangan lupa tag juga @passionmediaid dan @prasanabyarjaniresorts

3. Gunakan hashtag #PassionMediaGiveaway

4. Periode Giveaway: 17 Juni - 15 Juli 2019

5.Pengumuman Pemenang via Instagram Tanggal 15 Juli 2019 pukul 12.00 WIB

Jakarta, 31 Mei 2019 – Tim pastry JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta, kembali melahirkan inovasi  terbarunya dengan mempersembahkan kue yang hanya ada pada bulan Juni 2019 dengan  nama Fantastic Blueberry Mousse Cake. Dibuat dengan bahan – bahan  berkualitas tinggi pilihan tim pastry JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta, kue ini pun dapat menjadi pilihan yang tepat untuk disajikan di Hari Raya Idul Fitri.

Dimulai dari harga Rp 288.000++, Fantastic Blueberry Mousse Cake terdiri dari empat (4) bagian yang terdiri dari blueberry mousse, blueberry jelly, red velvet sponge cake dan white mousse yang berpadu menjadi satu perpaduan rasa asam dan manis nan lezat.

“Seiring dengan perkembangan dunia pastry, tim JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta pun  sepakat untuk selalu melakukan inovasi demi inovasi yang lain daripada  yang lain, seperti menciptakan Fantastic Blueberry Mousse Cake sebagai Cake of The Month di Bulan Juni mendatang”, ujar Cluster Director of Marketing The Ritz-Carlton  Jakarta, Mega Kuningan & JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta, Adeza Hamzah.  “Dengan rasa asam manis yang seimbang, kue ini sangat cocok untuk dibagikan kepada keluarga maupun orang tercinta pada Hari Raya Idul Fitri”, tambahnya.

Hello Rekan Interfood!

Uda siap untuk ke Eastfood 2019, yang akan di adakan di Grand City - Surabaya Indonesia?

Yuk ikutan Kontes Photo "Capture the moment" bersama @interfoodexpo & @passionmediaid

Dengan total hadiah Rp.20.000.000,- untuk 5 orang Pemenang

Kalian yang hadir harus banget ikut Kontes Photo ini yaa, cara nya mudah banget loh.

Yuk ikutin rules dibawah ini !

1. Follow instagram @interfoodexpo & @passionmediaid
2. Capture aktifitas menarikmu saat berada di event Eastfood 2019 dan upload di Feed Instagram kalian, serta berikan caption terbaik mu!
3. Boleh upload berkali - kali loohh
4. Jangan lupa untuk tag @interfoodexpo @passionmediaid dan 3 teman terbaikmu
5. Gunakan hashtag #EastfoodPhotoContest #Eastfood #Passionmedia
6. Pengumuman pemenang via Instagram pada 8 Juli 2019 dan akan di hubungi melalui Direct Message oleh @interfoodexpo / @passionmediaid

POTATO GNOCCHI

500 gm Large potato, washed but not peeled
Salt
Pepper
50gm unsalted butter
50gm parmesan
90gm strong white

cook the potatoes until cooked, then peel. Pass through a vegetable or potato ricer, and then add to a wide based sauce pan. Cook over a medium heat to ensure all moisture is removed and the potatoes start to become almost chewy. Remove and quickly add the butter and parmesan, followed by the flour, tablespoon at a time. It may not need all the flour. Roll into long even sausages and cut into bite sized pieces.

Kenangan indah di masa kecil mampu membentuk seseorang menjadi pribadi yang baik, dan itulah yang terjadi pada Will Lim. Chef muda jebolan sekolah kuliner Australia ini mampu mengejawantahkan makanan favoritnya sewaktu belia menjadi hidangan berkelas dengan memadukan ilmu memasak Eropa dengan kegemarannya pada hidangan ala Indonesia.

Mengawali karir di sejumlah restauran fine dining serta hotel berbintang mancanegara rupanya belum membuat Will Lim puas dalam menyalurkan bakat memasaknya. Kini, lewat restoran miliknya yang mungil dan elegan di bilangan Canggu, Sensorium, Will mampu dengan leluasa berkreasi serta membagikan citarasa masakan Indonesia favoritnya dalam presentasi memukau dan ide-ide yang cemerlang. PASSION mendapat kesempatan untuk berbincang langsung dan menyelami pemikiran pemuda brilian asal Medan tersebut pada edisi ini. Mari kita simak bersama!

Growing up in Kelapa Gading, I couldn’t believe I had a really, really hard time thinking when a friend asked me a recommendation of proper restaurant for candle light dinner in the area. After contemplating for almost 30 minutes, I gave up, “why don’t you look elsewhere? Let’s say, Senopati perhaps?” That was back in 2014, now Kelapa Gading has more new modern, ambience-based restaurants here, like the new Bleu Alley Brasserie.

Whenever we talk about Kelapa Gading as food destination, you’d immediately think about bakmie, chinese food, seafood, ramen, or kopitiam. Thus, the idea of opening a French brasserie in Kelapa Gading might sound like a radical idea, even for the Bleu Alley’s Executive Chef, Hendry Ramaly Hutama.

“I’ve been living here (Kelapa Gading) since 1996. I love Gading! I hate Gading! It seems like people here come to restaurant merely for the food, they don’t really care about the dining experience. I know we’re going against the stream, however, there’s always first time in everything,” said Hendry.

At first, Hendry has been known as the founder of Maison Bleu Centre of Culinary Art that was established in 2015. In the beginning of 2019, they moved to a bigger place which will be the home of Maison Bleu, Bleu Alley Brasserie (and boulangerie, soon), and Elise (their future project, involving Indonesian progressive cooking).

“We had an internship program for our students, but we had some issues. Most places are willing to hire internship students for 6 months minimum, without salary, meanwhile, we only require students to work for 240 hours, which can be translated into 1,5 – 2 months work period. Finally, we decided to open our own restaurant to help students with their internship program,” Hendry explained.

Hendry realized that running a restaurant in a highly competitive area like Kelapa Gading is already a difficult task, let alone introducing the unfamiliar French brasserie concept. “I’ve seen many restaurants that are successful in other places closed down when they open their outlet here. Kelapa Gading market is really unpredictable, that’s why we put extra effort and passion in everything. Actually, our food cost suffers a little bit in order to gain more customers,” he added.

If you think French food is all about fine dining, served in beautiful presentation, but small portion, we’re pretty sure you’re not alone. That’s how most Indonesians see French cuisine in general. On the other hand, Bleu Alley is more to a bistro (or brasserie in French) that serves French’s everyday food. “Why French? Because Maison Bleu’s curriculum is based on Le Cordon Bleu’s. We want students to have real life experience of serving food to actual customers to see their feedback,” said Hendry.

Brasserie Menus

“The thing about French food, is that almost all of the ingredients are homemade. We made our own baguette, brioche, croissant, soft roll, even our smoked salmon. Actually, French cooking is very simple, but it took quite a long time. Some dishes even require 3-4 days preparation,” said Hendry.

Escargot is a definitely staple French brasserie menu. The oven-baked snail is served with butter, pesto, parsley, garlic, wine, and baguette. The idea of eating snail might intimidate you at first, but please, give it a try and thank us later, you’re welcome! And then we have Moules Normandie (baked mussels, aromatic herbs, lemon, white wine, and homemade sourdough) and Le Morue (pan-fried black cod fish served with  sweet potato puree, baby carrot, shitake mushroom and soy ginger broth).

Bleu Alley also serves Tagliatelle (miso cream & mushrooms) and Boeuf Bourguignon, beef burgundy that requires 48 hours preparation time from the marinade process to sous vide, served with pommes puree, green peas, mushrooms, pearl onion, bacon. The menu is actually very comforting, especially when you enjoy it when it’s cold and raining outside. And of course, it’s not French it serves the classic Confit de Canard (duck confit).

For the dessert, the recommended menus are Canele and Tarte Tatin. Canele requires 9 hours resting time as it needs natural yeast and it was served with olive oil gelato and coffee creme anglaise. Tarte Tatin is the classic warm apple and caramel tart, served also with the olive oil gelato.

Hendry understands that for most Indonesians, European food tend to taste relatively more bland compared to Asian cuisine, especially the spicy Indonesian food. It’s a common practise increase the flavor intensity by adding MSG, however, Hendry’s pride as the owner of a culinary school won’t allow him to do so.

“We’re serving honest food. Our secret is we put more glace de viande onto most dishes. To make regular liquid stock, normally it took around 6 hours, for sauce it could be 12 years. Glace de viande even took longer, until the texture becomes some sort of jelly, very thick. From 20 kg of bones, we end up with only 6 litres of glace de viande. It makes our food cost higher, somehow not everyone understands it,” he said. As a result, we had tastier dishes in almost all of the menus compared to the traditional French cuisine. With the addition of glace de viande and surprisingly affordable pricing, Bleu Alley is trying to make French cuisine available to wider range of audience.

The dining experience in Bleu Alley slightly changes our perception on French cuisine. Even though people associate it with fine dining, that’s kind of intimidating for some people, the menus served in Bleu Alley Brasserie are surprisingly homey, comforting, and tasty. We understand, a French brasserie in Kelapa Gading might sound strange, but we believe Bleu Alley is one of the hidden gem of the area that deserves a try.

You can’t deny the role of Pizza Hut in introducing pizza to the majority of Indonesian. However, along the years we have more Indonesians traveling abroad and exposed to different styles of pizza: such as Chicago deep dish, Neapolitan, Romana, to the New York Style, as a result, the demand of pizza variety grows larger.

Dicky Kartono Tjhin, Pizzeria Cavalese’s co-owner, realized it and decided to start his own fusion pizzeria. “I studied culinary and took some sort of diploma in Switzerland. After returning to Jakarta and helped my parents’ trading business, I didn’t think I fit in. In 2014, I learned culinary once again, to a small city in North Italy, Cavalese, to study Italian cuisine, especially pizza,” he recalled.

Pizzeria Cavalese first opened its door in December 2015 in Sunter, North Jakarta, a quite peculiar location for a restaurant that serves western food. “It was very competitive in South Jakarta. We always think authentic western foods are only available in South or Central, meanwhile in North, there was none, we saw the fact as opportunity,” said Dicky. In February 2019, Cavalese opened its second outlet in Mall Of Indonesia (MOI), Kelapa Gading.

There 3 major contributors to pizza’s quality: dough, oven, and topping. Even though they claimed themselves as fusion, when it comes to pizza dough, Dicky is strictly traditional. “In Italy we have 2 styles of pizza: Romana pizza that’s thin all over, and Neapolitan pizza that has thicker side, like our pizzas. Even though I applied 100% knowledge I acquired from Italy, I need to make some adjustments because we have different flour specification here. I need more adaptation time to get similar result,” he explained.

Speaking about oven, MOI’s Pizzeria Cavalese is the first and only (when this article is published) pizzeria that has Moretti Forni Neapolis, one of the most powerful electric oven in the world. With the claim of being able to reach 510o C within short time, we can only wonder about their bill, as they’re located in a commercial mall.

Fusion Toppings

The fusion concept is shown in their topping variants that has strong influence from Asia, Indonesia, to India. “The market here prefer more intense, umami flavor. If most Europeans love to keep their pizza simple, like Margherita, Indonesians prefer variants in their toppings. We offer wide range of toppings, from chicken betutu, chicken satay, to masala, as we have manya Indian customers who reside around Sunter and Kelapa Gading. They love our food as we’re very vegetarian friendly,” Dicky added.

Piedmont is a Cavalese’s signature pizza with cream sauce, mix mushrooms, egg, and truffle oil that gives distinctive aroma. In addition of being the most popular menu, Piedmont has a unique presentation with egg yolk topping that’s very Instagrammable. If you order it without the egg, voila! A vegetarian pizza!

Chicken Betutu is one of the best selling fusion pizza in Cavalese. We ‘re quite skeptical at first, is it possible to have the spicy Balinese flavor go along with pizza? As we all know, it’s very easy for a fusion concept to become confusion when they don’t know what they’re doing. Our worries vanished as we took some bites, we never imagine we can enjoy cassava leaves and chicken betutu as pizza topping.

When those 3 pizzas were served, we noticed the dough that has crispy outside but soft inside, we also smelled a distinctive fermented aroma. Most people who are topping minded won’t notice it, but we knew this aroma can only produced through long fermentation process. “We apply the 48 hours, slow fermentation process. So, when we make the dough today, we can use it in the next 2 days. We only use very few yeast to avoid gassy stomach that you often get when you eat pizza,” Dicky explained.

One of the pleasant surprise came from their pasta menu, Chicken Spaetzli, a North Italian special. The homemade pasta with a bit of caramelization resulted in soft, chewy, and a bit of crust, combined with mushroom sauce and baked chicken. It had familiar taste, yet very warm and comforting. For us, it’s a must try menu in Cavalese.

izzeria Cavalese broke the urban myth that said that to get proper western food, you need to go to Central or South Jakarta. Even though they have fusion concept, Pizzeria Cavalese is not making a new confusion with their combination of European and Asian. They know what they’re doing, so you can rest assured, and enjoy the menus. Having traditional concept is definitely a safe bet, but once in a while, we need a restaurant that can take us on a journey to a new uncharted place, a restaurant that took the risk and eat it as pizza topping, well... literally.

If you’re a foodie living in a Jakarta, the name Gia should be familiar. Since it was established in 2015, Gia has been known as one of the most successful modern Italian restaurant and lounge in capital. Located in Sampoerna Strategic Square with its Italian mid-century architecture, Gia has won “Best Restaurant Design of the Year” from Asia Pacific Design Awards 2015 followed by “Best Hospitality Interior of the Year” from Belle Coco Republic Interior Design Awards 2015, then “Best International Design of the Year” from Australian Interior Design Awards 2015, and “Best Restaurant” at Taste of Dubai 2019. Gia has also opened its new outlet in Dubai in 2018 and they’re currently preparing for their new osteria concept in Pacific Place that will soon be open for public.

At the heart of Gia is the native-Tuscan Executive Chef, Tommaso Gonfiantini, who has travelled all around the world to spread his love of Italian food. “Italian is more about ingredients. If you come to Italy, try the classic caprese (salad), just some mozzarella, tomato, basil and drizzle of olive oil, little bit of pepper, that’s it! But we use the tomato that’s picked at the best moment for the harvest, we also use extra virgin olive oil, the best quality. It’s one of the most beautiful things to eat in Italy!” he said.

ia basically offer the experience of all the cuisine that you can find in Italy. “It’s an Italian (cuisine), contemporary, based from the classic dishes but twisted with contemporary cooking technique, adapted to the local market, since 90% of our customers are Indonesian,” said Tommaso.

Some modifications are made by Tommaso to suit the local taste, however, mostly it’s about the taste preference. ”First of all, we’re using more chilli. Compared to in Italy, it’s changing completely, but I don’t mind because I believe that one good chef has to be also flexible. As long as my customers enjoy what I’m serving, I’m glad,” he said.

The Chef added, “you can’t be just straightforward to what you like, your cuisine’s philosophy. Of course, you need to have one idea that you want to go but you have to be also good in adapting to different situations. Here, people love to have more chili in their food. Don’t get me wrong, I love chili, but when you have too much chili, in the end you don’t really actually feel the ingredient. It kicks your mouth but you don’t really feel the difference between good fish and bad fish.”

he Pizza & PastaTommaso revealed some secrets behind Gia’s pizza. “We’re using imported quality flour, The Italian 00 flour. We also let the proofing process of the dough for one day, without using big quantity of yeast. If someone had gassy stomach after eating pizza, it’s because the action of the yeast, they don’t rest the dough enough. When you rest the dough properly, you’ll have smooth consistency that will make the pizza crispy and thin,” he said.

Gia is definitely not a pizzeria, so, instead of serving the common pizzas such as Margherita, Gia prefers to serve gourmet pizza. “We use ingredients such as chorizo, salami, homemade sausage, and some premium cheese like burrata, pecorino romano, parmigiano, and gorgonzola. We try to pick the best ingredients available on the market to give customers remarkable dining experience.”

For the pasta, Gia also displays some of their homemade pasta using the same 00 flour, organic egg, and fresh ingredients. “We have different varieties, but they’re always fresh. I don’t like using frozen products,” Tommaso claimed.

The highlight in Gia is definitely its signature San Daniele & Burrata Pizza that features San Daniele ham, mozzarella, burrata and basil. Then, we had Spaghetti Al Nero Alle Vongole (black squid ink aglio e olio, clams, tomatoes, chili and mollica), Cavatelli Ai Porcini, Timo e Piselli (homemade cavatelli, porcini mushrooms, pea hummus, stracciatella cheese, thyme),and Risotto Al Nero di Seppia, Salmone in Salsa Rosa (squid ink risotto, baked salmon, pink sauce and rice crackers). For the dessert, Gia recommended Cremoso Al Burro di Arachidi (peanut butter creamy pudding, soft dark chocolate, honeycomb, salty caramel sauce).

Most Italians we know always brag about their grandmother’s cooking, and Tommaso is no exception. “For tiramisu, I’m using my grandma’s recipe. Nothing special about it, but tiramisu is already good as it is. It’s been deconstructed in so many ways because of the trend, but they don’t last long, the same goes for the trend of sous vide and spherification we had years ago.”

Chef Tommaso also gave us a little suggestion on how to tell the quality of a restaurant. “Most of the times, the menu is the mirror of the place. Even before tasting the food, I can understand the quality through its menu. The way it’s printed, the words used, misspelled words, and hygiene. As soon as I see the menu, I can tell the personality of the chef, the manager. Menu is like your name card, you gave me your name card in a very respectful way. You also had clean name card, it means you put it in a nice box, you want to give good impression of yourself. Chef is the face of a restaurant, so when I’m presenting my menu, I present myself, I want people to have good impression of myself.”

In the 1900s, Italian immigrants introduced Neapolitan pizza to Americans. Of course, when two different cultures collide, acculturation is something inevitable. The same thing when the Chinese brought lamian to Japan, the local people knew it as ramen, meanwhile Italian called it spaghetti. America, or New York, to be specific, finally has its own pizza style that can be seen as the evolution of Neapolitan pizza. The good news is, Pizza Place brought the concept to Indonesia, so you don’t have to pay the expensive flight to New York.

To get our sources, we often ask for recommendations from people, from foodie, common people, to professional chefs. When we heard the name “Pizza Place” was mentioned over and over by many people, we have to make sure whether it’s an exaggerated talk of the town, or the real thing.

Our first impression when we visit the place was, “it’s so New York!” The atmosphere and its busy interior reminded us of The Avengers’ (the first one, relax, it’s not an Endgame spoiler!) post-credit scene, when the superheroes were eating in a shawarma restaurant after “The Battle of New York”.

Pizza Place was found by Zakaria, Angga, and Yogo on 2015. Started from an acrobatic pizza community that sells its pizza in bazaar events, in the middle of 2017 Pizza Place has its first permanent outlet in Como Park, East Kemang. As opposed to its Italian counterpart, New York pizza (basically any American foods) has much larger size, with diameter up to 52 cm. It’s no wonder they sell them per slice with grab and go concept, exactly like New York’s pizzerias.

Of course, pizza spinning is one of the place’s main attractions. 10 pizza topping variants were available in the display, from the classic Cheese and Pepperoni Slice, to other variants such as Ricotta Pizza, Mushroom Cheese, Anchovies, Beef Bacon Olive, Basil Pesto, Hellboy, Sicilian Square and Special Today, all of them are halal.

When you chose a pizza that you’d like, the pizzaiolos will reheat it in the oven. As a grab and go place, everything’s going fast here, from the visitor’s traffic to the production process. The whole production; from dough stretching, putting some sauce, toppings, and baking only took them less than 10 minutes.

if you visit the place, just order their Ricotta Pizza, Hellboy (tomato sauce,jalapeno, salami), or, for a true American experience, the Pepperoni Slice (you just can’t be more American than this). We hear you’re asking, “Didn’t Passion usually starts with Margherita before eyeing other variants?”

Our dear readers, most of the times we judge using the most basic variants, Margherita (they call it Cheese Slice here) as fit and proper test of a pizza in a restaurant. Because, basically, other pizza variants are just Cheese Slice with the addition of other toppings. As a pizzeria, if their Cheese Slice isn’t good enough, we’re pretty sure Pizza Place won’t survive 4 years of business, they even just opened a new outlet in Kelapa Gading on March 2019

We don’t always agree with people who gave us restaurant recommendations. But when we have so many people mentioning the same name, we can’t just ignore it. Pizza Place is no nonsense pizzeria, aside from Hellboy, we guess the name of each variant is quite self explanatory of what you’ll have. If you don’t the New York style pizza here, perhaps pizza is not for you. Don’t worry, there are so many interesting food out there.

We know we’re a F&B magazine, but a little bit of history lesson won’t hurt, right? In fact, Ambiente Ristorante is the first Italian restaurant in Indonesia, established in 1989. Back then, the restaurant and the hotel was managed by Hyatt, but now, we know the place as Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta.

“Ambiente is very different than it was back then. It used to be more like formal, fine dining, but 1,5 years ago, we relaunched the concept with bigger, more casual, rustic place, they call it modern industrial Italian. The concept is also reflected in the menu. We’re more to casual, rustic menu with nice plating and big portion, so you can enjoy the food and leave full,” said Matteo Meacci, Ambiente’s Executive Chef.

If you don’t grow up in Italian house, it’s hard to compare your grandma’s cooking to Matteo’s, obviously. But by saying “Better than your Grandma’s”, we know immediately that Ambiente is trying to stay true to authentic, home style Italian food, that’s arguably the best version of Italian food

Italy is a small country, but it has long coastline. Therefore, generally people put Italian cuisine into 2 categories: north and south. “For example, the south, Sicilian cuisine is more focused on seafood, with fresh vegetables and olive oil, while the northern cuisine tend to be heavier, with more butter, and beef-based. I was born in Tuscany, that’s why we offer some authentic regional dishes such as Bistecca alla Florentina (T-bone steak) and Zuppa di Pesce (classic, Tuscan style seafood soup),” said Matteo.

The Chef described Ambiente’s food concept as authentic Italian with modern presentation. “We use some modern cooking technique like sous vide, especially for the chicken. We try to make it not too traditional, or let say, boring like everybody else. We try to innovate a little bit, but at the end of the day, the best Italian food is the authentic one. For me, Italian food is the one you eat at home with your family, the one that your grandma or mother cook for you. When you start doing something too fancy, it’s not authentic anymore, you do something different, but can you call it Italian? I don’t know,” said Matteo.

The Pizza & Pasta

If you’ve ever came across a menu that has the same name as the place, that should be your first choice. Ambiente has its signature black dough Ambiente Pizza using charcoal powder. “It’s a Napolitana style but we make it more crispy. The real Napolitana pizza is not crispy at all, it’s bready, soft and I found that Asian market doesn’t really appreciate that kind of pizza. Traditionally. Napolitana pizza is baked at 400-430o C in just 60-90 second. Very fast, it doesn’t have the time to crisp. That’s why we cook it for 3 minutes with 360o C,” explained the Chef.

The pizza also has mozzarella, zucchini, cherry tomato, and after it came out of the oven, they put smoked salmon, mascarpone cheese and truffle oil. “We don’t put any sauce on it, just like Quattro Formaggi Pizza, the mozzarella act like the sauce that melts together with other toppings,” he added.

Another pizza that deserves a spotlight is their Parma Pizza which features tomato sauce, mozzarella, cherry tomato, and topped with the classic Parma ham, parmesan, rocket salad, and extra virgin olive oil. It’s just a classic Italian pizza that’s available throughout Italian region, from north to south.

For the pasta, Ambiente use lot of seafood as seen in their signature menus, such as Tagliolini neri al Granchio and Spaghetti all’Aragosta. The first one is black ink homemade tagliolini tossed with blue swimmer crab, fresh tomatoes, basil & chili and the second one is Ambiente’s best selling dish, sautéed dry spaghetti with queen of the ocean pearl lobster, crab bisque, tomatoes and cream. Both menus are using seafood sourced from Lombok, one of Indonesia’s best seafood supplier. 

However, our favorite one would definitely be their Fusilli al Pomodoro e Mozzarella. Despite of its simplicity, we don’t really know why we just can’t stop eating it, suddenly, the plate was clean, and Matteo seemed to agree with us. “It’s our most simple pasta, and the one I like the most, I like simple things. It’s just tomato sauce, basil, oregano, homemade fusilli, and some mozzarella that makes the pasta stringy, very creamy. If I have to pick one of those three pastas, this is it!” said Matteo.

Matteo made it sounds too easy for us when he explained the cooking process. “However, simple doesn’t mean it’s always good,” he warned. “You have to understand the know how. The cooking technique is nothing fancy, but the process, the selection of ingredients, and the amount of care you put on the mise en place are the ones that make good product,” said Matteo.

The heart of Italian food lies in its simplicity, home style cooking, and fresh ingredients. With its popularity across the globe, it’s kind of difficult to reinvent the classic. Instead, Ambiente is sticking with its root as Grandma’s cooking with some modern presentation to give you the experience of what it’s like to eat in Italian family, along with the more casual atmosphere. We don’t know your grandma, or Matteo’s personally. When the chef said that his food is better than your grandma (we know it’s a personal thing), and you see it as insult, why don’t you come over to Ambiente, talk it out nicely, and defend your arguments. Over some nice pizza and pasta, of course.

Raised in UK, honing his skills in Australia (under the tutelage of the legendary Marco Pierre White at one time, no less), and established himself as a prominent chef in Bali, Steven Skelly’s career path is not one to be taken lightly. Through Da Maria, he brought all of his experience, effort and expertise to create a fine representation of Italian cuisine. PASSION chats with the man himself to find out more about his passion and knowledge in-between his bustling kitchen activity.

Can you remember the exact moment in which you decided to become a chef? What inspired it?

It wasn’t one moment; it was more like a series of moments that led me to cooking. When I was finishing school I was washing dishes and when it wasn’t busy i was passed simple little jobs to pass the time. It grew from wanting to learn more 

What is Da Maria’s main culinary philosophy?

DM was an idea of Maurice’s (Maurice Terzini of Iceberg Australia) that I helped brings to life. It began with dishes from Maurice growing up in Abruzzo. After a few months we really hit our niche of the current style

In Da Maria, do you make your own pizza dough and pasta? Whats the most favourite type of sauce so far?

We do, absolutely!! I really like to bring my French training to the pasta section. I use a butter sauce, similar to a buerre blanc, to give this feeling of richness and almost luxury feel to the pasta. We use a mixture of reduced infusions or a compound butter to make some beautiful sauces.

What is the most essential thing that every Italian-cuisine chef should have in their kitchen?

I would be split between a series of micro planes or the vegetable mill/ mouli. Actually, the mouli any day!!! Sauces, gnocchi and even passing the braises to make ragu.

If there is one dish you cook to impress, what would it be?

Some sort of filled pasta; prawn is my current favorite with fermented chili and basil. But the gnocchi is super light. Depends who i was cooking for!

What message are you trying to convey to the customers of Da Maria? Is there any flavor adjustment that you made to accommodate the local palate?

There is no hidden message; it’s a lovely modern style of cooking that can be enjoyed by all. It’s not heavy; it’s not challenging or tweezer tricky. We see guests 2/ 3 times a week here. Italian food has been in Bali for ages so our local guests totally understand it.

Where would you see Da Maria five years from now?

We’ll still be here doing our style, hopefully with some extruded pasta being made in house. That is the next goal for me to develop. We can only do so much with the pasta roller.

Any tips for young, aspiring chef out there?

Stick at it!! The first few years are tough, especially back when i was starting. Thankfully that sort of environment is becoming extinct.

Two small entrances of Luigi Hot Pizza don’t fully reflect how big the venue actually is (which we’ve been told can contain up to 500 pax at once!). Once entered, you will immediately be greeted with pleasant atmosphere of people dining and hanging around, anticipating the fun-filled party as dawn passes and night began to rise. Luigi comprises of large open-air space, with cool neon-lit DJ booth on the backyard, separated by a bar. The white and black tone of the industrial zinc-meets-bamboo styled interior and dim yellow-meets-red lighting creates unique and intimate ambience that faithfully represents Canggu’s party vibes.

As the name precisely implies, Luigi Hot Pizza serves yours truly ‘tin-crusted goodness’ along with selections of pasta and salads; including vegan and gluten free dishes to cater every needs. For the pizza, try their P2 (all of the pizza menus here are simply named with a ‘P’ letter and number); a capricciosa-style pizza served with ham, mushroom, artichokes and olives on top for a meaty, delish full-bodied flavors to enjoy with friends and family; or P6; which perfectly mixes salami, mozzarella, onion, chili and LTS (Luigi Tomato Sauce, the restaurant’s great original touch).

If you prefer pasta, then you’re in for another treat. Try their authentic Aglio Olio (with extra cheese on side!), or the all-time favorites Spicy Prawn Fusilli; a delightful seafood pasta served with cherry tomatoes, parsley and fried breadcrumbs, creating a wonderful combination of sweet, sour and a hint of spicy in one satisfying dish.

To compliment your meal, Luigi Hot Pizza obviously serves arrays of quality beverage; being a party venue and all. Try their unique Al Caffe; a form of espresso martini which is mildly sweet but rich in coffee taste; served with melt-y skewered marshmallow for an additional hit. But if you opted for a more healthy drink, try their M3; an Indonesian ‘jamu’ herbal concoction made of turmeric, ginger, black pepper and citrus served on-the-rock to refresh yourself before, after or in-between the impromptu dance floor session.

Living up to their reputation as a great casual lunch and dinner destination, The Butchers Club Steakhouse serve an array of delicious dishes fit for any palate. If you crave something other than their tantalizing dry aged artisan burger and steaks, we recommend to try their selection of Italian menus. A fresh interpretation of classic Italian recipes, the cuisine fuses traditional techniques with the finest local and seasonal ingredients.

For starters, you should try the Arancini; a fine blend of creamy, salty, cheese rice balls, perfectly fried into crunchy golden brown goodness, accompanied by fresh, peppery rucola leaves.

While seafood lovers should order the Seafood Pasta; a simply-named but meticulously made portion of spaghetti with authentic Italian sauce and quality fresh-from-the-ocean ingredients.

Another recommended treat for your pasta feast is Chicken Penne; a combination of tender penne pasta, a delicious sauce and generous chunks of boneless chicken meat with a hint of spiciness.

To wrap up your dining satisfaction, try one of The Butchers Club Steakhouse’s delightful dessert; salted caramel tart, a salty-meets-sweet delicacy with bitter aftertaste to act as an ultimate palate pleaser, best enjoyed with the venue’s refreshing iced cappuccino.

One of the most popular ways to expand a business is with franchise. We even have few magazines and events that focused on this method. Chef Rahmat Kusnedi (CRK) gave his opinions regarding the things you need to look out for in using the franchise method to expand your business.

How do you see franchise?

Actually, franchise is more complicated, especially when we talk about great number of menus in a restaurant. Therefore, the restaurants that use this method are the ones that have few menus, such as fried chicken brands. There’s a famous noodle brand that refuse to use this method to keep up their high standard. If they can still manage it themselves, why should they franchise the brand? The thing is, a company will use franchise when they see it won’t be a threat or boomerang to their own business expansion.

What’s the objective of using franchise?

They want to simplify and accelerate the growth of the business. That’s why we have some fast food chains that have hundreds or even thousands in relatively short time. Most of the times, when a brand reached 10 outlets, they started thinking of franchise as an option to expand the business.

How about the main challenges of using the method?

Keeping the quality and consistency. The key lies in the central kitchen that supplies the ingredients to all of the outlets. In fact, we had many franchisees who run out of ingredients and instead of losing sales and getting some complaints, they prefer to buy their own substitutes that might not meet the franchisor’s standard. As a result, the whole outlets of the brand will suffer. These kinds of case are commonly occur. Therefore, I suggest a clear written agreement that says that franchisees are not allowed to use ingredients other than what’s being sent from the central kitchen. These small things can be a big problem that may damage the reputation of a brand.

in addition, you need to look out for the capacity of the central kitchen. How many outlets can you supply? You need to calculate the minimum space required to supply one outlet. If you can only supply 10 outlets, what will happen if you have more than 10? Will you build a new central kitchen? Meanwhile, no one can guarantee the growth of F&B business. If you have a good year, doesn’t mean you’ll have a good one next year, vice versa.

What are the expenses we need to watch when we apply franchise system?

Usually, franchise system requires the franchisee to pay certain amount of share to the franchisor. A franchisor can do the monitoring process based on system they’ve built, such as POS and sales report. Some bad franchisees will try to trick the system, therefore, you have so many things to learn.

A franchisee must realized that paying share is the risk he has to face when he chose a franchise business. On the other hand, master franchisor has to keep on innovating to survive. Usually, a restaurant will make new innovations every 2 years, and every 5 years, they will replace all the equipments. We do this for the brand’s ability to survive. One closed down outlet will raise a question, meanwhile 2-5 closed down outlets will be dangerous for a brand’s reputation and life.

The competitive advantage in the pastry department was the forte that Joe & Dough achieved since the beginning. Unlike most café players, Joe & Dough insisted in baking their own breads to ensure consistent quality and constant innovation. That can be seen right away from its most basic product and yet widely known Butter Croissant. It takes a full three-days process and using only 100% French butter to create perfection and that’s what they are willing to go through.

Since 2010, Joe & Dough started to supply handmade artisanal breads, home-styled cakes, and other patisseries to meet the ever-increasing demand for their outlets. True to its name, Joe & Dough is now well-known for their specialty coffee and artisanal baked goods handcrafted using time-honored recipes.

It’s very exciting to see that Indonesians are more aware with brands and quality nowadays, especially with good food. This is an opportunity that Joe & Dough has been waiting for and that day came in late 2018 with the opening of their first outlet in Plaza Indonesia. The Puri Indah Mall outlet came next in quick succession.

At their outlets, customers are immediately treated with an array of freshly baked goods displayed on the store front. Croissants of many types, Cruffins or the crispy-fluffy muffin in Apple Pie and PB&J flavors, Brionuts – the crossover between brioche and donut, or the classic Kouign Amann. That’s already a quick fix of breakfast with coffee for Jakartans who are in a hurry.

Fancy having a slice of cake with tea? Joe & Dough’s Gula Melaka Pandan Cake would be an interesting choice, especially for Southeast Asians. It’s a fragrant and moist pandan-infused butter cake slathered with gula Melaka and topped with desiccated coconut. Another choice would be their traditional Carrot Cake, deliciously filled with shredded carrots, chopped walnuts, raisins and cinnamons, and smothered with cream cheese frosting. The latter is currently only available at the Puri Indah Mall outlet.

Not just for takeaways or simply just having a cuppa there, Joe & Dough prepares heavier meals also to accompany business lunches, brunches and leisure times. Enjoy their Truffled Egg Cocotte, an indulging sous vide egg topped with cheese, garlic croutons with green salad. The premium choice of Short Ribs Mac & Triple Cheese would be equally indulging and even more. It consists of 24-hour slowly cooked premium beef short ribs on elbow pasta tossed in a blend of mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan.

Have a seat at their conservatory section in Plaza Indonesia, enjoy your meals and you will be treated with a rare view. On the outdoor area, you will see an aesthetically painted mural 8 meters in height on a 1,000 square feet wall! Especially on a sunny day, it’s as if you’d rather spend more time here than anywhere else.

What’s next after this for Joe & Dough? Expect to see the new outlet in Kota Kasablanka shopping mall, which is slated to open on May 2019!

Alfa is a company built by Marcello Ortuso and Rocco Lauro in 1977 that specializes in making gas & wood oven, and firebrick. In the past few years, they started to focus on wood and gas based oven for household and professional. Alfa is based in Anagni, which located between Rome and Napoli, the birthplace of pizza. In 2010, Alfa started to market stainless steel based oven that was combined with the latest technology update from the culinary world.

Along with the vast development of F&B scene in Indonesia, Alfa’s latest technology can be experienced by all market segments; from restaurants, caterings, hotels, to food trucks. There’s a good chance that pizza lovers will have Alfa products in their homes.

One of the Alfa’s best selling products is the Piazza Top 90 that has many features. With a very eye catching design, baking pizza is no longer a boring kitchen activity, it’s an attraction for customers. It’s time for your pizzaiolo (pizza chef) to be star of the show.

As opposed to other deck ovens that require more time to start the heating process, Piazza Top 90 only need 30 minutes. In addition, the maximum temperature of Piazza Top 90 can rach until 450o C. In other words, you can produce more pizza in significantly shorter time, even to 80 pizzas in 1 hour, a reliable workhorse for a busy pizzeria.

BCP (Bali Culinary Professional) kembali mengadakan gathering bulanannya di The Trans Resort Bali pada 27 April 2019.

Hormel mengadakan cooking demo oleh Chef Benny Zhu (Shanghai) di Hatten Wine Building pada 28 Maret 2019 yang dihadiri oleh Executive Chef dari berbagai hotel terkemuka di Bali, seperti St. Regis, The Laguna, Omnia, Fairmont, Hyatt Regency, Nikko, Alila, The Butcher, dan Tony Roma’s. 

Seperti halnya di Indonesia, masakan Italia dikenal menggunakan beragam rempah untuk semakin menyedapkan citarasa; terutama pada masakan jenis pasta. Salah satu jenis rempah yang paling jamak digunakan dalam menu ‘bakmi’ ala Italia tersebut adalah Marjoram. Dalam SPICE edisi kali ini, Passion coba ‘memetik’ lebih dalam tentang dedaunan asal dataran Yunani dengan bau harum aromatic khas tersebut, serta hubungannya dengan ‘saudara dekat’ oregano. Seperti apakah bedanya? Mari simak di bawah ini!

Asal-usul nama Marjoram sendiri tergolong unik. Dalam bahasa Yunani, ia berarti ‘Kebahagiaan dari Gunung’. Pada kepercayaan Yunani Kuno, jika sebuah kuburan subur ditumbuhi daun Marjoram, maka jiwa orang yang disemayamkan tersebut tengah menikmati kebahagiaan kekal. Saat ini, Marjoram seringkali diperbandingkan dengan Oregano, bahkan ada yang menyebut keduanya sebagai satu tumbuhan yang sama, namun pada faktanya, terdapat perbedaan antara Marjoram dan Oregano, terutama dari segi rasa; dimana Marjoram memiliki citarasa sedikit lebih manis ketimbang ‘sepupu’nya tersebut. Adapun keduanya masih sejenis dengan tanaman Mint.

Duralex  menggelar acara Molecular Gastronomy X Duralex pada 5 April 2019 di Ramurasa. Demo ini menghadirkan Ronald Prasanto, founder Ron’s Laboratory yang banyak menggunakan teknik masak molekular, untuk membuat 2 menu: Teh Bunga Telang yang terinspirasi dari es timun Aceh, dan Dark Chocolate Gelato. Tentu saja, Duralex menggelar acara ini untuk menunjukkan keunggulan produk tempered glass.

Sailendra Restaurant baru saja menunjukkan wajah barunya dengan suasana kontemporer dan siap menyambut para tamu dengan berbagai pilihan hidangan prasmanan baru dan pelayanan hangat, khas Sailendra. “Setelah beroperasi sebagai area makan utama di JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta sejak pembukaan hotel ini pada 2001, manajemen menyetujui bahwa Sailendra Restaurant memerlukan aksi peremajaan. Pentingnya untuk berkompetisi dengan berbagai property baru di area sekitar adalah satu  dari beberapa alasan untuk merenovasi Sailendra Restaurant,” ujar Cluster Director of Marketing, Adeza Hamzah.

Sake+ merayakan ulang tahun ke-5nya beroperasi setelah berdiri pertama kali pada 1 Juni 2014 sebagai satu dari sedikit tempat khusus untuk menikmati sake. Mengusung konsep masakan Jepang dengan jumlah varian sake paling lengkap di Indonesia, Sake+ yang terletak di Jalan Senopati no. 54 ini merupakan persembahan dari salah satu pionir wine scene di Indonesia, Vin+.

Pada 5April 2019 71st Restaurant mengadakan Cocktal Pairing pertama oleh guest mixologist Kenny, aka Bootlegger. Dengan food science, Kenny menciptakan 5 cocktail sebagai pairing dari menu-menu yang kebanyakan menggunakan bahan lokal, seasonal. 71st Restaurant menciptakan menu inovatif yang kaya rasa dan aroma, namun tetap light dan refreshing.

Sthala, aTribute Portfolio Hotel, Ubud Bali menjadi gelap selama satu jam pada 30 Maret untuk mendukung aksi-iklim Earth Hour 2019. Hotel ini akan bergabung dengan jutaan orang di seluruh dunia dalam mematikan lampu-lampu pada jam 8.30 malam waktu setempat untuk menerangi pesan yang kuat tentang kesadaran dan tindakan pada lingkungan. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) menyelenggarakan acara kesadaran lingkungan global tahunan, sejak 12 tahun yang lalu untuk menekankan ancaman perubahan iklim. Sthala berpartisipasi dengan mematikan lampu eksterior signage; mematikan pencahayaan interior yang tidak digunakan; dan menggunakan cahaya lilin di tempat umum yang sesuai seperti restoran dan bar. Sthala juga akan berpartisipasi dalam upaya Marriott International untuk menggalang dana untuk WWF dan menjadi tuan rumah 60+ Yoga in the Dark selama acara Earth Hour berlangsung.

Indonesia Sommelier Association - ISA Bali Chapter dengan bangga melaksanakan program tahunan pemilihan Best Bali Sommelier Competition 2019 keenam yang dilaksanakandi Bali. Untuk tahun ini kompetisi dilaksanakan di Hatten Building in Sanur pada tanggal 26 dan 27 Maret 2019. Hari pertama dimulai dengan pelaksanaan tes tertulis menguji pengetahuan kandidat, dilanjutkan dengan Masterclass Glass Tasting by Schott Zwiesel Air Series Experience oleh Mr. Ponti Young, Brand Ambassador dari Schott Zwiesel dilanjutkan dengan Masterclass yang kedua the Preparation Class for Practical Competition oleh Mr. Gerald Lu, President of Singapore Sommelier Association, yang juga sebagai Head of Judges dari kompetisi tahun ini.

ingredients : 

Susu 700 gram

Cream 100 gram

Skim milk powder 45 gram

Gula pasir 120 gram

Glucose syrup 40 gram

Kara santan 250 gram

Stabilizer 5 gram

Pandan extract 30 gram

Vanilla 0,5 teaspoon

Nangka matang 50 gram

Alpukat matang 100 gram

INGREDIENTS For ice cream 

Milk 16 oz and 2 tbsp

Heavy cream 10 oz

Sugar 100 g

Pandan juice 1/4 cup 

Salt a pinch

Tapioca starch 1/2 tsp

Make 1/4 cup of pandan juice by blending 6-8 pcs of pandanus and suji leaves with 1/4 cup of water.

Ingredients:

Fresh milk 1285 gr

Fresh cream 85 gr

Stabiliser 70gr

Sugar caster 150 gr

Chocolate sauce base using Dark Chocolate 68% Berau

Bahan-bahan:

2 pcs lemon juice

1 botol Sababay Lambrusco

4 pcs gelatine leaf

50 gr gula pasir

Sebagai salah satu rempah menjadi incaran bangsa Eropa, khasiat kapulaga membuatnya lebih dari sekedar bahan bumbu masak biasa. Di edisi kali ini, PASSION coba menelaah (mengupas) manfaat mewah buah mungil tersebut.

Kendati anda sudah cukup familiar dengan hidangan seperti kari, gulai, atau soto, belum tentu mengenal buah kapulaga yang menjadi salah satu bahan dasar utamanya. Ya, namanya memang terdengar cukup ‘asing’ (dan keren). Kapulaga merupakan salah satu rempah ternama Asia Tenggara yang mulai diperkenalkan di Indonesia sejak tahun 1986 silam sebagai komoditi eskpor. Orang Inggris mengenal buah mungil berwarna pucat ini sebagai cardamom, dan menjulukinya grain of paradise´atau  ‘bulir surgawi’. Selain di Indonesia, kapulaga juga dapat tumbuh subur di sejumlah negara Asia Tenggara, seperti  Thailand, Kamboja, Malaysia Barat dan Filipina.

As a newest addition in Bali’s growing gelato scene, Velluto immediately stands amongst those premium brand with their refreshing ‘made-from-scratch’ approach. The name itself derived from Italian word of ‘velvet’, which not refers to the particular color, but rather its luxurious and smooth characteristic, which genuinely shown (and tasted) in their main frozen treat products.

The gorgeous display of Velluto at Recolta Restaurant showcased 24 different flavors from a total of 60+ (and counting). This creates a chance for their guest to experiment with different combinations (two scoops per cup), which can make each and every portion feels personal. Velluto have some selections of classic flavors such as milk chocolate and pistachio, which blends with the modern one like the gorgeous blue-and-redtinted bubble gums.

Speaking of ‘precise’, there are several ways to determine a good quality gelato; one of the most important is the texture. The gelatos of Velluto are full-bodied, creamy, and smooth with a hint of ‘chewiness’; which indicates that it’s mainly consists of natural components and no artificial preservative whatsoever. Every flavor is precisely representing the organic taste their main ingredient, which comes first in your palate. Rather than overshadowing like your average gelato, the sweetness only serves as a pleasant background of vibrant flavors; fruit, creams and whatnot. This is a result of the scientifically precise approach on the development of  each flavor, with the authenticity level which determined by Italian gelato expert.

Happiness can come in all kinds of form; including sweet treat, and if Velluto can maintain their level of quality, Bali is in for a great gelato treat in near future. Speaking of expanding, the brand will soon establish its very first flagship café at the up-and-coming Trans Studio Mall Bali, so stay tuned for more to come!

Gourmet Garage is proud to present a uniqueapproach through its Hospitality & Training Center for those professionals in the Culinary world. The extraordinarily spacious venue serves as a wonderful place to showcase and display the capability of their supplies of both food ingredients and essential tools / equipment required by the industry. Built with a rustic, industrial feels which suits its overall idea and tone, it is regularly utilized to host prestigious events such as seminar, workshop to cooking-demos conducted by the experts in each field. One of their finest supplies is a gelato-making  equipment along with its ingredients.

On one of its corner, Gourmet Garage owns a state-of-the-art gelato display, showcasing several flavors of the frozen treat  goodness. Yes, among their prominent supplies, Lotus Enterprises has an exclusive partnership with prestigious European brand such as Carpigiani gelato machine and MEC3 artisanal gelato ingredients, and it genuinely shows (tastes) in their showcased gelato products. During our visit, we are treated with several combinations of delightful flavors, but one of personal favorites is the mint chocolate and salted caramel mix; which creates an enticing taste to the palate with refreshing minty-hint meets creamy sweet  chocolate, and pleasant caramel saltiness. All of the gelatos are directly produced from their spacious see-through kitchen just behind the main display, which houses state-of-the-art machinery, including the aforementioned Carpigiani masterpiece.

In the blooming era of café, restaurant and culinary centers in Bali nowadays, Lotus Enterprise (through Gourmet Garage), literally shows that they can provide the best proper path for ‘F&B Hospitality’, especially for anyone who wants to set up their own establishment. Their door is always open for visitors who would come to taste the results of their magnificent supplies, or gain in-depth knowledge about certain culinary aspects in various seminars, workshops or training they regularly host.

Leading the sweet-treat division of Mason Gourmet, Chef Febri and Chef Sena blends their experience, talents and tireless efforts to turn their bright ideas intoquality homemade end products; namely chocolate and gelato.
 
As an avid pastry chef of 13 years’ experience, Nugroho Febrianto is always opens for new challenges and opportunity to expand his skills. After arriving at Mason Gourmet circa 2015, he exchanges dough and oven with milk and freezing machines to create high-standard gelato of various flavors, but he is not alone in that delightful change ofscene. Starting out as one of Chef Febri’s talented apprentices, the Bali-born I Made Sena also raise up amongst his young peers to lead Mason Gourmet’s prestigious Chocolate division. PASSION converges with these two fine lads to discuss how chocolate and gelato can intertwine, amongst various sweet-induced topics.

According to you what is the fundamental difference between ice cream and gelato? Is it true that the latter is healthier than the first?

Chef Febri : Basically, gelato is so different from ice cream, because in gelato, the fat is less than 30% while in ice cream, its more than 50%, so yes, gelato is more healthier than ice cream. People nowadays are looking for gelato more because of that reason as well. They are high in protein, but low in fat. Another difference worth mentioning is that gelato can stand room temperature longer than ice cream. The less containment of fat in gelato also means that it is keep in lower temperature than ice cream; around 9 degree celcius, compared to 16 degree we use topreserve ice cream.

Which is the hardest ingredient to make into a gelato flavor?

Chef Febri : For me, the hardest ingredients would be fruits, because originally, fruit contains around 60% of water, and gelato is made with milk as basic ingredients. Water and milk doesn’t go along really well in the freezer, and tend to create ice crystal. In a quality authentic gelato, we avoid to create ice crystal, so we have to be really precise in the water content, and also the sugar as well. Amongst all kind of fruits, the one that grow in tropical area is the hardest to work upon, because they contain lots of natural water. One of the examples is dragon fruit.

Where is your idea of making the flavors Mason Gourmet’s gelato comes from?

Chef Febri: We have a great executive corporate chef who oversees all products that we want to create. He tends to task us to make something that are currently trending in the market nowadays. We are obliged to create new kind of flavors every time, which doesn’t stray too far from original taste and can still be accepted by our local consumers. We discuss the idea together before executing it. The executive chef has been so supportive to us all along. The latest flavor that we are experimenting with is chocolate, since we now have our own homemade chocolate division as well. We tinkered with several categories of dark chocolate until we finally found the most suitable one to apply in our gelato.

What is the most memorable moment in your career so far?

Chef Febri: All along my career in culinary world, I always find big challenge, and it only getting bigger after I decided to work at Mason Gourmet. Now, since we have been fully supported by the company with the finest equipment available, we have to constantly develop our idea and create the best products as well.

Chef Sena: So far, the experiences that I get in Mason Gourmet are the most memorable. Especially on this chocolate field; which is actually new to me, because I started out as pastry and bakery chef.

How did you determine the source of your chocolate ingredients? Are they all locally grown?

Chef Sena : We use cocoa beans from all over Indonesia. For the standard, Mason Gourmet’s corporate has establish a very good own standard, and we work to determine our main ingredients by using that specification.

What makes Mason Gourmet products (Chocolate and Gelato) different from other brand’s competitor?

Chef Febri: As I stated before, all of our products comes in the highest quality because it was made by using top-standard machinery and equipment. So this is what I think would differ us from the competitors. Good ingredients could not be maximized if they are not processed with fine equipment. With that kind of support from the company, then we have to strive and make our end products the best premium possible.

Chef Sena : For the chocolate, I think it can be differ from the taste. All of our chocolate bars have ‘secondary taste’; which comes from the bean itself and depends where they are being planted. Just as coffee, cacao beans will absorbs any kind of flavors from the plants or soils around them. Secondary taste is one of the indications of international-standard chocolate, and we have it in our products. Some of our chocolate’s secondary tastes are fruity, nutty, herby and floral. It all depends on where the beans came from.

Any chance we would see official collaboration between Mason Gourmet’s chocolate and gelato in near future?

Of course! Because we are constantly developing, we will expand our gelato into several forms and shape. For example, we planned to make a gelato product in form of a cake, and since now we also produce our own chocolate, the chance for that kind of collaboration will be higher. Not only that, we will also expand our cafes as well, make it bigger in near future.

It takes patience, perseverance, and sacrifices to see one’s passionate pursue finally came to fruition. Gupta Sitorus and Primo Rizky, the duo behind all things good coming from Eskimomo ice cream, shared their story of success here.

What’s the story behind Eskimomo?

Eskimomo was started in 2013 and we are ardent believers of anything that started with passion, not ambition, will always end well. Both of us love desserts so much and we wanted to start something that can evoke a lot of creativity. What made sense with our circumstances back then was to start a humble ice cream business. For us, ice cream is such a colorful playground and sky’s the only limit.

As we grow, we are still committed to this industry and have done a lot of developments in terms of our taste portfolio, cooking techniques, while also learning from the more experienced as well.

Can you describe what kind of ice cream that Eskimomo offers?

Our kind of ice cream is what the industry would categorize as ultra-premium ice cream. In contrast with the massively produced industrial type that can yield twice or thrice after churning the mixture for hours, our version will only yield additional 30%. That’s why compared to them, our ice cream has thicker texture, a bit chewy, and rather similar with gelato.

As to why we chose this approach, our initial determinations back then concluded that Indonesian market did not bother (yet) with the differences between gelato and ice cream. In terms of cooking techniques though, there’s not much difference aside from some of the ingredients. However, in terms of investments, gelato machines are more on the high-end side. Eskimomo had humble beginnings and once again, it all started with passion and not mere ambition. That’s our way to avoid unnecessary risks as well.

Tell us why you guys prefer the B2B approach?

That has always been our aim since the beginning, to tell you the truth. We both have other businesses in publishing and as consultants as well. Therefore, it wouldn’t make any sense to present ourselves in retail business as a full-time job. Jakarta is challenging for ice cream business and hats off for those who build their retail presence bravely here, but it’s just not our thing in the end. Perhaps later when an opportunity arises, we’d like to consider that again.

Why the B2B? Partly because we can manage our time better with this approach. It’s more reasonable for us and yet, it’s no less profitable than retail. We get to keep our creativity all the time as well, since our B2B clients may ask for customized flavors. For instance, we have our Pinacolada ice cream for Mexican theme, we have Putu flavor for Indonesian, we have others for Japanese, and many more.

What are your signature flavors and the most unique you ever came up with?

Our Apple Pie flavor is still the best-seller to date. Other signature flavors we have are the Choco Orange, Choco Mint, and Salted Caramel Popcorn. We are adopting the Philadelphian-style ice cream and that enables us to explore with more flavors rather than the Parisian.

Lately, we are exploring a lot of Indonesian flavors. We did Kunyit Asam sorbet, just because we were intrigued with the tamarind we found in Cirebon. We created the Nasi Lemak flavor when we had this gig once in Kuala Lumpur - made from tempe kecap, caramelized anchovies, sweet chili jam, rice pudding, and emping. Recently in Singapore, we did Martabak flavor and Sayur Asem sorbet!

Where can we find your ice creams in Jakarta and how many do you produce?

We supply our ice cream to Beau, Lewis & Carroll, Taco Local, Baoji, Honu, Ramurasa, Coffee AYA, and several others. Currently we have a single client that orders around 6,000 cups per month.

You guys have come a long way, haven’t you?

We now have several ice cream machines each with an output of 5 liters per hour or so. We have three kitchen assistants and a courier to drop our ice cream fresh every day for clients.

Looking back, we only have this tabletop, home appliance quality, ice cream machine that can only produce a liter per hour or equal to 10 cups. One time, the pedal was broken and we, in turn, had to churn it manually by hand! We need to finish everything that night just because we’re heading for an event in Bandung the next day.

We did this at home after 9 to 7 work every day back then and it’s for a business that was not more profitable than our salaries. But well, that’s passion for you, and looking back, we have come quite a long way!

Any plans after this?

We are so blessed with internet nowadays. Back then, you need to go somewhere far just to study about ice cream making. However, we still would like to get a degree for it and we’re enrolling for food science degree at Penn State University starting at the end of this year. We need to learn more about the R&D, how to deal business in industrial scale, and that’s important since Eskimomo is heading more seriously that way.

Jakarta, 27 April 2019

Meat and Livestock Australia bekerjasama dengan Morelink Asia Pacific dan Hypermart dalam peluncuran acara promosi “Australian Fair” yang berlokasi di Hypermart Puri Indah, Jakarta Barat. Acara ini adalah salah satu bentuk komitmen Meat and Livestock Australia untuk mengedukasi konsumen, khususnya dalam hal pengetahuan tentang kualitas daging sapi dan domba berasal dari Australia yang memiliki kualitas prima dan memungkinkan konsumen untuk mengolah daging tersebut menjadi masakan dengan yang lezat dan tetap memiliki kualitas baik.

It’s kind of difficult to call one specific title for Ronald Prasanto. He’s widely known as F&B consultant who handle some big brands, one of owner of theroastery Kopi Pak Wawan, Indonesia’s molecular gastronomy figure, and distributor of D’Lanier’s Chocolate Powder Drinks. But of course, we present the man in this issue because he introduced the nitrogen ice cream that was booming in 2013 under the name of Ron’s Laboratory. Because of few things, he left the company he built (Steve Jobs, anyone?), company that used his own name. As predicted, Ron’s Laboratory didn’t last long after he left.

Even though he’s out of ice cream and gelato for quite a while, Ronald’s still willing to share his knowledge in this field, from his research on ice cream, the use of emulsifier, to his method of production to avoid big investment in the beginning of the business. Passion Media met the man after he returned from  London Book Fair, England, and a trip to Pontianak. We managed to “force” him to get back to kitchen and started making gelato, a thing he hasn’t done for years.

First question, people are asking, as one of coffee people, why did you start gelato business?

To me, gelato is part of coffee business. If you go to Italy and order affogato, you may choose ice cream, gelato, or sorbet in various flavor to be enjoyed with espresso. I don’t know why, Indonesians know affogato as espresso and vanilla ice cream only.

If you take a look closely, every business I run is the supporting for coffee shop, it’s just I prefer to take the businesses around it. Let say Kopi Pak Wawan that’s already running well, I also act as the distributor of D’Lanier’s Chocolate Powder Drinks, and currently, I’m learning about viennoiserie. They’re all businesses that surround coffee shop.

Let say, if you’re in Pekalongan, where everybody’s doing batik, your choices are: start your own batik business and compete with everyone, or become the batik ink supplier? I prefer to be the last one, because the market is already there. The same thing with coffee, if I were to open a coffee shop, I’d be competing with my friends, such as Mirza Luqman (Starbucks Coffee), Adi Taroepratjeka (5758 Coffee Lab) and many others. When I sell Chocolate Powder Drinks, I can easily enter all coffee shops, offer the product, and still be cool with them.

Where did you learn the gelato?

Mostly from books, such as The Big Fat Duck Cook Book (Heston Blumenthal), Ice Cream (Douglas Goff & Richard W. Hartel), and Modernist Cuisine (Nathan Myhrvold & Maxime Bilet). In the beginning, actually I learned about ice cream, but due to high demand of product with lower fat content, in the end I learned gelato and sorbet.

Ron’s Laboratory sold all three products, right? How can you tell which flavor to be made into ice cream, gelato, or sorbet?

In my mind, flavors that are dense, buttery, or creamy like Red Velvet is suitable for ice cream, because you need high fat content. If you were to make the slightly creamy, but lighter flavor, such as Thai Tea, I’d make it into gelato, my approach is more to balancing the texture. Some of my products are made using white base, but I also have some, such as rujak sorbet, made with direct system.

Please explain a bit about Ron’s Laboratory’s initial concept.

I just want people to know that molecular gastronomy is not as complicated as you imagine from the book (pointing at The Big Fat Duck Cook Book), we have some products that are using very simple approach. Therefore, each month we always offer 6 flavors, in the next month, I’ll replace 2 old flavors with the new ones, always like that. Our best seller was Red Velvet Ice Cream, I took it out until some customers requested us to bring it back via Instagram.

Okay, now, let’s talk about ice crystal.

There 2 factors that affect ice crystal: emulsifier & stabilizer, and the duration of freezing process. In Ron’s Laboratory, I used liquid nitrogen and it took only 3-5 minutes to freeze it, I had no issue in the duration. Along the way, I decided to replace the emulsifier. I used egg yolk, but I replaced it with xanthan gum and guar gum.

Basically, emulsifier is used to combine fat and water, in this regard, cream and milk, but all the gellyfications (gums) act as both emulsifier and stabilizer. The recipe that we’ll make is using gelatin, but until today, I believe xanthan and guar gum are the best for ice cream. Guar gum gives you the melt-in-mouth sensation, similar to gelatin, but unfortunately, gelatin melts too easily. On the other hand, xanthan gum can maintain the structure. If you saw the rubbery Turkish ice cream, they use gellan gum.

Why didn’t you stick to using egg yolk?

The problem with egg yolk is its short shelf life. It spoils faster than gums. When Ron’s Laboratory were expanding to Surabaya and Medan, we need products with longer shelf life. The next issue is, the size of each egg differs to each other, if I wrote 5 egg yolks in the recipe, the question would be: how big should they be?

What about sugar, which type did you use?

Sucrose, regular table sugar, it’s the most accessible one. Back to your needs, you’d want ice cream that you think is perfect, merely commercial, or ice cream that’s safe for your family? I designed Ron’s Laboratory’s product to be the the safest one because we only use regular castor sugar, the gums are made from seaweed extract, milk, and no artificial coloring.

What sort of products did you call “not safe”?

Let’s take aspartame for example, it’s an artificial sweetener. It’s 60 times sweeter than regular sugar, so cost-wise, it would be much more efficient. Aspartame is commonly used as sugar substitute for those with diabetes. But it’s not good for healthy people to consume it on regular basis.

Our production concept is quite simple, we made the base here (Jakarta) and then each outlet will mix it with milk, cream, and then we use mixer and liquid nitrogen for churning process, done! When we only have 1 outlet, it’s easy for us to create new menus, but when we reached 6 outlets, I had to compromise. Iknew that the ingredients availability in Medan and Surabaya are different from Jakarta. I had to adapt with the situation.

Where did you get the idea of churning using Kitchen Aid and liquid nitrogen?

I saw it in Internet, and then for the freezing using liquid nitrogen, Chin Chin Labs (London) has done it before. When you’re learning about a specific product, you’d go for the details. However, sometimes people forget, to attract people to learn for the first time, you can’t explain too much about the scientific calculation, you’d drove people away.

If you made ice cream without machine, didn’t you save so much cost?

From the initial investment, it’s definitely cheaper, but your operational cost will be higher, mainly because of nitrogen’s evaporation. Imagine, liquid nitrogen’s temperature is -198o C, it’s even boiling in -100o C. When you have 100 kg liquid nitrogen, in the next day it would only be around 80 kg, we can call it shrinkage. To make it worse, the less nitrogen you have in the container, the bigger the evaporation, it’s inevitable. In each outlet, we had 400 kg nitrogen, but in the office, we had 800 kg as spare. The overall operational cost was indeed higher, but when you compare the conventional investment, you only need mixers such as KitchenAid, liquid nitrogen containers, and stoves, that’s it!

I heard you were planning to enter retail market before you left Ron’s Laboratory?

Yes, we planned to buy real gelato machine and no longer use nitrogen. Until today, I think there’s an empty market here, Indonesia doesn’t have retail ice cream with such high level of creativity, very concerned about flavor and texture quality, like Ben & Jerry. Let’s take their Strawberry Cheesecake flavor as example, you will have actual cheesecake chunks, cookie dough, every layer of cheese cake is there. I was aiming for that market.

Did you design Ron’s Laboratory as temporary trend?

SWhen we opened our first outlet in Grand Indonesia, we hit the BEP in merely 3 months! Whenever you see business with such graphic, you’d know it’s temporary trend, similar to Es Kepal Milo or Cappuccino Cincau. The rule to play the game is: when it’s booming, you open many outlets all at once, and defend, that’s it! To me, Ron’s Laboratory product’s quality is not that special, it’s how you  present it with interesting marketing strategy.

Business-wise, what’s the biggest lesson you got from your journey with Ron’s Laboratory for 2 years?

Hmm, I don’t know, because everything went as I’ve planned it to be. However, before you start a partnership, I suggest you should know your partners better. After I left Ron’s Laboratory, I had an investor who was willing to fund me, but I knew that the hype of nitrogen ice cream was out, so why bother? It’s better to prepare for the next trend.

Some people said that such gelateria business is not profitable, what do you say?

Logically, it should be profitable. In coffee, the roasted green bean is losing weight, meanwhile in ice cream and gelato, the volume expand, similar to bread. However, I have to admit our rent cost, especially in the malls, is too expensive. When you calculate the whole rent cost, machine investment, shrinkage, and interior design, yes, it’s tough. Especially for the rent, if  it’s for the machine’s shrinkage, you may use 10 years assumption, as long as you operate it properly.

How much does professional gelato machine actually costs?

Around Rp 700 millions for a proper machine. The problem is, if you give me middle class espresso machine like Simonelli, I can still beat new baristas, even though they’re using La Marzocco or Slayer. Human plays big role in operating coffee machine, but in ice cream and gelato industry, machine plays bigger role. If you use cheap machine with cooler at the end of the machine, of course the ice cream can freeze, but it took longer time, and it resulted in big ice crystal. You can’t enter the premium market, the market has its own standard, the size of ice crystal should be within such micron range. 

Now, we had many new gelato players, does it mean gelato is trending again?

Actually, the business is still profitable if you know how to play the game. If you open a gelateria and expect people to come, just forget it. It’s better to pack the gelato in nice packaging and supply it to coffee shops. As opposed to retail business (B2C), supply business (B2B) has significantly lower cost. Now, I’m focusing to create profit because I have to feed my family. I’m not saying my idealism is dead; let’s say it’s just beaten up by my bills.

After winning the first Indonesia Gelato Competition, Jovita Rainy Pranata, along with Pipit Yulianti and Louis Tanuhadi, represented Indonesia in Asian Gelato Competition in 2018’s Food Hotel Asia. Even though they didn’t win, they managed to get Best Team Spirit award, not bad isn’t it? Knowing it was the first time for them (and Indonesia) to join the international competition.

When we planned for the gelato & ice cream issue, we knew we had to meet Jovita to dig further about the current situation of gelato industry in Indonesia, some technical issues in gelato making, to her experience when she represented Indonesia in Asian Gelato Competition.

What’s your current activities?

Many things, I teach gelato classes in some baking studios, such as Bake and Artisan Academy and Koch House in Alam Sutera. I’m selling products such as cookies, cakes, lapis legit, etc, online under the name Francelle Patisserie. I also teach at PT. Espresso Italia, but more to business side. At the moment, many people with money started thinking, “it would be fun to have a gelateria”, but they lack knowledge.

I love combining local culinary heritage into gelato, such as in my lapis legit gelato. Actually, lapis legit is a very Indonesian product. However, with it’s high fat content, in low temperature, the lapis legit will be hardened and it’s best served as gelato that has higher serving temperature (-12o - -18o C), meanwhile ice cream is around -18o to -20oC.
When you combine products with different textures, you need to have similar mouthfeel. When the gelato started to melt, we don’t want the lapis legit to be still in frozen state.

It appears gelato is not as easy as it looks?

Yes and no. It would be very helpful if you have background in pastry or culinary, because you already understand taste bud and nature of the ingredients. When common people started their own gelato business, the biggest challenge would bein combining things that resulted in a messy, not in well harmony product. When you want to make soto gelato, it tastes so much like turmeric.

How important is it to have knowledge in pastry to start gelato business?

Most of gelato chefs abroad have background as Pastry Chef. Gelato combines art and pastry, and it requires skill, sense of art, and knowledge. For example, chocolate has higher fat content, which means it solidifies in cold temperature, you need to know the right ingredients to balance it, so it can be spooned easily.

Actually, this texture issue doesn’t really matter for restaurants whose core business is not gelato, or if you just want to make your own gelato at home. But, when you have your own gelateria with many available flavors in the freezer display, you need to ensure that all of the flavors have similar consistency level. Have you ever been to a gelateria and craving for Bailey’s flavored gelato, but it looks that it’s gonna melt soon? Finally, you settled on the dark chocolate one, but you see the waiter is having hard time spooning it. I call this imbalance of
the recipes.

What are the things we need to start gelato business?

First, of course you need good, balanced recipes, second it’s the equipment. There are many kinds of gelato machine, from entry level to advance, what’s the difference? At a glance, it seems that it’s about different capacity, from 3,5,7 to 12 kg. However, to sum it up, machines with advanced feature support very low balancing recipes. For example, you can put simple syrup in it and you’ll end up with some slush.

As the machine gets cheaper, you need more things to tweak. You need to be quick to make gelato, because you need to have ice crystal, but it has to be as small as possible to have smooth texture. The longer it took, the ice crystal will get bigger. How can you tell the machine’s quality? You’ll know in few hours after the gelato is put into display freezer, or the day after. In good gelato, the texture and structure will remain the same.

I can show you the texture of the gelato made with good machine. After churning, the texture will be soft, similar to soft serve ice cream, but it will look dry and firm when spooned. Wet gelato will affect the structure as it will melt easier and you have decrease in volume, your margin, and the presentation when you put it into freezer display.

But the thing is, good gelato machines are very expensive.

Along with teaching, I also do consulting. Some of my clients consult about the recipes, bought cheap machines, and asked me, “how come my gelato melts very easily even though I’ve used stabilizers?” Some of them are not being honest about the machines they use, perhaps because the consultation is only limited to recipe. I’m not saying the most expensive machines are the most cost efficient, just buy the one that suits your production capacity, but to make gelato, I highly recommend you to buy specific gelato machine. People are taking short cuts by buying any machine that can churn, to change liquid into ice cream.

Are the gelato and ice cream machines that different?

Some more advanced machines have features to control the texture so you can produce both products. Most people just buy to make their own gelato at home, so
they’re happy when they managed to make it. However, for professional industry, with 3 to 5 kg capacity, if the machine is not good, can you imagine what will
happen?

How much is the maximum volume addition after churning in gelato?

50% maximum, but for gelato, we use weight instead of volume. The volume expansion happens because of the overrun, it’s when the air incorporated into the dough during churning. In ice cream, it’s more common to use volume, but when it started to melt, you’ll end up with significant decrease in volume. It means high overrun. When you eat it, the mouthfeel will be light, and the aroma isn’t too strong, similar to when you eat mousse. Meanwhile, gelato has denser texture. You may have 3 cups of ice cream, but with gelato, you might only need
1 cup.

Are you trying to say that gelato is superior to ice cream?

Yes and no. Look, most ice creams we know are industrial, the one that focuses on sustainability of production. They prefer to use flavorings compared to fresh ingredients. When people sell gelato using fresh strawberries, people will complain because of its acidity. People knew strawberry as sweet, aromatic, they’re not used to eating the fresh ones, that’s the flavor perception most people have.

Meanwhile, in Italy, most gelaterias are family owned business for generations with personal touch, or you can call it artisan product. Most of them are small companies who made their gelato in small batch, similar to art and culture. They use local ingredients, such as fragoline di bosco (Italian wild strawberry) that has distinctive taste, compared to the Korean or local
strawberry.

In an event, a visitor complained the difficulty of having Italian ingredients supply. The Gelato Chef said, that’s the art of gelato: how you can create something unique, artisan, using local influence and products, because you can’s separate art with its origin. Let say, Balinese sculptor will make the traditional Balinese statue, it’s not possible for them to make Roman sculpture, isn’t it?

So what’s the benefit of ice cream compared to gelato?

First, it has longer shelf-life, you can store it for years. Ice cream also allows more flexible flavor exploration. Ice cream is a better product to apply alcohol because of its anti freezing property.

Making gelato is not only about art, it’s only mathematic. You need to know which ingredients have anti freezing property, how much the sugar content. Some Gelato Chefs often shook their heads whenever they hear people ask, “can we remove the sugar?” You can remove the milk, replacing it with vegan milk, or any other ingredients, but you can never remove the sugar completely.

Sugar has the anti freezing property. Put it this way, if you store mineral water in 0o C, it will freeze, but it’s a different story when you put sugar  syrup or honey in the same temperature. Why we need this anti freezing property? Because we need to spoon the gelato in serving temperature, which is below 0o C. Therefore, in gelato, it’s common to use different types of sugar, from the common castor sugar who has 1 anti freezing property, to the dextrose who has twice anti freezing capability.

Anti freezing has its own metering system. We use dextrose often in dark chocolate gelato, or any other flavors with higher fat content so the gelato will remain soft and spoonable. Alcohol has similar anti freezing property to sugar. When you apply alcohol, the gelato texture won’t become firm even though you have longer churning process. However, some ingredients with solid content such as fat or fiber are able to hold together the other ingredients.

The calculation of anti freezing depends on the ABV in the drinks, for products such as Bailey’s and wine, the ABV is below 20%. Imagine if you have to use products such as rhum whose ABV 40%. Because of it’s naturally higher serving temperature gelato tends to melt easily if you apply alcohol. If you use stabilizer to bind them altogether, the texture will become chewy and rubbery. Every stabilizer has its own character that you need to understand.

Wait, I’m a bit dizzy here, it seems that making gelato is very complicated, isn’t it?

To simplify it, we use the base system or indirect method. The pasteurized milk base will be turned into white base, and then you can put whatever you like, let say coffee or peanut butter. It will make the whole process easier and commonly used for common gelato flavors, such as salted caramel, peanut, coffee.

In addition, to give flavor, you don’t have to use fresh ingredients. You can use gelato paste as flavor concentrate to give you better efficiency in term of durability and inventory system. On the direct method, you need to make everything from scratch, it’s more time consuming and complicated, but you’ll end up with more unique signature product.

How significant is this direct VS indirect method? I mean, can the customers tell the difference?

It depends on the target market. In premium market with higher buying power, they have higher exposure to high quality gelato. They can tell whether you’re using flavoring or fresh ingredients. However, most customers aren’t sensitive enough for this kind of thing. Some of the unique flavors in gelateria are actually used to attract traffic, but the best sellers remain the same old “safe” flavor such as chocolate, hazelnut. Usually, 70-80% of the available flavors in a gelateria are the basic ones.

You represented Indonesia to compete in Asian Gelato Cup, along with Pipit Yulianti and Louis Tanuhadi, please tell us a bit about the competition.

We made some products such as cassava tapay gelato, sticky rice tapay gelato, and gedong gince mango gelato. We made 1 gelato, 1 plated dessert and 3 gelato cakes. There are many things that affect judges’ score, but to me, the most important thing is experience. It means, winner of the competition doesn’t necessarily has better product, but they’re better in understanding what the judges want. It’s the first time for Indonesia to enter such competition, meanwhile other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Japan join it
regularly.

I can guess what the local judges want in national competition. Most of the times, they’re looking for uniqueness, creativity, balance of flavor, application of local ingredients, and interesting presentation. Most local judges emphasize the emotional aspect, meanwhile it’s a whole different story with international judges. You need to give more than gelato with exotic presentation and flavor.

In the competition, the judge measure our serving temperature using the infrared thermometer to tell whether it was served in right temperature or not. Moreover, we use tapay that has high solid content. Me and Pipit has to tweak the recipe many times. The more mature the tapay, the alcohol content will be lower, so we need to figure certain age of tapay to reach the ideal ABV.

The teams who won has joined the competition for several times, always with the same team member. When we received the rule book, we even asked the committee several times for points that we didn’t understand. There are many score aspects, they put the waste we made into consideration. And then about the teamwork, most of them maintain the same member to keep the same chemistry. If I were to join the same competition, I’d prefer to have Pipit with me as we have good chemistry already.

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We felt we’ve tried enough gelato from Indonesia’s best gelateria, but last year, when we had the chance to try one Stefano Tarquinio’s (one of Carpigiani Gelato University’s teachers) gelato, we realized one thing, “we still have much to learn!” Stefano came to Indonesia to teach in gelato workshop in 2018’s Hotelex on 18-20 July. If you haven’t met the man, here’s our interview with Stefano about his background, his perspective on many things in gelato industry.

Why and how did you get into this gelato industry? 

One word only: passion. I always love eating and cooking at home, I went nuts for desserts. One day I was so delighted by a custard cream and pistachio cone and I thought, ”this is what I want to do my life!” It was 2004. I was born in Bologna, the food capital of Italy, the birthplace of Spaghetti Bolognese, lasagna, tortellini and FICO – Eataly World, kind of a Disneyland for food. I immediately decided to study at the Carpigiani Gelato University. 

After completing the main pathway and getting my diploma, I attended advanced courses. That choice makes me happy every day more. I opened my gelato shop “Al Settimo Gelo” in Medicina town (Bologna, Italy), at the beginning I used to work and experiment for long hours, but when you do what you love it’s like playing, right? Then I tried a dream-team and the success came earlier than expected.

It has been a honour seeing my gelateria becoming famous and appreciated also by people who weren’t living in my region. Since I was asked to teach at Carpigiani Gelato University, I started meeting people from everywhere in the world with the same passion. I’m glad to share with them what I learnt. I love travelling around the world with the mission to spread this beautiful gelato culture, that’s my biggest motivation.

How sexy is the gelato market? 

How do you compare it to ice cream? Gelato IS sexy, how would you think differently?! Every chef can express its passion and create personalized flavours, unusual gelato-cakes, cool gelato-mignons, tasty gelato-pralines and more. Can ice cream allow this unique touch? You can lick gelato while walking on the road or enjoying a break with friends or with your beloved ones. Gelato is the most affordable Italian luxury worldwide. Everybody can afford a gelato, could you really live without?!

How do you define “good” or “proper” gelato?

First of all, a good gelato should have a clear and recognizable taste. I must immediately feel that the gelato chef wants to deliver a specific experience, both in simple and complicated flavours. If pistachio is among the ingredients, I should immediately taste it.

Then, there are technical and more sophisticated criteria to evaluate a good gelato: structure and texture, creaminess and “spreadability”. When you taste a gelato, consider a balanced level of melting, the ice crystals should be imperceptible and the cold-feeling not so strong. Eating a good gelato is a pleasant emotion that makes me wish it never ends.

Tell us a bit about Carpigiani Gelato University! Who is it for?

When I started there, I simply loved gelato. Among my best students, there are some from creative industry, finance and IT professionals, smart students and savy entrepreneurs who come from the most different backgrounds. The Gelato University was established in 2003 to educate people in the art of artisan gelato and soft serve ice cream. 

Today, Carpigiani Gelato University is recognised internationally for educating successful gelato entrepreneurs around the world. Featuring a comprehensive training programme, cutting edge teaching and a team of internationally recognised Gelato Instructors, over 7.000 students globally pass through our courses each year. If you are ready to change your life with gelato and if you wish to add gelato to your menu or business, just register at the next course!

is it important for anyone to start with a top gelato machine like Carpigiani?

The success of your gelato shop depends also on the quality of the equipment you use. Just think about what can happen if your machine or display cabinet suddenly stops working. If you start with a reliable brand (years of experience always help), you will reduce daily and extraordinary costs. High performance and energy saving technologies are the best investment ever. Don’t forget to let your clients know about it. They will be grateful for your sustainable commitment, and they will have one reason more to order more gelato.

Since Carpigiani not a cheap machine, how can you tell it’s a good investment to have one?

Carpigiani Technology offers the highest level of innovation you can find in the gelato industry. The Research & Development team has been awarded for its pursuit to excellence. The engineers are always listening to the market’s needs. Furthermore, Carpigiani went the extra mile in order to create specific programs that help beginners to obtain the best results since the very first time they start using a gelato machine. It’s definitely an investment that pays off in the short run.

How important is it for someone to learn about pastry before turning into a Gelato Chef?

It definitely helps, but most of the students that start the “Become a Gelatiere” complete program at Carpigiani Gelato University have no experience in pastry or culinary arts at all. When you wish to attend the Carpigiani Gelato Pastry University courses (located in Tokyo) which targets professionals who want to upgrade their menus with first class gelato and pastry creations, a background in culinary, pastry or gelato art is compulsory.

What are the most common mistakes people make when they start their own gelato business?

Without passion you will never be successful, whatever you do. You should enjoy your gelatiere career, or it’s better you choose another job. Everybody doesmistakes, in Italy we say that only the ones who do not do anything, don’t do mistakes. The secret of success in a gelato business? Learn the basics, plan in advance, choose reliable partners. If your gelato equipment suddenly stops working, you won’t be able to produce gelato until the problem is solved. Remember that when you do a purchase, a good after sales support will save your wallet later on. Then, be open to learn new things and discover unexpected ways to create new recipes every day. Try, learn and smile!

Is it true that Italian Gelato Chefs are encouraging people all over the world to use their local ingredients?

 I mean, it doesn’t always make sense business-wise for just anybody to use the imported Sicilian pistachio, right?If your clients don’t know how a Sicilian pistachio tastes and they can’t recognize the difference between an Iranian or Italian pistachio, then let me recommend you to make a kopi gelato! I’m an Italian Gelato Chef and I definitely recommend to use local ingredients. In Italy we change flavours considering the four seasons (lemons and oranges are better in winter times, peaches and apricots during the summer), we prefer to use fruit and veggies cultivated in our own region. Why shouldn’t you use your amazing mangoes, coconuts, bananas and spices if you operate in South East Asia?

What’s the current trend in gelato industry? Are there any trending flavors,production methods, or business models that we can anticipate? 

The trend is definitely low GI gelato and no added sugar gelato, Carpigiani allows to produce guilty free personalized creations with its new Adaptive Technology. Italian and European gelato chefs are required to attend specific courses and to get certifications, too.

 Gelato is a treat, we should be able to meet the demand of those who have got intolerances or the ones who follow specific diets. We all need to update our skills, attend continuing education modular and work with the right technology. The beauty of gelato? It can be interpreted accordingly to all the culinary traditions. From Bahasa to Malay, from Kosher to Halal, Chinese and Japanese. Any country you live, just start pushing the gelato boundaries. I tried out an excellent Azuki Gelato in Japan, an unforgettable Durian sorbet in Thailand and a tantalizing Goat Cheese and Bacon in Canada. I look forward to be surprised again, maybe in Indonesia.

You’ve been all around the world, which places have the most interesting, local influenced gelato?

 The best gelato is where the biggest passion lives. Indonesian Chefs are very similar to Italian Chefs. Indonesia is a huge country, the land produces delicious fruit, veggie, coffee, chocolate, spices. An increasing number of Indonesian students register at Carpigiani Gelato University courses every year, famous Italian gelato brands already opened in Indonesia.

When Carpigiani Gelato University organized the very first Gelato World Tour in Singapore, I tried Curcuma Gelatom that was delicious. And when I was in Jakarta last year, I tried a surprising gelato that contained rujak. Go the extra mile, Indonesian Gelato Chefs, transform your favourite desserts in gelato and create fresh emotions.

Gelato fans would be familiar with the name Gaya Gelato. The brand was built by Italian company back in 2008 and now, you can see GayaGelato’s presence in Jakarta and Bali. In Jakarta, Gaya Gelato already has 4 outlets: in Pantai Indah Kapuk, Mal Kelapa Gading 3, Grand Indonesia, Pondok Indah Mall Street Gallery, meanwhile Bali has 10 outlets spread over tourist destinations such as Canggu,ubud, Petitenget, to Uluwatu.

With its artisan gelato, Gaya is definitely one of the biggest gelaterias in Indonesia. “We have so many gelato players in Jakarta as the competition continuously growing. Every year, we have 5 new gelato brands,” said Fredy Lays, CEO PT. Gaya Gelato Indonesia. “When I tried Gaya Gelato for the first time, it gave me unique experience compared to any other gelato and ice cream brands, even when my teeth were sensitive because of the cold, I can still enjoy Gaya Gelato’s products,” he added.

Gaya Gelato is inspired by nature and genuine flavor to make the gelato. They appreciate seasonal rhythm and value locally grown fruits to give the authentic taste of the land. Indonesia, with its nature diversity, from fruits, nuts, coffee, and chocolate is a perfect place for gelateria like Gaya Gelato to create flavors that mirror local culinary traditions.

Of course, as an Italian brand, the use of Italian ingredients in Gaya Gelato is inevitable, such as hazelnut and pistachio. However, Gaya Gelato sticks to its initial approach, using the 100% natural ingredients, which means, you’ll never find any GMO products, processed, artificial flavor and color in all of Gaya Gelato’s products.

Fredy admitted that running gelato business ain’t no walk in the park. “You need new ways to sell high quality gelato, because some of the high quality equipments, from gelato machine to display freezer, mostly came from Italy, however, not all Italian brands are created equal. It’s a tricky thing to learn. In addition, it required billions rupiah of investment to maintain very high quality product.”

Until today, Gaya Gelato has 38 flavor variants available in each outlet. Gaya Gelato even experimented with unique, local ingredients such as Lemongrass, Soursop, to Chocolate Chilli which has been discontinued because it’s too unique for most customers in Jakarta. Of course, Gaya Gelato also offers some of the best sellers, such as Pistachio (imported directly from Italy), Ciocollato (Dark Chocolate), Cookies & Cream, Coffee, Coconut, and fruit sorbet variants such as Soursop, Lemon, Orange and Mango.

Here are some tips from Fredy to tell the quality of a gelato. “The natural color is the main point for gelato and sorbet’s quality. Let’s take Banana for example, the color shouldn’t be bright yellow, it should be white instead, because you don’t consume the banana skin. Also the Mint flavor, the color shouldn’t be sky blue. Whenever you see product with such color, I can assure you that they use artificial color. Too many brands claim themselves as ‘artisan gelato’ but they use excessive preservative and artificial color” he explained.

Vilo Gelato started from a discussion of 3 highschool friends in 2017 which questioned why gelato has to be imported, expensive, and very sweet. The curiosity continued with some research to make their own gelato using recipe they got from Youtube, and a gelato machine Carpigiani Labo 8 12. Even though they often end up with failures, they kept learning about artisan gelato,especially about the equipment, ingredients, to the recipe formula.
 
“We did trial & errors for 3 months. Making gelato or anything as long as you have the passion, actually isn’t too difficult, it’s just gelato requires you to think more. As opposed to the easier to produce ice cream, gelato is a bit challenging because to need balancing to get optimum texture,” said Jennike Veronika, one of Vilo Gelato owners. The brand’s philosophy (or using their own term, vilosophy) is producing gelato using 100% natural ingredients, with no preservatives, artificial coloring nor flavoring.

Vilo’s outlet in Taman Ratu, West Jakarta is a cute little gelateria with atmosphere that’s similar to coffee shop’s. Each owner of Vilo has different backgrounds that allow them to do everything on their own, from graphic design, interior design, printing, to packaging.

Over 60 Flavor Variants

Everyone has his own favorite gelato flavors. Even though Vilo’s freezer only displays 24 flavors at a time, the gelateria has created more than 60 flavor variants since its inception until today, from the regular to the seasonal ones. For the fruit variants, Vilo has some of the seasonal taste, depending on the supply to keep their commitment of using 100% natural ingredient. “Some of our products with fruits, such as mango sorbet and durian are customers’ favorites, but if it’s not the fruit’s season, we won’t make it, even though we have high demand,” explained Jenni.

5 of the most favorite flavors in Vilo are: Dutch Chocolate, Butter Coffee, Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cheese Cake, and Roasted Pistachio. They are safe options for almost everybody, but if you’re a fan the more intense dark chocolate, Signature Chocolate is a wiser choice. The reason? Valrhona! We don’t think you need further introduction, do you? The infusion of alcohol such as Bailey’s, Kahlua, and whisky to gelato is not too common in Indonesia, however these products have their own fanatic fans in Vilo.

Along with offering the products in their own outlet, Vilo Gelato also supply its products to coffee shops. Vilo also sells the the takeaway products in special packaging for 5 of the best sellers in various size, from 150, 300 to 500 ml.

To grab wider audience, Vilo Gelato just launched a new line of product called Frozen Dairy. “People always think gelato is expensive. We offer it in affordable price, starting from Rp 30.000, however to reach more the low to middle class that are much larger, we launched Frozen Dairy with only Rp 20.000. There are many differences between Vilo and Frozen Dairy, from the milk and the recipe. With smaller packaging, we aim for cafes for its practicality, I mean, you don’t need to do any scooping,” she explained.

Even though Vilo was found in less than 2 years, the gelateria has got many offerings from prospective franchisees, but they don’t seem rush the expansion. “We prefer to have more partnership and supply to more places. We might have more outlets, but not too many, we’re more comfortable with the supplu concept,” Jenni added.

Vilo Gelato is an inspiration for people who are thinking opening their own gelaterias. Even though the lack F&B background, with passion and knowledge (plus a bit of Youtube’s help), also commitment to use natural ingredient, Vilo managed to become a sought after brands for franchisees from all over Indonesia. And if you’re a fan of alcoholic gelato like us, now you know where to go.

We met Novan Satrianto, Director of PT. Sedana Panen Sejahtera, the holding company for Sorghum Foods Indonesia in a collaboration event held by Kaum.We’re very interested when Lisa Virgiano, Kaum’s Brand Director, said, “sorghum is a weird plant, ignore it and it will grow healthy, but when you treat it well, it withers.” Moreover, when we tasted some menus using sorghum in Kaum, we thought, in addition to become solution for national food security, sorghum might be a new “toy” for the progressive chefs who are very into local ingredients. It’s time for Indonesia to be reintroduced to the healthy, forgotten plant, that has been with us for centuries.

How did you get introduced to sorghum?

In 2011, I knew sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) from BPPT (Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology). In my whole life, it’s the first time I heard the name “sorghum”. In the beginning, I was interested in developing sorghum into bio energy for fuel or coal industry. At that time, we did some research in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) at the foot of Mountain Tambora, using 25 varieties from all over the world to get the best one.

Along the way, we realize the bio energy business require huge amount of investment, at the very least, we need Rp 1 trillion. It’s a business for giant scale companies or government. However, from the lab, we knew that the sugar content in sorghum was quite high, finally we divert our focus from bio energy into sugar production, working together with P3GI (The Center of Indonesia’s Sugar Farm Research). We want to know about sorghum’s derivative products.

Wait, does the plant originally come from Indonesia?

Most probably, no, literature said that sorghum was an African plant. Few hundred years ago, there was African expansion, and they brought along the sorghum to be planted here. In Indonesia, sorghum became staple food for quite a while before it was forgotten and replaced with rice.

What do you mean forgotten?

I just quote, but from what I’ve read, by the end of 80’s in President Soeharto’s era, we had rice nationalization. In elementary school, you might remember we learned about staple foods such as sago or corn, but since rice nationalization, everyone only knew rice. As a result, some local foods, like sorghum, are forgotten.

However, if you trace it back, we had local sorghum names that are used as region names, for example Buleleng in North Bali, or Sabu Raijua in East Nusa Tenggara, it’s believed that both names literally means sorghum. Not to mention, the local sorghum names such as cantel, pari corn, even most West Javanese knew sorghum as “gandum”, not the imported wheat. Then, I came across interesting article that stated that sorghum was on one of Borobudur Temple’s reliefs. It’s very interesting to me.

When I met old household assistant in barren areas, such as Mount Kidul, he asked me, “what are you gonna do with this food?” Because, for them, sorghum is reserve food when they have rice scarcity, basically it’s poor man’s food. In some regions, sorghum is people’s savior from famine because of crop failure. When I said I’m going to plant sorghum, local farmers don’t have a clue, but when it’s harvest time, they said, “we know it as pari corn or cantel corn!” Always been like that! Meanwhile in West Nusa Tenggara, the locals know it as latu.

What is the first sorghum product you produce?

We started to have farm in Madura and Pasuruan, when it’s harvest time, we produce sorghum syrup, or also known as the clear, golden liquid sugar. To test the market, we only produced 1,5 tons of sorghum syrups, and they were all sold out.

We started to have testimonials from people with stomach ulcer who feel better, to pregnant women who lost their morning sickness. In literature, that’s the benefits of consuming sorghum, but until today, we don’t want to market the health benefits like medicine, because it’s a different market. We’re food company, not pharmaceutical.

From the lab, we knew that sorghum’s sucrose content is quite high, meanwhile crystal sugar can only be formed by sucrose. We asked P3GI to make crystal sugar. Those who know sugar will be apathetic, they know there’s no way we can crystalize sorghum. However, we insisted, and in the end, perhaps we’re the first company in the world that’s able to produce crystal sugar from sorghum, feel free to check it up on Google. After that, we started to believe on sorghum potential and encouraged to produce crystal sugar.

I heard sorghum is a very tough plant.

In 2015, we started to plant sorghum in 1-hectare area in Jombang on October-November. It was the peak of the dry season and local farmers said, “this Jakarta kid has gone nuts, they’re playing farmer!” It’s impossible for farmers to plant anything in that moment, it’s a waste of time and energy.

Sorghum’s critical point is from 2 weeks to 1 month, where we should monitor its sprouting, growth, the water and fertilizer supply. After that, the treatment is very very easy, our sorghums grow with very minimum maintenance and water. After all, sorghum grows in East Nusa Tenggara, a region known as barren, it’s no longer land with stones, it’s stones with soil.

What are the other sorghum derivatives products you produce?

After syrup and crystal sugar, we started to make other products, such as soy sauce for people with special needs, such as auto immune disease, gluten intolerant, people with authism that are having a hard time metabolizing wheat. Without us knowing, the number of these people is significant, and they thanked us for offering safe food products that tastes just as good for them. We even have a Chinese restaurant who has soy sauce scarcity, and after looking for substitutes, they settle on our product.

We begin with sweet sorghum research, but in 2016, we started to focus in producing rice and flour from sorghum, because our competitors offer them in relatively high price. We’re also doing some research to produce cereal and instant porridge, but we haven’t released them yet.

You had many mission change, from producing bio energy to healthy food. However, in the beginning, why did you fixated on sorghum?

Based on my experience, it’s difficult to predict Indonesia’s climate. We had hard rain in dry season, vice versa. In the middle of such uncertainty, we can still grow sorghum. The plant has suffered drought to flood, if it’s rice or corn, you’d have crop failure. Sorghum’s ability to adapt is outstanding. In addition to gluten free, sorghum also has low GI (glycemic index) so it’s safe for those with blood sugar problems. Not to mention its great taste, these are the things that convince us since the beginning. Locals have known this crazy plant for a long time, we just develop and reintroduce it.

Perjalanan seorang karnivor untuk mencari daging kualitas biasanya akan berkutat seputar jenis sapi dan potongan steak favorit. Namun ketika seorang karnivor sejati telah menemukan wagyu BMS (Beef Marbling Standard) 12 rib eye favoritnya, what’s next? Adakah cara untuk mendapatkan rasa daging sapi yang lebih intens dan kompleks? Jawabannya adalah
dry-age.

Meski proses ini memakan waktu dan mahal (karena penyusutan berat dan proses trimming), dry-aged beef memberikan tekstur yang lebih lembut dan rasa yang luar biasa. Oleh sebab itu, tidak semua steak house menyediakan dry-aged beef. Anda ingin mencari steak house terbaik? Cari saja yang menyajikan dry-aged beef. Ketika Anda melihat daging sapi yang menggantung di dalam sebuah alat dry-age yang mirip etalase kaca, Anda tahu Anda berada di tempat yang tepat!

Proses aging pada daging sapi sebetulnya bukanlah hal baru. Daging sapi yang baru dipotong dari sapi hidup memiliki tekstur yang lebih alot, oleh sebab itu, hampir semua daging sapi mengalami proses aging selama beberapa hari. Kebanyakan proses aging dilakukan dengan cara membungkus daging dengan plastic wrap, proses ini dikenal dengan nama wet-aging. Proses ini berfungsi untuk membiarkan enzim yang ada dalam daging untuk melembutkan otot pada daging dan mengkonsentrasikan kolagen, sehingga menghasilkan aroma dan rasa daging yang lebih baik.

Jika Anda sekedar menginginkan tekstur yang lebih lembut, daging sapi mencapai kelembutan maksimum setelah proses aging selama 14 hari. Lebih dari itu, tekstur tidak banyak berubah, sementara rasa akan semakin intens karena kehilangan kadar air.

Pada proses dry-age, daging dibiarkan terekspos pada udara sehingga terjadi proses dehidrasi yang mampu mengkonsentrasikan rasa lebih jauh. Ini adalah proses yang lebih mahal, karena daging kehilangan kandungan air sehingga beratnya menyusut, dan bagian luar yang teroksidasi harus dibuang (trimming). Beberapa orang setuju bahwa proses ini memberikan rasa daging yang lebih intens, rasa nutty, dan aroma seperti blue cheese.

Mengepalai suatu organisasi berkelas nasional tentu bukan pencapaian yang bisa dipandang sebelah mata, dan hal itulah yang membuat pribadi Wilson Widjaja begitu menarik untuk dikulik. Commis Chef restoran Clay Craft milik Hotel Rennaisance yang juga menjabat sebagai ketua YCCI regional Bali ini berjumpa dengan PASSION untuk menceritakan latar belakangnya serta transisinya di dalam dan di luar dapur. Bagaimana kiprah pria yang sempat menyabet sejumlah gelar internasional prestisius di bidang memasak tersebut hingga saat ini? Yuk, kita simak bersama!

Setelah dikenal sebagai salah satu sekolah kuliner terbaik di Kelapa Gading, Maison Bleu Centre of Culinary Art akhirnya pindah ke lokasi baru dan memiliki sebuah outlet restoran bernama Bleu Alley. “Konsep kami lebih ke bistro atau brasserie, semi fine dining dengan sedikit sentuhan Asian. Bleu Alley dengan konsep Franch cuisine ini bisa dibilang melawan arus karena Kelapa Gading dikenal sebagai kawasan kuliner untuk Chinese food, Japanese food, seafood, dan bakmie, namun selalu ada yang pertama, untuk apapun itu,” jelas Hendry Ramaly Hutama, Chef Instructor sekaligus pemilik Maison Bleu.

Zomato, aplikasi pencarian informasi restoran yang telah ada di 25 negara termasuk Indonesia memasuki tahun ke-6 berbisnis di Indonesia dengan melayani 3 kota besar di Indonesia seperti Jabodetabek, Bandung & Bali. Zomato mengadakan seminar bertajuk “Foodigitalpreneur” yang didukung oleh Bank BNI. Bertempat di Glass house, The Ritz-Carlton Pacific place, SCBD, Jakarta, acara ini dihadiri lebih dari 60 orang pelaku bisnis restoran, cafe dan bar di Jakarta.

Dikenal sebagai salah satu restoran Chinese terbaik di Jakarta yang menawarkan beragam kreasi kuliner terbaru khas Kanton modern, Pearl Chinese Restaurant menunjuk Daniel Foong sebagai Executive Chinese Chef yang baru untuk restoran berkapasitas 200 orang dan 4 private dining room ini.
 
Chef Daniel membawa beberapa menu andalan baru seperti Wok-Baked Lamb Rack with Hot Bean Sauce, Baked Chillean Sea Bass with Hong Kong Peanut Sauce dan Braised Three Head Abalone with Superior Golden Broth. Beberapa ciri khas Daniel adalah metode masak tradisional dengan presentasi modern seperti yang terlihat pada Pan-Fried Foei Gras with Peking Duck and Crispy Beancurd Sheet, Sauteed Lobster with Crab Roe Paste serta Wok-Baked Pork Ribs with Five Spice Vinegar Sauce.

Sana Sini Restaurant selalu memberikan alasan untuk kembali lagi melalui berbagai inovasinya. Pada 18-31 Maret 2019, Sana Sini mempersembahkan kolaborasi spesial bersama selebriti Chef Indonesia dan ice cream artisan: Yuda Bustara, Kevindra Soemantri, Arimbi Nimpuno, Gupta Sitorus, dan Primo Rizky.
 
Seperti biasa, Sana Sini selalu memberikan pilihan makanan yang begitu beragam, mulai dari Yuda Bustara yang menyajikan hidangan khas Bali seperti Kerang Bakar Jimbaran dan Bebek Bali Sambal Bajak, Arimbi Nimpuno dengan sajian khas Betawi seperti Semur Betawi, Kevindra dengan menu western seperti Herbs Butter Roasted Chicken dan Caprese Salad. Tentu saja, Gupta dan Primo ikut memberikan sentuhan rasa es krim yang unik, seperti Tempe Kecap dan Salted Egg.

Institut Prancis di Indonesia (IFI) dan Kedutaan Besar Prancis di Indonesia bekerja sama dengan Badan Pariwisata Prancis Atout France menggelar rangkaian acara festival internasional gastronomi Prancis Good France secara serentak pada 21 Maret 2019 di Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bali dan Manado. Pada 2019, Provence akan menjadi tujuan wisata gastronomi dunia. Itulah mengapa masakan Provence menjadi tema Goût de France tahun ini.

Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta menyambut Chef Tacky Zheng yang menyajikan hidangan Fujian otentiknya di Jia pada tanggal 6 – 10 Maret 2019. Chef Zheng menyambut para tamu untuk mendapatkan pengalaman kuliner seperti terbang langsung ke provinsi Fujian melalui berbagai kreasi hidangan yang lezat dan unik.

Chef Zeng telah menguasai teknik memasak hidangan Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, salah satu hidangan khas Fujian, bersama dengan Chef Xinrui Yao yang kini telah menjadi salah satu signaturenya. Nama hidangan tersebut menyiratkan tentang Sang Buddha suci yang berani melompati tembok hanya untuk menyantap hidangan khas Fujian yang lezat ini. Beberapa hidangan lain yang disajikan Chef Zheng adalah Marinated Shredded Bamboo Shoots, Deep-Fried Prawn with Chinese Tea, Ten Spice Pork Ribs, Fuzhou Fried Rice dan Putien Noodles.

The story of closed-down business because of the disputes among the owners are classic stories that has happened, and will always happen. However, for seasoned businessmen, there are things you can do to prevent, to minimizing the impact of this dispute. Here are some tips to build healthy partnership from Chef Rahmat Kusnedi, The President of Indonesia Pastry Alliance (IPA).

What are the things we need to consider before making a partnership agreement?

Since the beginning, you need to understand your own character and your future partner’, and then look for complementary figure. Let say you’re an aggressive, dominant person, you’d better find calmer partner. If you’re fire, look for the water, vice versa.

In addition, everyone should understand business consequences. It’s a bit difficult for those with worker attitude. Let say, a 5 star hotel chef who demands certain brand of expensive butter, or 3 sous chefs, might need to compromise when he builds his own business.

What’s commonly happening is, investor without F&B background persuades a great chef to open a new restaurant together and expect BEP within short time. We need to do some feasibility study beforehand, estimates the business calculation for the first year, second, and so on.

Most people only think about proft, but they weren’t prepared to deal with loss. Those who work in the F&B business for years will know that it’s not an instant business, you can’t suddenly change taste preference. Business is built with blood, sweat and tears. If you see new brand with sudden, rapid growth, they’ll be bleeding for quite a while.

So, big number of outlets doesn’t mean big profit?

Not necessarily. I know exactly because I had some similar experience. One thing for sure, the bigger the investment, the bigger the expense, and the BEP will be longer. For F&B, usually BEP is reached in 5 years, having one in 2 years is a rare case. Especially for chain brands, they think long term. Investor without F& background will be surprised with the actual BEP length, moreover, for those who are used to trading stocks.

Most partnerships come from friendship, then, how important is the legal agreement?

Crucial, I’d say, it’s the main thing. When it comes to business, there’s a saying “business is business”. Don’t let money ruin your relationship. In the beginning, you need a clear agreement about the share of each investor, along with his job descriptions. If someone in charge with the operational, perhaps the other will be responsible in the back area, such as finance or HRD.

Please note, the amount of share you have not only affect your profit share, but also you responsibility when you lose money. And then, I suggest you appoint 1 major shareholder to avoid deadlock. It’s even better if you use the service of the public notary for the agreement letter, for the sake of your own legal standing.

Sometimes, it’s a bit awkward to talk about formal contract, especially with close people…

Don’t be. Let alone friends, without formal agreement, even husband and wife will have issues in the future, believe me. Of course we have some people who make partnership without legal agreement and they’re being true to their own responsibilities, but it doesn’t happen very often. When you have disputes, you’d wish to have legal standing.

Let say husband and wife has a business partnership, and then because of some reasons, they divorce, even though the business is growing. What will happen next? In legal agreement, you’ll have consequence in the face of dispute. You shouldn’t feel awkward to initiate a legal agreement, on the other hand, if your partner refuse to sign the contract, you need to be careful.

What are the most common causes for disputes?

The most common ones are impatient investors, too much bleeding, or unclear chain of command. Therefore, for business partnership, it’s best to appoint a person to be in charge for the operational, the other can supervise as commissioner. In the operational level, too much command will create confusion for staffs.

When the most influential figure leaves the partnership, usually the brand will lose its soul. Similar to a music band, when a band member dies, will it break? If it’s the vocalist who gives so much character to the music, it’s not easy tofind a replacement.

BCP & YCCI Luncheon yang di adakan di Folie Kitchen & Patisserie, Canggu, pada tanggal 23 Februari 2019. Di hadiri oleh kurang lebih 50 BCP member, mulai dari kalangan Executive Chefs, Young Chef, Suppliers hingga food enthusiast hadir di sini. Acaranya coktail, networking FnB industry, dan berdiskusi mengenai program ke depan.

As the ‘rebellious’ anti-mainstream younger brother to the widely popular Sisterfields, Sibling Espresso Bar was established to provide unique coffee and complimentary eating in smaller, yet edgier atmosphere. By shifting their focus back from creating fanciest latte art, Sibling aims to take coffee back to its root of quality brew and they put extra effort to ensure that happens.

Although incomparable in term of size to its older kin, Sibling interior design is not one to be taken lightly. The solid monochromatic black meets wood tone is a breath of fresh air amidst the era where coffee shop compete to create a more ‘vibrant’ feel through combinations of eye-catching colors. Not only the décor, Sibling also serves their coffee in exquisite custom-made jet-black, jagged cups, which will add elegant touch to every Instagram-enthusiasts who wish to take a snap before downing their caffeine fix.

The coffee blend itself are worth-noting; with strong, smooth yet rich full-bodied taste in each sip which comes from variety of quality oversea beans; from Colombia, Guatemala to Waghi Valley, full-washed and sun-dried to perfection. Compensating the coffee, there are arrays of delicious bites in form of sandwiches, simple burgers to tasty sweet dough.

One of the most recommended food menus at Sibling is called The Reuben; a fine combo of beef pastrami, Russian dressing, pickles, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese between tasty sourdough bread, thoroughly grilled golden before served. This creates a delectable mix of salty, savory and creamy that makes it so hard to stop eating after the first bite. Have this one with a cup of bold and bitter coffee for a (pleasant) extra kick to your palate. Bacon & Egg Sanga is another perfect treat for meat lovers consisting smoked bacon, fried egg, HP sauce, bacon & foie gras pate and soft white bread; a finger-licking journey of yumminess from first bite to last

For a more healthy option, Sibling also serves Pumpkin & Feta Press; a perfectly cut grilled block of Turkish bread which contains roasted pumpkin, caramelized onion, whipped feta, baby spinach,chimichurri and wholegrain aioli for a sweet and juicy mix of vegetarian goodness for your clean brunch occasion.

With selections of delectable menus and smart-stylish interior design, Kembali Bumbak is a favorable catch-up point for not only creative nomads, but travelers seeking for a pleasant dining experience as well. The venue décor is made with cozy ambience in mind; consisting of outdoor courtyard and fully AC-ed indoor area which elegantly boasts marble and wooden touch, adorned by huge glass windows to add some rustic-industrial feel.

As mentioned above, Kembali Bumbak serves all-day casual dining menu which highly focused on flavor and quality ingredients, fresh from the kitchen to your table. For a memorable brunch occasion, try their mighty Brekky Burger + Coffee combo; which tantalizingly blends a complete day-starter goodness between delicious charcoal buns; from bacon, fried egg, hash brown, cheese aioli, doused with tasty homemade BBQ sauce. Add some pulled pork for extra munch! This menu is interestingly well-paired with a cup of coffee, preferably iced cappuccino, for a balanced, unique treat between your morning and midday routine.

Clean eat lovers can embrace their ‘inner yogi’ side by ordering one of Kembali Bumbak’s most favorite healthy treat : Cauliflower Rice; a fine mix of grilled halloumi, beetroot hummus, pistachio dukkha, poached egg, horseradish cream and smoked salmon to complete the feast. It is a fine mix of fresh vegetables and delightful dressing (and optional meat); which slightly remind us to Indian curry, but minus the spicy aftertaste.

The third must-try brunch selections at Kembali Bumbak is called Chunky Avo; which is basically an open-bread goodness topped with poached egg, sprinkles of pomegranate bits, and toasted peanut; A blend of energy booster with pleasant creamy-meets-crunchy combination. The pomegranate bits add a brilliant touch of fruity flavor to simultaneously cleanse the palate with organic sweet and sour taste.

Whether alone or with friends, Kembali Bumbak is a great place for your main dining occasion, or simply to sit with a cup of quality coffee and enjoy the quintessential tropical atmosphere of Bali. Just as the name implied (‘Kembali’ means ‘Come Back’ in Bahasa Indonesia), the venue has created such fine atmosphere to draws you back with its quality food,
coffee, space and service in return.

We remember the inception of first Tanamera Coffee outlet in Thamrin by the end of 2013. Within its limited venue, one of the third wave coffee shop pioneer offered warmer, more intimate atmosphere so the guests and baristas knew each other personally. It’s a coffee shop that connects people. It didn’t take long for Tanamera Coffee to be one of the hippest hangout place, for coffee lovers, or any regular customers.

In the past 6 years, Tanamera has shown outstanding growth. Now, they already have 11 outlets in 5 cities, from its first outlet in Thamrin City, Serpong, Gandaria, Pacific Place, Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jimbaran (Bali), Phinisi Point (Makassar), Tugu (Jogjakarta), House of Sampoerna (Surabaya), Sopo Del Kuningan to their latest one that we visit in Kemang, Jakarta Selatan. It doesn’t include the 9 upcoming outlets in 2019, including in other countries like Singapore and Malaysia.

Tanamera Coffee’s story began when Dini Aryanti Criddle was inspired by Australian coffee shops that use lots of Indonesian coffee. “We’re famous as producer of coffee as commodity, it wasn’t bad, but I want us to be known as specialty coffee producer. Therefore, we want to improve our quality to meet international standard, because we have everything we need, it’s just people haven’t known it yet,” she said.

In the beginning, Tanamera sourced its bean through middle man, however, when Dini met John Lee, everything’s changed. Under John’s leadership, a Korean coffee exporter who understands Indonesian coffee’s characters, from green bean to the detailed roasting profile, currently act as Tanamera’s roaster, the coffee shop started to work together directly to the local farmers.

In 2015, Tanamera managed to win the title International Roaster in Melbourne’s International Coffee Expo, against hundreds of roasters all over the world in blind taste competition. They defend the title in 2016, and since then, Tanamera Coffee has won 44 medals (gold, silver, bronze) in International Coffee Award.

There are some compulsory menus to try here, we recommend you the Cold Brew Crew line that comes in 4 variants: Cold Brew, Cold White, Cold White Caramel and Cold White Coconut. Tangerine Coffee is a new, refreshing alternative to the coffee shop. However, if you’re seriously into coffee, you’d sit in the bar, asking the baristas for bean recommendation that will be brewed into a cup of espresso as starter.

Even though they started with coffee, pastry and some snacks, now Tanamera Coffee has become some sort of full-fledged restaurant offering western main courses, along with some local favorites. Some favorite brunch-inspired menus here are Roast Beef Sandwich, French Toast, Eggs Benny with Smoked Salmon Croissant, and our favorite, the tempting Bacon Mac n Cheese. With its consistency of serving Indonesian coffee, it is no wonder to have Tanamera serve some local dishes such as Nasi Goreng Hitam, Nasi Bakar Cakalang Dori Rica, and other local favorites.

With the spirit of becoming the host in our own land, especially when it comes to coffee, Tanamera Coffee is one of the first and best coffee shops that become a reference for other coffee shops. However, no matter how hard they try, we think it’s difficult to keep up with Tanamera’s coffee swift expansion pace.

After establishing his career as one of theisland’s most sought out Wedding Master of Ceremony (MC), Arnold Warembengan expands his horizon and fulfilling his talent in culinary through Arnold’s Coffee. In this edition, PASSION get to sit and talk with the charismatic gentleman himself about goals, challenge, and fine things in-between good food and career routine.

So, how did it all started? What makes you plunges into culinary business?

First of all a friend come to me and asked; ‘hey, Arnold, we got this space next to our barbershop if you want to make it into something, and I said ‘yeah, sure! Lemme think about it!’ I do like drinking coffee, but moreover I love preparing breakfast. For me, it is the most important meal of the day. I’ve been creating breakfast menus of my own; I love smoothie bowls, I love waffles, so I just try to put them out there and see if people like it.

What is the most challenging part of establishing this coffee / brunch café so far?

The most challenging part is to find my own style. Because there’s so many similar brunch or coffee place in Bali, so the challenge is how to not be like everyone else; how to stand out, how to stay true with my own brand, and how to have our own ‘voice’. I want to send message to whoever comes to Arnold’s that we are a home, comfortable, friendly space for you. I want to make it feels like you’re having breakfast at your own home.

So who’s your target market?

First of all, I want to serve our neighbor as many as possible, like, all the tourists that stay in private villas. I want to make impact in my neighborhood for before the other area in Bali.

As a professional wedding MC as well, how do you relate your current business with your main profession? And how did you maintain the balance of both?

It is who I am, being a wedding MC, and this whole new thing of coffee and breakfast place, it started out as an hobby, but then I realize that I can try to merge these two worlds. Very soon enough, I’m going to bring Arnold’s coffee brand at the wedding parties that I’m hosting. I just try to merge these two things into one, because I love to do it!

What do you want to convey to your customers through Arnold’s?

I want my customers to feel that they’re at home here. We want to be their friends, their family, to serve from the heart, really listen and care of what they want. We want to be a place that will missed them if they don’t show up, basically just to make them feel right at home.

Tell us a bit about your brunch specialties; any story behind the menus?

So, for example, my favorite brunch menu is waffle and bacon, and I’m so influenced by Southern American, they love to add bacon and maple syrup, they know how to eat, and they got big portion. When people come and see the portion here they said ‘wow, it’s so big!’, I said ‘yeah, I want to show you how to eat like Arnold!’, so, waffle is our specialties, people loved it. If you’ve ever been to American diner, there’s a lot of waffle, bacon, hash brown—it’s coming very soon here, and eggs, avocado & toast, you know, just simple breakfast that you can have any time of the day.

How about the coffee? Do you prefer to use imported or local beans?

We have decided since day one that we will use local beans, not that we don’t love imported ones, we just think that people who come from outside of Bali or Indonesia, they want to try something organic, something that originally from here, so we provide local beans for their coffee. Of course we will eventually have other choices for single origins; Guatemalan, all beans from outside Indonesia, but for now, our beans mainly comes from Bali, and we mixed it with a bit of Aceh because we love the nutty aftertaste.

Any parting words for our readers?

Dear customers; of course we want your money (laugh), but we also want to make you happy, so try our coffee, try our food, and always let us know what you need; we would love to hear from you. But, bottom line, we want you to have the best brunch-breakfast experience. Come, we want to make you happy!

Mixologis Agung Prabowo dari The Old Man Hong Kong kembali ke MO Bar di Mandarin Oriental, Jakarta untuk one-night takeover bersama Royal Brewhouse pada 27 Februari 2019. Setelah pertama kali buka pada Agustus 2017, The Old Man telah menguasai skena cocktail dengan minuman inovatif dan pendekatan uniknya pada mixology. Speakeasy yang terinspirasi dari Ernest Hemmingway ini berhasil meraih urutan ke-5 pada Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2018, dan
urutan ke-10 The World’s 50 Best Bars 2018.

Ishigamaya membawa hamburg ke Indonesia pada Februari 2019. Salah satu makanan populer di Jepang ini selalu menciptakan antrian yang panjang untuk menikmati hamburg terbaik yang dipanggang menggunakan stone oven khusus di gerai-gerai Ishigamaya di Jepang. Hamburg merupakan salah satu simbol sajian daging dan salah satu sumber energi bagi orang Jepang.

Pada 14 Februari yang lalu bertepatan dengan hari Valentine, di acara grand opening salah satu gerai UMKM, PT. Putra Chandra Sentosa selaku pemilik merk dagang Fomac & Powerpack hadir memberikan solusi tepat guna bagi para pelaku usaha di kecamatan Sukmajaya, Depok

Pada acara yang dihadiri oleh wakil ketua DPRD Depok, Ketua Kontak Tani Dan Nelayan Andalan, Ketua Lembaga Pemberdayaan Masarakat dan Ketua Asosiasi UMKM Depok dan lebih dari 100 orang pemilik dan calon pemilik usaha mikro, kecil dan menengah, Fomac & Powerpack memperkenalkan beberapa jenis mesin yang dapat digunakan langsung dalam memulai usaha kuliner rakyat.

House Foods merupakan sebuah perusahaan produsen makanan ternama yang menguasai pangsa pasar penjualan kari ala Jepang di Jepang. House Foods mulai memasuki pasar Indonesia sejak tahun 2016 dengan memperkenalkan produk unggulan mereka yaitu House Kari ala Jepang yang telah memiliki sertifikasi halal dari LPPOM MUI. Kari ala Jepang halal ini tidak hanya dipasarkan di  Indonesia saja namun juga sudah merambah ke beberapa negara tetangga seperti Singapura dan Malaysia.

Dengan restoran yang berada di 11 kota internasional, Hakkasan akhirnya membuka outlet ke-12nya di Jakarta pada 8 Februari 2019. Sebagai Hakkasan pertama di Asia Tenggara, restoran ini bertempat di pusat kesibukan Jakarta, tepatnya di lantai 25 dan 26 Alila SCBD Jakarta, berdekatan dengan Gedung Bursa Efek Jakarta dan Pacific Place.

If you said you’re a coffee roaster before 2012, most people would cringe and ask, “what’s that?” Now, coffee roaster is one of millenials’ dream job thanks to the vast growth of coffee shop trend over the past few years. We met Arief Said, one of the most influential Indonesian roaster who worked in St. Ali, Melbourne, Morph Coffee, and currently focusing on Gordi. Here’s our interview with Arief Said about the coffee subscription concept, the growth of homebrewer, to the Indonesia’s coffee trend that’s no longer stuck to the world’s trend.

Since you started Morph Coffee in 2012, how do you see the growth of coffee industry today?

Very happy! Most people think coffee market is already saturated, there’s no more place for anyone to start something now, but what most people don’t realize, is that the pie gets bigger. We’re no longer fighting for the same market as our coffee consumption grows continuously. I really think that, now is the best time to start, because the market gets bigger. Don’t get me wrong, there will always be natural selection, there’s up and down, and the industry will get mature. But we’re not there yet, we’re still developing, I even say that in 2019, we’re just getting started.

Start in 2019? What’s the base of your statement?

Just look at new players like Fore, Kopi Kenangan, they just started recently. Of course, you need to be careful and equip yourself with business plan. They might have strong capital support, but it doesn’t mean you can’t start.

I’m curious with Gordi’s coffee subscription concept, would you mind explain it a bit?

Have you ever been confused with manu coffee bean selection today? In Jakarta, there are more than 100 coffee roasters who claimed themselves as “specialty”, let alone Tangerang, Bekasi, and other nearby cities. Even for me, as someone who’s been in the industry for years, I got dizzy, what about other people out there? For beginners, it can be quite overwhelming to find “good” coffee.

It got me thinking, “what if we become the first point of contact, so we can select the good bean for our subscriber? Let us be your guiding hand, that’s the reason why I started Gordi. We’ll find good coffee beans for you and ask, “Which sort of coffee do you prefer? Fruity? Chocolatey? Deep body? Bitter?” we’re not here to judge you, we’re here to help.

On the other hand, if you’re a homebrewer and bought lot of coffee. You might not be able to finish them, because most coffee are sold in 200 gram packaging. With this coffee subscription, you don’t have to buy too much, so you won’t be burdened to finish them.

How does the coffee subscription works?

It’s similar to magazine subscription. You pay for subscription and you’ll have the magazine sent to you every month. On our subscription, you have 3 choices: Filter Package, Espresso Package, and Black Package, then we’ll send it every 2 weeks. Just like the articles in the magazine, you can’t choose which coffee you’ll get.

Actually, it’s not a new business model, it’s a true and tried concept in America, Australia, England, but it seems no one has done this in Indonesia. We’re happen to be the first one to introduce the concept here.

Please explain about those packages!

Each package comes in different size and price, starting from 100, 200, 500 to 1.00 gram. Espresso Package is designed for those who have espresso machine, meanwhile, with Filter Package, you’ll get 2 bean selections: local and international. We deliberately gave both because there are times when many people feel Indonesian beans are the best. To me, that’s blind belief, because to be the best, you have to know the competition. Have you tried beans from Ethiopia, Peru, Panama, Brazil, or Rwanda? We’ll take you to a journey to explore those flavors, taste it, and you give judgment.

The last one, Black Package consists of rare bean, expensive, or experimental. You know you’ll get quality bean, but due to the high price and limited stock, it only comes in 1 size (70-100 gram) and we send it once a month.

Does the growth of homebrewers threaten coffee shop? Or is it the other way around?

I don’t think it’s threatening. Homebrewers have their own motivation, some just need the caffeine fix, saving money, but most of them are learners. They want to dig further, they love to experiment. If you come to a coffee shop, most of
the times, people who sit in front of the bar and talking to the barista are the homebrewers. You might assume homebrewers are bunch of newbies, but they can be experts, because we have so many homebrewers who turn to be coffee shop owners, or coffee roasters.

Wait, I knew you as coffee roaster, but in Gordi, you don’t roast your own bean?

In the beginning, I was a roaster. But I no longer felt the excitement in retail market, and I decided not to do the roasting in Gordi’s formative years. It doesn’t mean I won’t roast anymore, because actually, I miss to experiment and try to bring the potency of the growing number of coffee bean selection.

After we have 2 outlets, we started roasting just to meet the demand of our internal house blend, and some special requests from customers. However, Gordi will stick to the first pillar of the brand, curating coffee. Therefore, we’ll prioritize customer’s needs and coffee journey.

Why did you finally decide to be a coffee curator?

I want to help people in their coffee journey. Some have just started and they need guiding hands on their adventure in this dark world. Some are more experienced, but they don’t have the time to try and look for any variants of coffee from roasters. Some are well situated with their knowledge, but they just need the convenience of having coffee supply for their consumption. Business-wise, we can target the larger retail audience.

Why did you say retail (homebrewer) market is bigger? Why don’t you keep being a coffee roaster?

When I started Gordi, I have no idea about the homebrewer’s market size. However, I can relate to them because I started my coffee journey by brewing my own coffee at home and offer it to friends who came over. Based on my experience,
homebrewers will be the early adopter in the industry. They are the market movers who finally make the coffee industry as it is now.

I feel… homebrewers are very passionate people. They’re willing to leave their career to be a coffee roaster, open a coffee shop, and they all started as homebrewers. The vibe is very positive! And it attracts like-minded people from coffee communities in a very positive way. They’re the ones who come to One Fifteenth, Tanamera in the early years, then they built their own coffee shops. But as you can see now, the mass market finally follows these small communities.

Back then, coffee shops only offers snacks and pastry products, now, everyone is offering main course, what do you say?

In the end, I guess it’s just business choice from the owners. Of course everyone want be sustainable, right? How many cups of coffee you can drink per day? Not everyone drinks more than 5 cups a day, but if we assume everyone has 2-3 cups, probably a coffee shop will have the 1-2 cup share and some snacks in a visit. Thanks to the heavy traffic, people who visit a coffee shop expect to do anything in one place, from having a cup of coffee, lunch, meeting, etc.

Some people regard coffee shops that sell main course as selling out, changing from its initial concept. Back to the beginning, can your business model be sustainable just by selling coffee? If yes, why not?

In your opinion, what’s the next coffee trend? Especially when we compare it with the world’s trend?

Honestly, in some ways, I feel that we’re ahead, from the quality of the barista, to the quality of coffee in the cafes. Put it this way, if you come to 5 random coffee shops, you might have 4 good ones in Melbourne, 3 in Jakarta, but in Perth, you might only got 2.

Another example, La Marzocco in Indonesia is like a standard for a coffee shop. Out there, they would think, “is using La Marzocco a wise business decision?” When La Marzocco Leva just came out, we only have 90 units all over the world, but we have around 10 in Indonesia, that’s huge man! Imagine, from hundreds of countries, we have 10 out of 90 units.

What  I’m trying to say is, we’re not that far behind, all the new technology in the world, will already be here within 2 months. If you ask me, “what’s next”, perhaps it is time to ignore the world’s trend and see our own unique domestic market.

Our own market, what do you mean?

Iced coffee milk, that’s a very local product. You may find iced coffee all over the world, but they have winter. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, we have 365 days of summer. It’s very make sense to create iced coffee milk. Moreover, most people
still love sweet taste in their drink. Another contributing factor of the iced coffee milk trend’s success is the affordability. I think in the future, there will always be market who demand that product, and there will always be new customers who switched from instant coffee, or non coffee drinker, into fans of iced coffee milk.

When you see the upstream, you’ll find the coffee price “C futures” in NASDAQ. It’s the lowest coffee price as commodity in the past 10 years. But in Indonesia, the price is keep escalating each year because of over demand. In addition, many of our local farmers end their export contract and decided to supply the local demand. As a result, Indonesian coffee became of the most expensive bean in our own domestic market.

At the moment, you can get green bean Brazillian coffee for Rp 70.000/kg, meanwhile the bean from West Java with similar quality costs you Rp 100.000. Imagine, the difference is 30%...from Brazil, to Singapore, then to Jakarta, but it’s cheaper than the ones that was shipped from Bandung to Jakarta. It’s an amazing thing or local farmers. However, I guess there will market correction in the next few years.

Bertempat di restoran Gourmet Garage; yang berfungsi sebagai ruang pameran bagi Perusahaan Distributor Makanan Lotus Enterprises, acara eksklusif ini dihadiri oleh 30+ anggota dari berbagai tempat kuliner bergengsi di seluruh Bali dan sekitarnya. Acara ini bertujuan untuk berbagi pengetahuan tentang proses ‘Dry-Aging’ dan pentingnya sumber bahan dasar yang baik.

Seminar pertama tentang Tokusen Wagyu dipandu oleh bapak Sugiman selaku Kepala Penjualan & Pemasaran JAPFA; salah satu perusahaan agri-pangan terbesar di Indonesia yang telah memproduksi protein hewani yang penting selama lebih dari tiga dekade. Tokusen adalah salah satu merek daging premium mereka yang menitikberatkan pada produksi wagyu berkualitas dari sapi lokal Indonesia. Tidak hanya besar dalam ukuran pertanian, teknologi canggih di balik proses perawatan dan produksi mereka sangat mengesankan, karena faktanya tidak banyak peternakan di dunia yang mampu menghasilkan wagyu berkualitas premium. Pasokan sangat penting, dan Pak Sugiman menjelaskan bahwa Tokusen dapat memproduksi dan mengirimkan produksi merekanya langsung ke semua pelanggan melalui sistem pengiriman yang terintegrasi.

Bagian kedua dari seminar ini kemudian membahas perihal proses pengawetan daging ‘dry-aging’ yang disokong oleh Dry Ager; brand lemari dan kabinet ‘dry-aging’ prestisius. Dipandu oleh Kepala R&D kuliner Lotus, Chef Geoffrey, beliau menjelaskan tentang proses yang berasal dari Eropa ini, keunggulannya, aturan praktis, hingga sejumlah tips untuk menentukan kondisi daging. Setelah mendengarkan penjelasannya yang menyeluruh, proses dry-aging bisa diibaratkan seperti meniupkan nafas kehidupan kembali pada daging lewat citarasa dan tampilan mereka

Dry Ager sendiri memiliki beberapa fitur yang sudah dipatenkan, seperti temperature konstan ( dari 0o C hingga +25o C) yang diatur dalam satuan 0,1o C.Dry Ager juga mampu mengatur tingkat kelembapan udara dalam satuan 0,5% mulai dari 60% hingga 90% berkat HumiControl ®. Lalu alat ini juga sanggup memberikan microclimate konstan, meski dengan fluktuasi dari temperatur lingkungan sekitar, berkat sistem DX AirReg® yang terintegrasi.

Dari sekian banyak ragam bumbu masak di penjuru dunia, Saffron bisa disebut sebagai salah satu yang paling eksklusif dalam hal penggunaan. Betapa tidak, rempah yang berasal dari putik bunga ini dipatok dengan harga luar biasa mahal yang
mencapai belasan hingga ratusan juta tergantung beratnya. Wow! Lalu apa saja kelebihannya?

Kata ‘Saffron’ berasal dari bahasa Persia, ‘zarparan’ yang berarti ‘bunga berkelopak emas’. Ya, bumbu rempah ini memang berasal dari benang sari bunga Crocus Sativus yang merupakan genus keluarga bunga Iridaceae. Yunani merupakan negara yang pertama kali membudidayakan bunga Crocus sebagai penghasil saffron.

Saffron menjadi amat digemari karena aromanya yang khas dan nikmat yang seringkali dideskripsikan sebagai campuran madu, metalik dan rumput kering. Jika digunakan agak banyak, maka akan ada citarasa pahit yang unik di masakan yang mengandung saffron; yang berasal dari sejumlah bahan kimia alami yang terkandung di dalamnya, seperti picrocrocin dan safranal. Ketika menjadi bumbu siap pakai, saffron biasanya berbentuk suwiran panjang-tipis dengan warna merah kekuningan yang menyala.

Lalu apa yang membuat saffron menjadi  begitu mahal? Seperti yang sudah disinggung di atas, bahan dasar utama saffron adalah putik bunga Crocus. Tiap bunga Crocus hanya menghasilkan tiga lembar putik, dan bunga tersebut hanya akan mekar selama tiga minggu sekali dalam kurun waktu satu tahun. Untuk menghasilkan 450 gram Saffron saja, dibutuhkan sekitar 50 – 70 ribu bunga Crocus yang semuanya dikumpulkan secara manual dengan tangan, atau setara dengan ukuran lapangan sepakbola. Melihat fakta tersebut, maka tak heran saffron menjadi salah satu bahan masakan dengan banderol paling ‘wah’ di dunia bukan?

Anchor Food Professionals (AFP), bisnis foodservice dari Fonterra Brands Indonesia, menggelar Anchor Chef Competition 2019 yang diadakan pada 21 Februari 2019 di Taman Bhagawan, Bali. Kompetisi ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan talenta para Chef dan potensi kuliner Indonesia, khususnya di pulau Bali dengan menyajikan resep dan hidangan terbaik menggunakan produk olahan susu dari AFP. Anchor Chef Competition 2019 merupakan bentuk komitmen AFP dalam meningkatkan inovasi pada industri makanan dan minuman di Indonesia.

Brian Juan, Marketing Manager, PT Fonterra Brands Indonesia, mengatakan, “Kami memilih Bali menjadi salah satu area fokus AFP karena memiliki potensi kuliner yang sangat menjanjikan, termasuk sajian berbasis produk olahan susu dan komunitas Chef yang kuat. Hal ini semakin diperkuat oleh pernyataan dari Kementerian Pariwisata Republik Indonesia pada tahun 2018 lalu, yang telah menetapkan Bali
sebagai salah satu destinasi kuliner Indonesia.”

The inception of One Fifteenth Coffee on June 2012 was probably the most important event in Indonesia’s history of specialty coffee industry. Even though not the first (Anomali Coffee started in 2007), many people regard One Fifteenth as the

ground zero for the third wave coffee trend. Lot of things happened here, from the arrival of the first La Marzocco Strada in Indonesia, and One Fifteenth Head Barista (Doddy Samsura) who won the Indonesia Barista Championship and became the first person to represent Indonesia to compete in World Barista Championships, and many more.

In 2016, the coffee shop whose name was inspired by the ratio of coffee to water that was considered as the golden ratio (1:15) made big change in their food concept. “One Fifteenth started as passion project. Back then, we have many coffee shops that served quality coffee, but the food was nothing special, we had to fix that. We also saw our competitors were serving main courses like restaurants, we decided to do the same thing,” explained Aldwin Hendradi, one of One Fifteenth partners in Menteng outlet.

One Fifteenth Coffee’s decision was based on logical consideration. “People drink coffee in the morning and late afternoon, meanwhile the afternoon and evening to be a bit slower. If we have main course menus, the place will be busy all day, that’s our initial idea. When we see that our place always busy, we knew it worked, so we began to focus on this new concept,” Aldwin added.

Until today, One Fifteenth already has 5 outlets, in Gandaria, Menteng, Kemang, Musem Macan, and Parachute (Canggu, Bali). “For us, Jakarta is big enough market for us to have 10-15 outlets. This year, we’re looking for new locations in North Jakarta and South Jakarta, but for the long term, we want One Fifteenth to have, at least 2 outlets in every region in Jakarta,” he said.

Coffee & Western Brunch

When we referred it as ground zero, I don’t think we need to discuss much further about One Fifteenth’s coffee quality which was supplied by Morph Coffee (roaster). Fruity, full of flavor, sweet, was the signature notes from One Fifteenth’s house blend that consists of bean from Sumatera, Dolok Sanggul and Arum Manis.

Please note that manual brew coffee lovers are recommended to visit One Fifteenth’s Gandaria or Kemang outlet. “In here (Menteng) we don’t serve manual brew because the place was smaller and it’s quite busy. Serving manual brew coffee takes quite a while, and we don’t want customers to wait too long. The only manual brew coffee we serve here is the batch brew,” explained Aldwin.

We prefer to discuss about the food in One Fifteenth Coffee which revolves around western brunch menus with strong French influence. Our recommendation? You’ll never go wrong with Avocado Toast (avocado guacamole, soft boiled egg, whipped garlic sauce, sourdough). The portion is large enough to fill your tummy, but it also has very refreshing taste so you can still enjoy it even though you just finished other dish.

If  you want something that’s very “brunch”, Breakfast Muffin (housemade pork patty, sunny side up, avocado mayo, English muffin) is pretty “safe” choice. On the other side, One Fifteenth also offers the more explorative Middle East menus such as Shakshuka (merguez sausage, goat cheese, baked eggs and flat bread).

Of course, pasta is like a mandatory menu in a coffee shop, and One Fifteenth recommends Salmon Spaghetti (house made cured salmon, creamy dill sauce, grated parmesan cheese). For dessert, Ricota Waffle (crème fraiche and berries sauce) with the Italian cheese, Ricotta, is a middle ground for those who want to try new thing while still being in the comfort zone.

One of the plot twist in One Fifteenth is the existence of traditional menus such as Tekwan, Mie Celor, and Pempek which were family secret recipes. Believe it or not, the menus has its own cult. You’ll see some customers who come just to  buy their pempek for takeaway, in frozen state.

As opposed to its competitors, One Fifteenth deliberately bringing different interior concepts in each of its outlets. “Our idea was the design of the outlet is based on the space and the neighborhood. We even have some special menus that are only available in certain outlets, for example, Chicken Burger that’s only available in Museum Macan outlet, or the French Onion Soup in Gandaria outlet,” Aldwin added.

As one of the first and the best third wave coffee shops, everything that One Fifteenth do will be the benchmark for other coffee shops. When coffee shop such as One Fifteenth wasn’t hesitating to serve local menus such as tekwan, mie celor and pempek, it’s safe for us to say that in the future, Indonesia will have its own unique coffee shop trend.

If coffee competition is Olympic, there’s a high chance that Common Grounds will come out as victor. It took lots of time, effort, and money to win a competition, and not all coffee shops are willing to walk the extra miles by investing on people like what Common Grounds do. 

Common Grounds has produced many champions, started from Yoshua Tanu, Indonesia Barista Championship (IBC) 2014, 2016, 2017, Iwan Setiawan, Indonesia Latte Art Championship (ILAC) 2014, Yessylia Violin, Indonesia Cup Tasters Championship (ICTC) 2018, Hiro Lesmana, Indonesia Brewers Cup (IBRC) 2018. To sum it up, Common Grounds managed to have 4 IBRC champions, 5 ILAC champions, 1 IBRC champion, and 1 ICTC champion, not including the runner ups and second runner-ups.

We’ve prepared the title of the article, even before we came to Common Grounds Citywalk for the coverage, but on February 24th 2019, Mikael Jasin, Coffee Quality and Marketing Manager of Common Grounds Group won the 2019’s Indonesia Barista Championship. Of course, competition is one thing, but for us customers, what does it mean to be a champion? “It shows our commitment to specialty coffee and products, the name House of Champions is the reflection of the thing,” answered Mikael.

In addition, the beans used in competitions are usually available for Common Grounds customers. In here, they have 3 categories. “Tier 1 is the regular local coffee, it’s not because they weren’t good, it’s just we can directly source the bean from the farmer so we get very competitive price. Tier 2 is the regular imported coffee that you can find in other coffee shops. Tier 3 is our highest grade coffee, mostly used for competition, from winning an auction, or the bean that we distribute exclusively. For example, the Finca Deborah (boutique Panama Geisha bean) that we have used over the past 4 years. We distribute the bean exclusively in South East Asia, we also have good relationship with the farmers there,” said Mikael.

“With  Rp 90.000 per cup of tier 3 coffee, I guess the price is still accessible to most people. We even have our online store that offers the special coffee bean in small packaging (50-100 gram) to cater customers’ demands,” he added.

Many customers associate Common Grounds coffee as bright and fruity, but how does Mikael explain Common Grounds’ coffee characteristic in general? “When we roast the bean, we always try to find balance and well developed taste. Some roasters love to roast very light or dark, we’re trying the middle ground, for certain coffee bean, that’s like our holy grail. We often buy bean from Brazil, Burundi, Uganda, or Rwanda that have different characters, but it seems that our customers prefer the bright and fruity ones. We’re trying to educate customers on different things, but in the end, we need to listen to the customers, don’t we?” said Mikael.

Australian Brunch

Let’s admit it, the brunch and coffee concept that’s become lifestyle lately, didn’t originate from Indonesia. If there’s a place that’s often used as standard for both items, there’s a good chance that it’s Australia, Melbourne to be exact. No wonder, many leading coffee shops in Indonesia were found by Indonesians who went to college in the world’s coffee capital. Typical Australian brunch involves products such as egg, avocado, and smoked salmon.

St. Ali and Sensory Lab also gave heavy Australian influence, both are Australian franchise brand managed by Common Grounds Group. Mikael explained a bit about the difference among these brands. “Common Grounds is very coffee heavy, of course we have brunch menu as complement. St. Ali targets the expatriated, it happens to be located near Australian Embassy. St. Ali has a very Australian food and atmosphere. Sensory Lab is actually St. Ali’s brand of coffee roaster, but here, Sensory Lab has simple concept, straight up coffee and food,” said Mikael.

“Our passion is not limited to specialty coffee, but also for other specialty products. Let say, for smoked salmon, we’re taking it seriously, we use the best ones we can find as appreciation for specialty product,” said Mikael. Even though they’re operating until evening, Common Grounds refuses to offer dinner menus. “We’ll keep doing what we’re good at and let others to make dinner menus. We don’t want to be in an area that’s outside our expertise.”

If you want very “Australian brunch” menus, you may choose Eggs Norwegian (poached eggs, smoked salmon, hollandaise on sourdough), Smashed Avocados (poached eggs, pesto, feta cheese on sourdough), or Maple Glazed Bacon (scrambled eggs, garlic butter baguette). Of course, Gourmet Beef Burger will always be a safe choice, but when you’re curious about what will happen when you mix Mexican food with rendang, then pick the more adventurous Huevos Rancheros con Rendang (baked eggs, tomato reduction, Mexican rice). For dessert, Common Grounds recommends Buttermilk Waffles(berry coulis, salted caramel, honeycomb , pretzel, homemade peanut butter ice cream).

Until today, Common Grounds already had 7 outlets spread across Indonesia: 3 outlets in Jakarta (Citywalk, Neo Soho, Pondok Indah Mall 2), 2 outlets in Surabaya (Galaxy Mall dan Pakuwon Mall), and one outlet, each in Bandung and Palembang.

Common Grounds success in coffee competitions shows their commitment in investing on people and quality coffee. Directly, the champions will channel the energy to the customers through standard of quality, not only for coffee, also for other products. So, if you think winning a competition has nothing to do with the quality of a coffee shop, come to one of 7 Common Grounds’ outlets and see it for yourself.

Raffles Patisserie dibuka pada Februari 2019 untuk menawarkan berbagai produk pastry, cake, dan dessert klasik. Raffles Patisserie adalah kotak perhiasan modern yang diisi dengan sweet treasure yang menanti untuk Anda temukan. Terletak di lantai 1 Lotte Shopping Avenue, dan bagian dari Raffles Jakarta, Raffles Patisserie mengajak Anda untuk melakukan perjalanan manis melalui produkproduk cake, éclair, macaroon, praline, roti-roti homemade, hingga es krim, cokelat, selai, permen, dan makanan lokal lainnya.

Becca’s Bakehouse is one of our favorite kinds of café. They specialize in one product, offers some variants, and build everything else around it. For a café, mastering croissant is huge. It’s one of the most versatile menu, you can put sweet topping or filling and serve it as dessert, make savory croissant sandwich, or just serve the plain croissant along with a cup of coffee.

Becca’s Bakehouse has a humble beginning that we can all relate to. The couple James Omar Iskandar and Esther started making croissant in 2016 and selling it door to door to cafes around Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK). After some satisfied number of coffee shops, Becca’s Bakehouse then opened its own small, takeaway outlet in their house’s garage. In 2017, Becca’s Bakehouse finally became a proper café and always filled with customers, even in weekdays’ slow hours.

And like any other croissant maker’s success stories, the owner of Becca’s Bakehouse has education background from abroad. James even worked in New York’s Eric Kayser and Laduree. “There are various croissant styles, the rather chewy ones like in America, but there’s also the soft and fluffy croissant like ours. But we always try to use the most authentic ingredients, not just high quality ingredients, but the best ones,” James explained.

You can tell Becca’s Bakehouse commitment to the highest quality not just in their croissants. The last time we visited the place, a few months ago, we spotted La Marzocco Strada (espresso machine) that’s like a standard for a proper coffee shop in Jakarta. However, now we saw Slayer that’s doubled in price (please refer to Google for the price list, feel free to be surprised).

Of course, using expensive machine is not guarantee for quality coffee. But after tasting their coffee for several times, we’re confident to say that the quality is as good as, if not better, than most coffee shops. We tried their Bali Kintamani bean with full washed processing, it has the distinct, bright, orange note, very refreshing! James started to get serious into coffee when the production and the sales in Becca’s Bakehouse was stable, but now, he even roast his own bean! It’s a remarkable thing, especially for a bakehouse which focuses on croissant products.

James gave us a tip to pair coffee with croissant. “As croissant pairing, you need to have bold tasting coffee so it won’t be dominated by the croissant’s aroma. By bold, I mean it can be very bitter, or acid, but one thing for sure, it can’t be too milky,” he said.

Like usual, we always recommend you to start with plain croissant to know what their taste profile really all about. In fact, it’s our personal favorite croissant in Jakarta, therefore, you can’t go wrong with any variants you order here. Howevern, the place has some best sellers, such as Truffle Cheese, Salted Eggyolk, Ovomaltin, Cinnamon Bun, and their croissant sandwich lines such as Mushroom Egg, Smoked Salmon and Chicken Pesto Cheese.

Our expectation wasn’t too high, as they are croissant specialist, but when we tried their Chicken Cheese Pesto, we felt that they know exactly what they’re doing, especially with the tender, juicy chicken. As one of the most popular meat, it’s surprisingly easy to overcook chicken, it resulted in stringy and rubbery meat. But here, they understand the proper way of serving chicken, especially when you mix the very aromatic pesto sauce. It’s clearly our favorite croissant sandwich menu here!

We can safely say that Becca’s Bakehouse has pretty high standard for their products, from croissant to coffee. And it seems that their customers agree with us, it’s kind of difficult to secure a seat, especially in weekend’s busy hours. James and Esther realize it, and they’re in the process of renovating the place to expand their seating capacity. Until the renovation is finished, there’s a good chance that you’ll have to queue a bit, especially in weekend. But we dare to say that, it’s all worth it!

Seperti anak orang terkenal lainnya, Xena Sawitri tentu mendapatkan berbagai macam privilege yang belum tentu bisa didapatkan semua orang. Namun, tentu ada sisi negatif dari privilege semacam ini, ia selalu berada di bawah bayang-bayang Ibunya, Chef Ucu Sawitri. Simak pembicaraan kami dengan Xena soal caranya menangani hal tersebut, cita-citanya, hingga alasan kepergian Wakil Presiden YCCI ini ke Bali.

Bagaimana rasanya berkarir di bidang yang sama dengan orang tua Anda?

Saya bersyukur sekali bisa mendapatkan privilege seperti networking sehingga bisa mengenal banyak orang. Ibu saya tentu sangat berpengaruh pada karir saya. Meski kemanapun saya pergi, orang selalu menanyakan Ibu, namun saya tidak mau terus dibawah bayang-bayangnya. Saya ingin memiliki branding sendiri. 

Menurut Anda, apa pengaruh terbesar dari Ibu Anda?

Mengenalkan saya ke orang-orang di industri ini, sehingga saya tahu apa saja yang mereka kerjakan. Saya jadi memahami dunia pastry tidak hanya sebatas hotel, cake shop, atau mengerjakan pesanan hingga ribuan pax. Namun, jika Ibu saya lebih fokus pada pastry art dan showpiece, saya lebih suka membuat produk pastry yang bisa dimakan.

Apakah Anda sejak kecil dibimbing untuk mendalami dunia pastry oleh Ibu Anda?

Dari kecil saya sering membantu Ibu di dapur. Setelah lulus SMP, sebetulnya saya ingin menjadi seorang dokter hewan, tidak terpikir sama sekali untuk bekerja di dapur. Namun ketika melihat workshop Ibu, saya mulai berpikir, “barang-barang ini mau ditaruh mana jika ia sudah tua nanti?” Dari situ saya memutuskan untuk meneruskan ke SMK jurusan Pastry, selain karena prospek ke depannya cukup baik, saya juga senang melakukannya, Ibu saya tidak pernah memaksa saya untuk mengikuti jejaknya.

Hario has been known as King of Glass, a producer of laboratory glassware since 1921. However, F&B world knew Hario as the inventor of V60, the most popular pourover tool that’s became the icon of third wave coffee inspired by the natural V shape with 60o angle, in other words Y=X2. Do you understand? Since we’re not a physics nor history handbook, let’s just leave those boring facts and discuss about their new exciting project, Hario Café with the concept of drink, eat, shop located in Pluit, North Jakarta.

Indonesia had the honor as the first country to have Hario Café outside Japan on May 2018, after the first Hario Café was established in Nihonbashi, Tokyo on March 2018. Similar Hario concept has already been here in Indonesia through Hario Coffee Factory on 2016 in Aeon Mall, BSD. As opposed to Hario Coffee Factory, Hario Café offers full course menu from appetizer to dessert on larger place.

Drink, Eat, Shop

Of course, Hario Café offers espresso based coffee, but it’s raison d’etre is definitely to introduce the manual brew coffee with various brewing methods and 3 choices of bean that represent distinctive notes of specialty coffee. Wide bar area is encouraging you interact with the barista to learn how to use Hario’s manual brew tools, from V60, syphon, cold drip, cold brew, or French press.

The limited bean selections are actually very helpful for customers who just started to appreciate coffee, or learning to be a homebrewer. In addition, since opened its door on May 2018, they didn’t change any of these bean selection. Hario Café offers bean from Bali with citrusy, lime, clean notes with sweet aftertaste, Aceh Gayo with green apple, berries, and chocolate notes, and Ethiopia with chamomile, white tea, berry, raspberry, and pink grapefruit notes.

Similar to coffee, Hario also has wide range of tea selections served in manual brew methods such as tea dripper, tea pot, and cold brew tea. Those who don’t like coffee might enjoy their tea selection, from Green Tea, Soothing Chamomile, Lavish Mango, Rose Garden, Summer Bloom and Berry Heaven. Whichever tea you choose, we recommend you to start with the refreshing and enjoyable cold brew method.

The food in Hario Café is more to all day dining concept, because, let’s be honest here, most Indonesians aren’t too picky about which food they have on certain time, right? I mean, we can eat rice all day! For main course, Soy Marinade Salmon (pomme puree, tapioca crackers, tamago and cream spinach) and Crispy Pork Belly Bowl (garlic butter rice/spaghetti, traditional Balinese sambal, soft boiled egg, curry leaves) are the customers’ favorites here.

One of the must try item here is their delicate, milky, soft serve ice cream that comes with seasonal taste. For dessert, the recommendations are Maple French Toast: caramelized banana, crunch almond, butterscotch, strawberry, and seasonal soft serve ice cream, and Fried Banana Bread with Melaka syrup, chocolate sauce and soft serve ice cream.

As opposed to other cafes that focus on coffee, Hario Café is dead serious with their food. Chef Jemmy Nugroho is responsible for the food menus here with his experience of working in St. Regis Hotel & Resort Bali and Vila d’Amelia in Italy. Chef Jemmy is bringing the contemporary food experience with some Japanese twist that’s shown in menus such as Beef Yakiniku Bao, Dashi Pasta, and Soy Marinade Salmon.

Hario Café is a great destination for hangout to enjoy coffee, food, or learn and ask all about manual brewing method. Just start with the basic, such as hand grinder, V60, paper filter, and kettle to brew your own coffee at home. After that, don’t blame us if you started thinking about running your own coffee shop, or becoming a coffee roaster perhaps? It happens all the time.

Jakarta, March 2019 – Yoshi Izakaya, the Japanese restaurant at Gran Melia Jakarta will now present a specialty tantalizing menu of Yoshi’s Spring Teppanyaki. Freshly sourced and authentically prepared with our highly skilled chef, our spring teppanyaki is skillfully prepared before your eyes at the grilled tableside. The pleasure of teppanyaki is originally created to interact with the chef while he enhances the rich flavors of premium beef, fresh seafood, as well as seasonal vegetables.

This typical style of Japanese cuisine is derived from the word teppan which means iron plate, and yaki which means grilled, broiled or pan-fried. Using this technique, Chef Tomoaki Ito and team will bring the well-seasoned selection of meats and tasty assorted vegetables. Using only high-quality fresh ingredients, guest can choose combination 4 in 1 plate of meat such as Australian wagyu sirloin, US sirloin or tenderloin as well as chicken with additional options of side dishes. All the teppanyaki sets are served with delicious choices of tempura or sashimi, chawan mushi, small garden salad, steamed rice, miso soup and pickles. Equipped with two teppanyaki semi private dining areas and the combination of elegant atmosphere with wood elements interior, this exceptional culinary journey will also be featuring a koto player – an authentic Japanese music instrument. The spring teppanyaki is available starting on March 18th – April 14th 2019 starting from for IDR 1,170,000++

For booking and reservation, please call (021) 526 8080 ext. 2337/2338

“Who makes a trend?” that’s question of all the industry’s players. Big companies is probably an answer that makes most sense, but in local pastry scene, one of the most influential ones are the graduates from abroad pastry schools who returned to Indonesia to build their own business. Jakarta has Social House, La Maison, and in this issue, Charins, are few of the good examples that succeed in introducing the French style pastry. Meanwhile, Bandung has Ambrogio and Sucre Patissier.

Sucre (French word for sugar) is a pastry shop built by Gitta Angelina, a Le Cordon Bleu, Sidney graduate with French style pastry concept. Gitta came from a family (mother and grandmother) who loves to make cakes, they don’t hesitate to give full support for Gitta to start her own pastry business.

Sucre Patissier offers various French pastries such as gateaux, croissant, macaron, brownies, cookies and custom cakes (individual and wedding), however chiffon is Sucre’s signature product. Of course, you need to do some recipe modifications to suit the French pastry to local taste.

Sucre Patisser’s products has their own target market. “For chiffons and old school sponge cakes, we aim for customers from 30-50 with less sweet and familiar taste for their palate, thus, they buy them for daily consumption or as gifts as they’re so affordable. Meanwhile, gateaux and croissants are designed for younger audience who appreciate unique, updated taste. So we can tell that we have different market segments,” explained Gitta.

The growth of coffee shop scene also helps Sucre Patissier’s business. As we all know, the hangout lifestyle is already part of nowadays life. And when you hangout, croissant and cake are coffee’s best friends. “We realize the need, so we expand our business by working together with some leading coffee shops in Bandung. If you visit any Bandung coffee shops, there’s a good chance that you’ll find our products there,” said Gitta.

With its strong French root, Sucre Patissier doesn’t ignore the current trend. “For example, Indomie was very viral and trending, so we created Indomie croissant that was happening, it’s very significant for us. However, we will never level down our quality just to get very cheap selling price. No worry, our price is very affordable if you compare it to competitors’ cake shops. So, why not buy the best tasting, affordable cake?” said Gitta.

The  presence of new pastry shop like Sucre Patissier affects Bandung’s pastry scene significantly as previously it was dominated by gift shops. With Sucre’s success in Bandung, Gitta is planning to open a new outlet in Jakarta within 2 years with proper preparations and target market that’ss hungry for new changes.

Jakarta, 14 Maret 2019 – Zomato, Aplikasi pencarian informasi restoran yang telah ada di 25 negara termasuk Indonesia. Memasuki tahun ke 6 berbisnis di Indonesia dengan melayani 3 kota besar di Indonesia seperti Jabodetabek, Bandung & Bali, Zomato mengadakan seminar bertajuk “Foodigitalpreneur” yang didukung oleh Bank BNI. Bertempat di Glass house, The Ritz-Carlton Pacific place, SCBD, Jakarta, acara ini dihadiri lebih dari 60 orang pelaku bisnis restoran, cafe dan bar di
Jakarta.

“Acara hari ini merupakan bentuk kontribusi Zomato kepada para pelaku usaha bisnis FnB di Jakarta. Dengan harapan acara ini dapat memberikan ide-ide segar dan sekaligus update mengenai dunia bisnis FnB (food and beverage) terutama yang berhubungan dengan dunia digital. Karena dunia digital merupakan chanel yang perlu dipertimbangkan dalam melakukan promosi usaha, terutama bisnis restoran”, ujar Deri Slyrova, selaku Marketing Manager Zomato Indonesia.

“Event kali ini memiliki konsep yang menarik, dimana kita mendatangkan banyak pakar dunia marketing dan branding dalam bisnis FnB dan juga mendatangkan para pelaku industri FnB itu sendiri, yang bisa membagikan pengalaman mereka terhadap cara, serta tips dan trik dalam memasarkan bisnis FnB”, tutupnya.

Acara Zomato Skillet “Foodigitalpreneur” sendiri dibuka dengan kata sambutan oleh Vamsi Reddy selaku Country Manager dari Zomato Indonesia. Dilanjutkan dengan sesi dari Billy Oscar, F&B Marketing Consultant yang telah memegang beberapa brand ternama seperti The Halal Guys, Kokoro Mazesoba, Din Tai Fung, dll. Mengenai “marketing & branding 101” diikuti oleh penjabaran data dan solusi digital yang ditawarkan Zomato untuk usaha FnB dari Toshit Barara, Regional
Director Zomato India & South East Asia. Dalam sesi ini, Toshit mengungkapkan bahwa pengguna Zomato di Indonesia terdiri dari 61% wanita dan 39% pria, dengan rentang umur 25-34 hampir 40%, dan jumlah bisnis FnB di Jabodetabek yang terlisting di Zomato mencapai 26,279 profil dengan persebaran tertinggi terdapat di Jakarta selatan mencapai 22%, diikuti Tangerang sebesar 17%, dan Jakarta utara sebesar 14%. Sedangkan untuk pageviews di Zomato
Indonesia mencapai 32,300,000 setiap bulannya.

CHOCOLATE SPONGE

Eggs Yolk 10ons

Sugar 1200gr

Cocoa Powder 360gr

Flour 300gr

Corn Strach 300gr

Butter 960gr

Egg White 1920gr

FIRST METHOD:

1. Melted the butter and let it cool

2. Beat the egg white until stiffed

3. Combines all the dry ingredients and sieve

4. Beat the egg yolks and sugar untul creamy and stiffed

SECOND METHOD:

1. Add the dry ingredients to the creamy egg yolk

2. Add the stiffed egg white into the first mixture and folded

3. Do not strain too much to avoid the egg white fall and watery

4. Last adding melted butter and mixed well

5. Spread into baking try 40cm x 60cm

6. Bake at 200oC for 8-10 minutes

KAYA CUSTARD

Coconut Cream 500gr

Fresh Cream 35% Fat 500gr

Egg Yolks 360gr

Brown Sugar 120gr

Salt 2gr