Seasoned in rigorous kitchens of five-star hotels from Indonesia to as far as UAE, the Executive Sous Chef Emmanuel Julio from The Dharmawangsa shared us a story about his passion with Indonesian cuisine and his modernist effort to promote it internationally.

Can you share a bit about your career as a chef so far?

Back when I was a boy, my parents used to run a restaurant here in Jakarta and also a catering service. Inspired, I decided to learn more about the world of hospitality during college.

My apprenticeship years in the kitchen started from Regent Hotel and later at Four Seasons in the early 2000s. Since I was only studying general hospitality at Trisakti, I had to start everything from a scratch to become a real chef. Chef Vindex Tengker became my mentor until he resigned from here a few years ago.

After my sixth year at the Regent and Four Seasons, I wanted to seek experience abroad. I was posted in Dubai, again with Four Seasons. After quite some time and together with an Italian chef I used to work with there, he tagged me a long for a pre-opening project at Armani Hotel. After spending five years in Dubai, I finally found my way back home and landed here at The Dharmawangsa.

You have done a considerable length to promote Indonesian cuisine with The Dharmawangsa. Care to share us about it?

It’s all about staying true to the establishment’s concept as a luxurious Indonesian hotel and promoting what we dub as Progressive Indonesian Cuisine. Since the initiative started several years ago, we have done a lot of research and becoming more creative in the way we present it.

It’s a perpetual work in progress but it’s going very well, I have to say. Over the years, we have seen younger generations became more and more enthusiastic with this approach. Not long ago, a Dutch chef specifically came here to study our approach with this modern twist and soon he will be opening a fine-dining Indonesian restaurant back in The Netherlands.

Can you tell us about your recent experience promoting Indonesian cuisine abroad?

Quite recently we were hired to help promoting Indonesian food in Shanghai together with our embassy there. The crowd was particularly enthusiastic and that’s actually beyond our expectations! Dishes such as soto Betawi, sop buntut, and fried rice were all best-sellers. Aside from rendang and gulai ayam, the visitors were also very fond of our gado-gado.

Care to explain what you are cooking today for us?

Today we have the oysters and granita, but we are using daun kemangi instead of fruits for the granita. I also put acar timun underneath it. Also we have prepared you the cured salmon using beetroot and served with tuturuga sauce. I also put tobiko and caviar on top of the salmon.

The next one we have our modern take of gudeg which I pair with foie gras! Quite surprisingly, the sweet and simple seared foie gras really works well with the the whole character of gudeg. Lastly we have the beef tenderloin cooked using sous-vide techniques and served with semur sauce.

What are the challenges so far with this kind of presentation?

Each generation thinks differently about our approach here. Like I said earlier, the younger people are more open with the ideas, but older generation retain their conservative views.

For example rendang, they say it should be served traditionally – “messy and hearty”, if you will. Whereas of course it’s different with progressive presentations. Of course, the classic approach is very important, but we aim to make Indonesian cuisine also visually appealing on international level.

Original link:
http://www.passionmedia.co.id/b/emmanuel-julio-ushering-the-era-of-progressive-indonesian-cuisine

Images by: Dwi N. Hadi

For a 26-year-old chef, perhaps only Putri Mumpuni who has seen a lot of actions introducing Indonesian cuisine around the globe through food diplomatic missions. Recently, Putri shared us her adventures and the relentless pursuit of knowledge, now within the world of pastry.

How was it in the beginning for you, Putri?

It was all started with the decision to enroll myself at a trade school so I could be focusing on hospitality in general. There I knew it right away that I wanted to learn more about cookery. Before graduation, I applied for internship at Hyatt Yogyakarta and worked there for about six months.

That time, higher education was a luxury that my parents cannot afford for me since they also wanted my younger siblings to finish primary schools. After getting myself through several odd jobs, I finally landed a job at Grand Aston Yogyakarta right in the hot kitchen and after some time, I managed also to enroll myself at a local university. Working and studying in-between.

Since I wanted so much also to learn about pastry, I was told to spend the extra hours learning about pastry before the working hours. Of course it was unpaid, but in just about a month, I was finally accepted as one of the crews in the pastry department.

While working with Aston, I was also hired by this French family who lives in Yogyakarta as a private chef. My task was to shop and prepare the meals for them for several times a week so they could spend time dining together as a family.

What was the turning point of your career as an aspiring chef back then?

One time I managed to win gold and bronze medals at Salon Culinaire competition in Jakarta for different categories. Until I met Pak William Wongso for the first time and he motivated me to learn more about Indonesian food, something that I wasn’t very familiar with at that time.

The turning point was actually after I decided to focus competing against other chefs in this television show – Top Chef. I had to abandon my study as well as my job with Aston since I was still in the competition for months. In the end, I was eliminated from the Top 9 but I decided to contact Pak William and he offered me a position at his company.

What was the single most challenging task you ever had so far in your career?

My first ever task from Pak William Wongso was to host an Indonesian gala dinner in the Czech Republic for around 80 to 100 embassy guests and foreign dignitaries. I had to do that all by myself!
He asked me, “Putri, can you handle it?” and I said yes with confidence. We did a lot of preparations and I spent around two weeks there. I had to train the local kitchen staffs to cook Indonesian food with minimum communications, since not many can speak English. Google Translate helped me a lot, much to my surprise!

Finally the one-night Gala Dinner went well. We were also preparing Indonesian a la carte menu at the restaurant for the whole two days afterwards.

Share us also your other endeavors with William Wongso’s team across the world?

Usually we received invitations from Indonesian embassies all over the world to organize Indonesian gala dinners or appreciation dinners. So we brought local ingredients, train the local crews, and host the dinners. So far we have been to Japan, South Korea, The Philippines, Germany, France, Singapore, Malaysia, and United States.

However, food diplomacy can go much further than that. Before going to a certain country, we usually get in touch with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism, or BEKRAF (Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy) so they could coordinate with local institutions to create programs such as workshops, cooking classes, consultancies, or private dinners.

Can you tell us about your work here with BEAU and your future plans?

My move here was fully motivated again by my curiosity with pastry. It’s like when I first tasted how good the real taste of rustic baguette was when in Paris, I really wanted to know how to to make it. The opportunity came and I was very happy to witness firsthand how good Talita is with pastry and her wonderful efforts she has done for BEAU.

Currently I’m being entrusted with the whole operations in the kitchen and together we have been developing the menu since last year. She has taught me a lot and shared many ideas with me so I can improve from time to time.

My future plan? Well, one day I want to manage an Indonesian restaurant abroad, or even perhaps my own restaurant!

Original link:
http://www.passionmedia.co.id/b/putri-mumpuni-the-relentless-pursuer-of-knowledge

Images by: Edwin Pangestu