I respect these multi-talented chefs. By their efforts, now Indonesian’s culinary have its space internationally. Indonesia doesn’t only have batik and Bali. Now people know that we have rendang, nasi goreng, whose deliciousness can be competed with pizza and sushi.

Let’s meet with 4 Indonesian culinary heroes who have successfully popularized Indonesian cuisine in the world.

Andrian Ishak

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Chef Owner of Namaaz Dining (@andrianishak)

Andrian Ishak is the one who pioneered molecular gastronomy in Indonesia. Although he hasn't an educational background in the culinary field, he has succeeded in introducing molecular cooking techniques to foodies. He also opened a unique restaurant with a different concept than others. The restaurant is Namaaz Dining. Please remember that you need to make a reservation in advance. Also, don't get shocked that this restaurant doesn't have a nameplate. 

Interesting point, Andrian doesn't imitate Western-style fancy dishes in molecular techniques like common. He instead makes Indonesian dishes with this technique. 

Dade Akbar

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by DADE AKBAR // JKT (@warteggourmet)

Dade Akbar is the 'mastermind' behind @watergourmet whoever skyrocketed on Instagram. Having lived abroad for a long time encouraged Dade to learn to cook and started in love with his origin culinary, like rendang, orek tempe teri, telor balado, and so on. 

He saw that young people don't appreciate Indonesian food much; thus Dade found a new way. He tried plating local foods with a five-star restaurant's appearance. Dade is getting diligent in serving delicious food with a unique plating. He received a massive response on Instagram with almost 40.000 followers. To spread his love for Indonesian dishes, Dade opened a class about plating for Indonesia's cuisine. 

Petty Elliot

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Petty Elliott (@pettyelliottskitchen)

When she lived in the UK, Petty Elliot was passionate about promoted Indonesian cuisine internationally. Petty opened a cooking class for Indonesian food at her home. She gave an Indonesian recipe book to each participant who joined the course. 

Her passion for Indonesian cuisine was burning when the publisher offered to write a book after returning to Indonesia in 2002. Ten years on, she released her book titled Papaya Flower in 2014. 

Her grandmother became her inspiration to write this book when she was in childhood. She often helped her grandmother cook Manado's dishes. She wrote about stir-fried papaya flowers, one of Manado's local foods, in every detail. 

Her step wasn’t ended at Papaya Flower; Petty continued to write about Jakarta's local foods. She hopes the presence of her book can invite foreign tourists to come to Indonesia. She also teaches her readers to cook delicious Indonesian food without MSG. 

Vindex Tengker

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by ᑕᕼEᖴ ᐯIᑎᗪE᙭ TEᑎGKEᖇ (@chef_vindex_tengker)

Vindex Tengker is well-known as a judge in the Indonesian MasterChef competition. Vindex Tengker has been involved in Indonesian cuisine since the beginning of his career as a chef. He has a strong background as a chef who is an expert in Indonesia’s cuisine in various international hotels in Indonesia and Indonesian restaurants in Mallorca, Spain.

Not only serving Indonesian dishes on a plate, but Vindex also wrote a book about Indonesian cuisine. He promoted his book entitled “Indonesian Iconic Dishes” to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2015. He hopes that the world will open up its eyes to variants of Indonesian cuisine, not just fried rice and satay.

He continues his effort to promote Indonesian cuisine even though he has no longer become a chef. His position as a Vice President of Inflight Service at Garuda Indonesia provided him with an excellent opportunity to share his love for Indonesian cuisine. Vindex brings innovation to in-flight food.

These innovations are improving the quality of food taste and packaging. Vindex and his team make a standardization of the recipes that become a signature of Garuda Indonesia. For example, rendang and Soto Lamongan a la Garuda which have a distinctive taste. But he mentioned that its Innovation would take time.