Kitchenesia.com - Upon walking into the gorgeous restaurant, Kitchenesia team were politely welcomed by Chef Donny Kumala and showed us the beautiful bistik lidah he was preparing.
Chef Donny reminded me somewhat of a culinary young prodigy, given the fact that he has achieved such high-level position at very young age.
Chef Donny sat down with Kitchenesia team after prepping for Cafe Batavia’s lunch rush.
He started telling us how his childhood affected his food journey. Also, his extensive experiences in different hospitality establishments gave him unique interpretation on the preparation of food.
Tracking back his career journey, the early-thiry-year-old chef has worked in several lavish businesses, one of which is the five-star hotel Keraton at The Plaza.
When I asked the reason why he left, he answered it shortly: “I want to challenge myself”.
Growing up, he felt that he was surrounded by melting pot of cultures that exposed him to a variety of different cuisines.
He was specialized in contemporary french cuisine, initially.
Then Chef Donny attributes these knowledge to other culinary genre, which is Indonesian cuisine, and applies them on every food served at Cafe Batavia.
We are astonished by your prolific track records despite your young age. We also found out that you have worked at the five-star hotel Keraton at The Plaza, then decided to move here (Cafe Batavia). What was your reason?
Even before joining Keraton, I worked in several hotels and restaurants. Then, I received an offer to join Cafe Batavia.
I believed it was a good opportunity to expand my expertise even more. Given the fact that this restaurant established in 1805, and most of the guests here are foreign tourists. This is the right place for me to introduce our traditional cuisine to them.
Also, since childhood, Cafe Batavia has become my favorite place when visiting Kota Tua with my parents. The fact that I joined my childhood’s favorite restaurant is just amazing.
Most of Cafe Batavia’s best-seller food are Indonesian cuisine. We know really well that Indonesian cuisine is known for its eclectic and exotic taste. Some guests might not like it, especially foreign tourists. How do you handle this problem?
The “exotic” taste from coconut oil or turmeric is not a problem. Almost all of Cafe Batavia’s guests appreciate Indonesian food greatly. Most of their concerns are about the spiciness.
Therefore, we separate every spicy condiment from the main dish, so that they can add the spiciness up to their liking. I understand that the original presentation is combining sambal with the dish, but we decided not to do this.
Cafe Batavia’s slogan is “A Must Visit for Tourist in Jakarta”. In terms of food, why tourists in Jakarta should eat at Cafe Batavia?
Most of Indonesian restaurants sell cuisine from particular region only, such as Padangnese restaurant or Warteg (i.e short for Warung Tegal, a food stall serving food in budget-friendly price). Also, tourists tend to visit Indonesia for a short time.
We would like to serve Indonesian food in one place. They don’t need to go to Bali to taste sambal matah, or go to Manado to taste salmon gohu.
We curate all signature dishes drom all province in Indonesia, serving them in an aesthetic platting. Cafe Batavia also guarantees the quality of every ingredient.
Then, what do you do to guarantee Cafe Batavia’s high quality?
Most of the ingredients are delivered daily, and we also prioritize to use local ingredients first. All of vegetables, spices, and seafood are from local farmers.
For beef and poultry, we import them from Australia. I think that more than 80% ingredients are locals.
In terms of management, Cafe Batavia also holds frequent training and review. Every steward and chef is under a tight SOP.
What are the striking differences between working in a hotel restaurant and a stand alone restaurant?
Restaurant has more flexible rules than hotel. Hotel guests are likely to eat outside. People go to restaurant for one purpose, to eat.
Therefore, working in restaurant is more challenging. Also I have a dream to build my own restaurant.
That’s why, my “underlying” purpose to join Cafe Batavia is to learn closely how to run a restaurant. I learn so many things here.
According to a source, your specialization is modern French. But now you dedicate yourself more on Indonesian food. Why the change?
It is not that drastic.
Modern French is my foundation to innovate on traditional dishes. I have a goal to introduce Indonesian food to people from overseas in a modern platting.
If I continue to work on french dishes, people won’t like them because I dont have white complexion and blue eyes (laugh).
Why would Indonesian chef cook other people’s food?
What is the obligatory food here for first-starters?
We have a signature dish called Bistik Lidah Harmonie (beef tongue steak).
It is a lovechild food of Dutch-Indonesian.
The Dutch element is on the potato krokketen, while Indonesian part is on the spicy sauce.
