Kitchenesia met Spanish Chef Alvaro Utiel from DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta. He told us about his fondness in Indonesian cuisine and tips to cook "like a Spanish".
Kitchenesia.com - The Spanish are very proud and in their culture. They continually try to offer the very best the Spanish experiences to people around them. No matter how far they are from their homeland, the Spanish always practice their traditions.
Chef Alvaro Ultiel from DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta has departed from Spain for years. No matter where he is, he never forgets to offer Spanish cultures through food. Although he admits that local tastes also influence him.
"I love to stroll around at traditional markets and restaurants after my shift's over. I love to learn how locals choose fresh greens, chopping beef, and when they go haggling," said Chef Alvaro in an exclusive interview with Kitchenesia.
Born in a small city near Barcelona, Spain, he started out his career by working at Micheline-starred restaurants, where he needed to cooperate with culinary professionals with years of experiences.
He subsequently embarked on a physical and culinary learning curve around the world, working for Kempinsky Hotel in Shanghai as Chef De Cuisine. Recently, he is now working as Sous Chef at five-star hotel DoubleTree by Hilton Jakarta. He is responsible for a Mediterranean-styled restaurant/bar called Sea Grains.
You have been out of Spain for a quite long time. Has your culinary style ever changed since then?
Before joining DoubleTree, I used to work in Shanghai, China. For me, Asian cuisine is really mesmerizing yet bewildering. Each country has many culinary style and technique. Thus, I really love to explore local restaurants and traditional market when I have spare time. Of course my culinary style has changed as I immense deeper into local cuisine.
Sometimes I add some local twist in my food by using local ingredients. But it is actually easy to learn local recipes because Spanish and Indonesian have some similarities.
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Based on your observation, what are the similarities between Indonesian and Spanish food?
Well, since our countries are so far apart, I don't think Indonesian and Spanish have much in common. Perhaps we like to put coconut milk to our food generously.
Spanish really love stew, and they often mix coconut milk into broth to make foods thick and curry-like. I believe coconut milk is used in some Indonesian food, like rendang. Thus rendang is my favorite food. It reminds me of Spain in some ways (laugh).
What are you favorite Indonesian foods? Why do you like them?
That is difficult question, to be honest (laugh). I should say tempe (fermented soybean) is my favorite food because it is made of grains. People live near Mediterranean sea consume grains and nuts daily. Thus tempe really reminds me of hometown despite living thousands miles from home.
Indonesia would make tons of money if they export tempe to Mediterranean countries.
Your tapas creations are praised all over internet, even though it used to be a foreign food among locals. How did you make foreign food into everyone's favorite?
It is because the concepts of tapas are really fitting to locals: savory, sweet and crispy at the same time. Regardless their tastes, I think local foodies tend to be excited in trying something new.
At Sea Grain, we make Tapas to be close to locals' tastes without getting rid of the Spanish influence in them.
I really want to learn to cook Spanish food. But I've never tasted ones, and my cooking skills are awful. Where should I start?
Actually Spanish foods are really easy to make. All you need are good olive oil and bread. Besides, you can find any Spanish foods ingredients in Jakarta.
The keys of Spanish foods are simplicity and togetherness. They make food with less process, then share them with whole family.
