‘I never had the aspiration to become a chef. A big motivation to doing what I do is really to spread awareness for Indonesian cuisine and reclaim the respect for it, because a lot of people not only do not know about it, I feel like the representations that do exist can be either diluted or appropriated or completely incorrect. It’s a big goal of mine to correct that and glorify the culture more.’

Your path has been anything but traditional. Do you think your background in fashion and advertising has benefited or worked against you?

‘I think about this a lot, and I feel like If I had gone through the traditional route of finishing culinary school, starting in a serious kitchen and slowly working my way up, it would have given me so many boundaries and restrictions as to what my cooking would look like. Whereas doing this casually, and for my own goal - which is highlighting the Indonesian cuisine - my dishes and my practice look exactly the way I want to’.

 What do you hope people feel after experiencing your cooking?

‘I hope they see it as an inspiring surprise, because it’s often a completely new palette of flavours to them and unlike something that they have tasted before’.

What do you think is the importance of food today?

‘I think what’s so beautiful about food is that it brings people together. I do what I do because the most enjoyable part for me is serving food to people and getting to hang out with them. Food is a beautiful way to integrate different communities and meet people’.