DL
The Beginning
Admiring his father and having a thought following his dad's footpath as a Captain / Commanding officer of commercial ship but teenage social environment does not make it easy and brought negativity. Despite of his low self-esteem and with commitment to excel he joined National Hotel Institute or known as STP - Bandung, Indonesia with Food Production Management as major study, he expected for the worst. "I might end up selling chicken noodles at the corner of the street if nobody would hire me".
During study he did pastry stagiaire at Crowne Plaza Jakarta which then enlighten his perspective to do short bakery baking course at Bogasari and went to Sheraton Mustika Jogjakarta for next stagiaire at Food Production Department. His flame for culinary arts brought him as competitors for 5th ASEAN SKILLS COMPETITION in Hanoi – Vietnam representing Indonesia
2005, early years in Dubai – UAE worked at The World Trade Centre as a Commis Chef at hot section doing massive numbers of inside and outside catering before then transferred to The World Trade Club as Demi Chef. Hungry for knowledge, accepted offer at Vu’s at Jumeirah Emirates Towers with 60 seating capacity an award-winning restaurant by Time Out Dubai Magazine serving business lunch, ala carte, degustation menu, prestige menu, and tapas selection. Spent intensive hours learning about flavors, techniques, and textures from Emil Minev as Chef De Cuisine. Put everything he learnt to compete at Anchor Master Chef Challenge in January 2010 and achieved 1st Runner up among all other well known senior 5 star hotels in Dubai which then lead him for his career progression.
“The Ivy” caught attention for career progression to be part of preopening and opening team, it is a high end international British Brasserie with 150 seating capacity serving business lunch, ala carte, chef’s menu, sliders, and Friday Brunch. With his eagerness to experience busiest service environment along with constant performance he then received promotion as Junior Sous Chef. Lead The Ivy for GCC Anchor Master Chef Challenge 2013 among gulf countries and received 2nd Runner Up while on another occasion competing at Russian Standard Vodka food pairing as finalist but reign supreme for The Ivy culinary team at Emirates Culinary Guild Salon Culinaire by collecting 1 Gold, 2 Silver, and 3 Bronze Medals. Despite all that He was one of nominees for Chef of The Year 2013 for Timeout Magazine Dubai on behalf of The Ivy. He has been an exemplary employee throughout and a standard bearer for the company that he clearly loves. With a commanding presence on the pass and a hawk-eye for attention for detail he has won the respect and love of his peers and indeed the attention of his superiors.
One of Marriot International group “The Westin Mina Seyahi” interested to take him on board as Sous Chef at Hunters Room and Grill, a high-end contemporary steak house with 140 seating capacity including terrace, only open for dinner and Friday brunch. It serves high end meat cuts such Blackmore, Donald Russell, Ranger Valley, USDA prime cuts, 45 days aged Spanish beef and Miyazakigyu A-5 to name a few. In a short time after he join Hunters Room & Grill, He brought Hunters team to be proficient at Emirates Culinary Guild by achieving 1 Gold 2 Silver and 2 Bronze with only 3 Competitors from Hunters as well as achieving Silver medal for The Battle of the Chef Dubai 2014 and Bronze medal for Three Course US meat static display in 2015.
Feel the need for a challenge he then join the luxury of another Marriot International properties "The St Regis Dubai" as preopening and opening team, Incharge as Chef De Cuisine for Le Patio, the hotel’s charming courtyard bistro and The Roof Gardens, he then moved to be in command for Brasserie Quartier, Private Dining and Champagne Lounge. He looks forward to upholding The St. Regis’ long established world-class reputation for hospitality before he moved back to The Westin Mina Seyahi to be first in command for Blue Orange all day dining restaurant, up scaling the famous award-winning Friday Brunch Bubbalicious at The Westin.
During his tenure at St Regis and The Westin Mina Seyahi he has done stagiaires at michelin star chef L'Astrance by Pascal Barbot and L'Oustau de Baumanière by Jean-André Charial/Glen Viel.
To build his long-time dream, on 2018 he moved to Sydney - Australia. Currently designated as Group Head Chef / Group Executive Chef for Catering HQ to manage, overseeing and maintain culinary management for 3 venues in Sydney. He is a man of integrity who inspires his team, and is tenacious in the pursuit of innovation, this journey is just a beginning for the untold success in the years to come.