A Bar & Restaurant that is considerably new in Mega Kuningan, FLOW, has caught the attention of many for its modern presentation of popular comfort food. We recently borrowed the brain behind the menu, Executive Chef Ubay from his busy kitchen for a short one on one interview.
Hi Chef, why don’t you tell our readers about yourself!
My name is Ubay, and I am currently the Executive Chef position here in FLOW since the opening last year. Before this, I spent about 3 years as Chef de Cuisine in Le Quartier.
What’s your style of cooking?
Me personally, and as a chef, I love all types of food. I don’t want to limit myself, and like to explore every possible ingredients and techniques, including here at FLOW. I like the challenge of making a place successful.
The food here isn’t exactly revolutionary or anything. The challenge was to make something new out of popular dishes. For example, one of my popular dessert is our cendol cake, and rendang nachos.
How often do you invent new menu?
Every three months, I have to come up with new ones to replace those that aren’t selling as well. The menu must keeps on moving. I also want to keep updated and keep up with the culinary trends.
What’s your observation of the locals’ palate in general?
People love asian food, not too complicated, just a touch of something different.
What are your most popular items at FLOW?
Simple things like appetizer, chicken wings using har chiong, a stronger peranakan style paste that we import from Singapore. People also love our Crispy Pig Ear, Pork Belly Nigiri, Salmon Mango Chili. For desserts, there’s the Cendol Cake I mentioned, and also our Chocolate Lava cake that uses durian paste and served in brandy glass.
Where do you get your culinary inspirations?
Mostly, I just experiment with my own ideas, in my own kitchen. I have a full kitchen at home; even with a professional rational oven that can do 90% of all cooking process there is. This is how serious I am with cooking, even in my own time. It is not just about work for me, this is my passion. And I always want to improve everyday. I don’t have a culinary school education, but because I am surrounded by chefs in my family, I am introduced with the world of cooking since I was very young. At first, I wanted to be a film director, and even took broadcasting school!
What changed your focus?
I am a very independent person. I left home early, and supported myself as early as I could work. After high school, I had a business of myself that went well, and I even paid for my own college. And at one point, my business was struggling and I still had to pay for my school, and the quickest job I could found was in the kitchen. From that point, I decided that this was going to be what I do for the rest of my life.
What’s your vision for the future?
Once I won a medal from a competition, and I showed it to my late dad. He said to me, winning awards is a simple thing. The more important thing is to inspire people to be in your position. And I want to do that. I want to inspire and motivate the people I work with.
There’s this stereotype that foreign chefs are more interested and passionate about Indonesian food. What are your thoughts?
A lot of profesional chefs focus on western food as their compass. But for me, I would be more proud if I can excel in Indonesian cooking, because let’s face it, Indonesian food is harder and we are in the cradle of some of the world’s best spices and ingredients that we have to explore. That’s why I have a good range of Indonesian food at flow. and anyway, Indonesians love it too.
Thank you for your time this afternoon, chef!
Thank you!
Read about Chef Ubay’s latest new menu here, or just head to FLOW Bar & Restaurant to experience Chef Ubay’s culinary creations yourself.
FLOW Jakarta
Gedung BTPN – Jl. Dr.Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung, Lot 5.5-5.6, Unit 02A, Mega Kuningan, Jakarta
Phone: 0877-7171-1675
Hours: 11am-12am
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