Chef Wongso & Indonesian Cuisine

There are plenty of Asian restaurants in California but it’s still a challenge to find something truly authentic. This is especially true for Southeast Asian cuisine.

My friend Francesca told me about a pop-up dinner prepared by William Wongso, a world-famous Indonesian chef, who was going to be hosted at the Blu Jam Café in Brentwood. Chef Wongso is the recipient of the 2017 Gourmand Award for World's Best Cookbook. I immediately jumped at the opportunity. 

My friend Jeany Amir ended up joining Francesca and me for dinner. Jeany is a filmmaker who’s half Indonesian.

Chef Wongso explained that Indonesian cuisine doesn’t exclusively belong to Indonesia because of the nation’s incredibly diverse population. Indonesian food varies as much as the country’s people.

I loved that statement.

Before each course, he taught us about the food and instructed us on the proper way to eat it. I really appreciated how Chef Wongso was prepared to meet anyone’s dietary needs or preferences. All we had to do was inform the waiter who’d inform Wongso so he could take it from there. Chef Wongso’s inclusiveness really touched me. 

Our first-course appetizer was a rojak, which is an Indonesian fruit salad. In Malaysia, rojak is usually too sour for my taste, but this one wasn’t sour at all, the seasoning was fantastic.

During the soup course, Chef Wongso directed us to drink the soup straight from the bowl. The soup came with a little cracker called a keropok. We were told not to dip the cracker in the soup, but to eat it first, and then drink the soup.

Then there was the appetizer course, which consisted of two fantastic dishes. First, he made some risotto (a classic Italian dish) with a Southeast Asian twist. He prepared the risotto using coconut milk, chilies and herbs. It tastes so amazing. There was also a curry dish called gulai, which I just about drank like soup. It was so delicious I nearly jumped out of my chair. 

We were served several dishes for the main course which included a caramelized curry, grilled marinated tempeh with sweet Javanese chili spices, saté, yellow turmeric fragrance rice, and a mixed vegetable curry. I felt this course could’ve been better. My tempeh sate (I substituted tempeh for the meat and seafood) was too mushy for my taste.

For dessert we had sarikayo es cendol, a popular Indonesian dessert (served cold) made up of coconut milk, pandan leaf extract, rice flour, and sugar.

Chef Wongso took some time to chat with the diners at each table. I asked him if he had to tailor his cuisine to suit American tastes, and he said that the only thing he changed was how spicy the food was.

He also told us about his nonstop traveling to show off his cooking and to promote his cookbook, Flavors of Indonesia. 

Jeany noticed that Chef Wongso’s uniform had “ACMI” stitched into the fabric. ACMI stands for “Aku cinta masakan Indonesia,” which means, “I love Indonesian cooking.” I love how passionate Chef Wongos is about his homeland’s cuisine.

I give my deepest thanks to the irreplaceable Chef Wongso. I learned so much about Indonesian food and I still dream about the delicious gulai he prepared for us.

My next stop is the Wong Java House, which several Indonesian-American friends of mine have praised. I can’t wait for the next culinary adventure and I hope it will be as wonderful an experience as Chef Wongso’s pop-up dinner was.