The Affectionate Figure in the Kitchen
Pearl Chinese Restaurant’s Executive Chinese Chef John Chu credits his success to his positive channelling of criticism into motivation and treating his kitchen crew as he would his own family—with trust and affection.
Having spent nearly his entire career cooking Chinese, Executive Chinese Chef John Chu brings the essence of traditional Chinese food and fuses it with modern presentation at W Marriott’s Pearl Chinese Restaurant, Jakarta. His experience working in multiple countries in Asia has instilled a unique versatility that allows him to channel his creativity into creating cuisines that are both invitingly original and adventurous.
Chef Chu is an earnestly fun culinary veteran who enjoys being in the spotlight and displaying what he does best. His favourite part of our review was the photo shoot. We even had to ask him to tone down his artistic expressions a tad to allow the photographer to keep up!
Q: You have over 20 years of experience in the culinary world. Can you briefly tell us some highlights of your career and how you ended up here?
A: I took my first step in the industry in my teenage years as a kitchen helper in one of Malaysia’s prominent five-star hotels. I didn’t care about my age; I just took it one step at a time, moving into larger roles each year, until finally I was appointed the chef’s assistant. Hong Kong chefs were a huge trend back then. Almost all of the five-star hotels in Malaysia hired head chefs from Hong Kong. The head chef I was working for was also from Hong Kong, and he was great and I learned a lot, but I can see it was really hard for me to be the leader of the kitchen. I didn’t mind though, and I just kept on going. All in all, I worked in four different five-star hotels in Malaysia before I was offered the chance to move to Shangri-La Jakarta.
After displaying my desire to be the “number one” in the kitchen, I had a chance to move to Shangri-La Myanmar to work as the head chef. I took it without hesitation. After two years in Myanmar, I was head chef for the group in China, Medan, and finally at JW Marriott’s Pearl restaurant here in Jakarta.
I am very thankful for the many professionals I’ve met along the way who have helped me to grow and learn. I’m not just talking about the chefs I worked with but also the customers, the staff, hotel professionals, even Internet critics.
Q: Someone in your position interacts a lot with customers. How does this benefit you professionally?
A: Customer feedback helps me understand myself and my work better. While staying positive in taking criticism, I keep realizing that there is always room for improvement. I avoid negativity because I don’t want to be defensive and delude myself in thinking that I’m far better than what my guests have to say. Nobody is perfect. We can only improve by learning from our mistakes. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve myself, and listening to my customers is one of the best ways to do that.
Q: How do you run your kitchen? Do you run a tight ship and get as involved as you can or do you like to lay back and observe more?
A: For me it is always about working with the team. You need to have a good understanding about your team – what my team is capable of, how fast they can do it, what they need, and so on. I encourage my team to offer feedback to me just as I always give them advice. For example, I like to start the day by visiting each station in the kitchen and checking their preparation, or if there’s anything they need. This shows the staff that I care for them individually, and I do this daily. No one works well in a kitchen at this level alone, no matter how good they are.
Q: Obviously they respect you for this. How important is it for you to gain the trust and respect from your team, which mostly consists of people from different nationalities?
A: I think it’s everything. First of all, I always try to lead by example. I can ask my staff to come to work on time, because I make sure I’m always the first one to arrive. When I tell them the importance of keeping stations as clean as possible, they can see that my station is cleaner than my house. And it is important for me to maintain this high standard especially because I’m an expat chef. I may receive a higher salary, but that’s only because I am required to do more as well. I’m not here just for show.
Being the first to follow a high standard grants me more freedom to encourage others to keep up with the same demands. When my team sees that I’m working just as hard as – if not harder than – them, earning respect becomes easy. So I guess when you really look at it, nationality matters little. It is all about keeping up with the right working ethics, which everybody should adhere to regardless of who they are. We can’t have any dead weight in such a dynamic, highly competitive environment as this, can we?
Q: There can be a lot of pressure in your workplace, and from time to time, people make mistakes. How do you deal with this?
A: In a way, taking care of the kitchen crew is much like caring for your own child. Patience and love is necessary. As I’ve said, to make a mistake is to be human. When someone makes their first or second mistake, usually all that it takes is a kind reminder that we (the team) are here to help each other and that they should not hesitate to ask for help. Maybe I’m just lucky, but they very rarely make a third or fourth mistake this way. It’s like when a father gently tells his son, “I love you, my son, but there is a better way of doing this. Let me show you.” Of course the son will welcome this loving correction. You have to win hearts, and then their bodies will follow you automatically.
Also, people crack under pressure mostly because they didn’t get enough “play time” to alleviate the stress. I always remind myself and my team to get enough rest when we can.
Q: What do you do to unwind?
A: I like to surf the Internet and research new things and new ways to cook…
Q: No, Chef, that’s called studying. I mean when you’re not studying. When you really want to de-stress yourself or just get away from it all.
A: (hearty laugh) A very hard question. I do enjoy studying though. But I guess sometimes I like to just grab a cold drink, maybe beer, and hang out somewhere with lots of trees. That can be hard without going out of the city, so parks will do. I also try to communicate with my family as often as I can.
John Chu
Combination of Prawn with
Nutmeg Mayonnaise and Potato Hair and Scallop Bacon with Salted Egg Dressing and
Mixed Fruits:
Ingredients:
1 pcs Prawn
1 pcs Scallop
1 pcs Beef bacon
25 gr Mixed fruits
15 gr Mayonnaise sauce
10 gr Salted egg dressing
Preparation:
1. Cut assorted fruits, such as apple, melon and pineapple into cubes, and mix well with mayonnaise
2. Season prawn with sea salt and pepper and coat with flour, then fry it
3. Coat the fried prawn with nutmeg mayonnaise
4. Wrap the scallop with bacon and pan-fry with salted egg dressing until it’s cooked
5. For plating, add shredded potato and mango on the top of fried prawns and put the mixed fruits into the cup and place the wrapped scallop on top.
