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/span>Chef Ragil likes it big. The man could easily be spotted amid a captivated crowd watching him create giant dishes for a cooking show.

The crowd would wait patiently, knowing that huge dishes need a longer time to cook.

Once the chef, whose name is Ragil Imam Wibowo, called out that the food is ready, they would devour it like it’s the last thing to eat on earth.

The chef, the host of Makan Besar (Big Feast) cooking show on Trans 7 television station, said the show remains challenging for him because of the size of dishes he has to create.

“Every cooking show has its own challenges and fun elements, but Makan Besar can make me stressed because I never repeat dishes,” said Ragil, who also helms his own restaurants and is regularly invited to appear on cooking shows on other television stations.

“It is an on-the-spot cooking test. We thank God when the food is successful and try to accept failure.”

Chef Ragil’s talkative and approachable traits made the 30 minute interview go really fast, even after he kindly asked some girls who wanted to take pictures with him to wait until the interview was over.

Born in the Central Java of Purworejo on July 14, 1972, the youngest and only boy among five siblings, Ragil was raised in a family that loved cooking.

Ragil recalled how when he was 5-years-old, his mother had to lock the food cupboard to prevent him from eating too much — leaving the refrigerator as the only container of raw food.

Little Ragil used all his creativity to feed himself.

“That refrigerator gave me the inspiration to create food from whatever ingredients that was available inside it. My favorite dish at that time was instant noodles and fried rice, but I also mixed instant noodles with eggs and kornet (canned corned beef),” he said, giggling.

Becoming a chef was not his childhood dream.

Ragil said he dreamed of having a career as an astronaut or F1 driver, but finally let go of those two ambitions because he started wearing eyeglasses when he was in junior high school.

He then began to work on his passion in cooking when he was in his second year of senior high.

Armored with cookbooks and having watched foreign cooking shows on TV such as Frugal Gourmet, he practiced
various Italian and Chinese delicacies in his mother’s kitchen. His family and friends were the first to judge his creations.

“My family was surprised with the food. They said that it was very delicious. On Sundays, my friends would chip-in their money and I cooked Italian food such as pasta and macaroni schotel. They just loved it,” he said.  

The warm responses from his family and friends made him realize that cooking might be the path he wanted to take in the future.

Ragil later studied culinary arts at the National Hotel Institute (NHI) in Bandung, West Java. The school is now even more popular under the name Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Pariwisata (STIP) Bandung.

After completing his studies in 1993, he worked in several restaurants before building his career at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta for eight years.

He was assigned to every station in the kitchen, including the wedding banquet and C’s — a new restaurant in the hotel that introduced an open kitchen concept.

Ragil began joining cooking competitions, including Ale Cuisine that was aired on Indosiar TV station, in which he won for five times.

With years of experiences on hand, he built the confidence he needed to open restaurants with his friends.

Currently, the chef, who wants to visit Scandinavian countries to get inspired by the culinary hype, has five Warung Pasta’s, two Dixie Easy Dining restaurants and two Warung Kopi Sruput’s.

He resigned from the hotel and the cooking competition scene when his businesses grew.

The chef, who is preparing a book on Indonesian cuisine, said his next dream was to bring Indonesian food to an international level by opening some Indonesian restaurants in other Asian countries and Australia.

“Indonesian food is very rich. I want to apply good techniques that can improve the image of Indonesian food. It has a good taste and will be able to compete with Thai, Vietnamese or Malaysian food, if the food can be well-designed,” he said.

He said Thai restaurants such as Lemon Grass and Blue Elephant can be accepted globally, so he believes that Indonesian food can receive international recognition as well.

Delicious menus items from Padang of West Sumatra, Manado of North Sulawesi, Bali and Java have a big chance to shine — if taken care of properly.

“We can make the food milder for western palates while still maintaining its authenticity. It is an effort to introduce the taste to foreign people. When they want to get a real authentic Indonesian food experience, they will come to the country,” he said.

Ragil explores Indonesian food in his style through private catering where he goes to clients’ houses to prepare an Indonesian fine dining experience.

He said he is a bit idealistic in the business side if things. He also tries to find out where his clients hail from in the world and whether they have tried Indonesian food to determine whether he would accept the order.

The exclusive catering, which is limited to a maximum of 30 people and priced around Rp 1 million (US$103) per person, is modernly presented.

“It is traditional Indonesian cooking with a modern presentation. For example, I use banana leaves on white plates and fish filets in pepes ikan (steamed fish wrapped in banana leaves). The guests dine with spoons, forks and knifes instead of eating the traditional Indonesian way, with hands,” he said.

He said his clients appreciate his creations and often invite him again to create dishes from different Indonesian menus.

Ragil — who prefers to call himself a generalist rather than a multitasking man — doesn’t believe the restaurant business is tough, but it requires passion, vision and creativity.

He said there are three kinds of restaurants in Indonesia. Some are pure business, while others are built to follow a trend and a branding purpose.

Restaurants that follow a trend generally can survive for five years before they need to improve the concept, while restaurants that are built only to cater its owners pride usually only survive a couple years.

“Problems will always appear. Restaurants that follow trends will meet problems when they fall behind trends and lack innovation. My Dixie Easy Dining, for example, was made to follow a trend, but I have to freeze it until I find a better concept,” he said.   

Ragil said young entrepreneurs who want to dive in the culinary world should understand everything that happens in the restaurants because the common problem that appears is cheating business partners or employees. They should learn from all problems and failures, and move on, he said.  

“I once read a magazine that talked about a Korean businessman who said that people respect an entrepreneur not when he or she is successful, but when he or she manages to bounce back from an unsuccessful business. This story always cheers me up.”

— Photos by JP/Indah Setiawati