The perfect dish often has a certain balance of flavors. Chef Rinrin Marinka definitely knows a thing or two about preparing and serving the perfect dish. After all, her life is apparently very flavorful both in and out of the kitchen.

For there are many sides of Marinka both as a chef and a person.

From her stint as one of the chef judges in two reality cooking competitions, she has become known as one of Indonesia’s celebrity chefs. However, during the early years of Marinka’s television career, she was also involved in a completely different world from cooking and the culinary arts.

“I used to host a show called Dunia Laki-Laki [Men’s World] on JakTV. The show was about everything to do with men’s hobbies, such as sports and martial arts,” she said during a recent interview.

When Rinrin took the job, she had already completed a grand diploma on French cuisine and patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney, Australia. She said she had no problem hosting a show on men’s hobbies.

“I have loved to do outdoor sports and activities since I was young. This is because I love to cook and to eat, so I guess I need to do a lot of movement to keep things balanced,” said Rinrin, who had also previously studied fashion.

“My favorite activities and sports, coincidentally, are those that men also love to do. I love martial arts and wall climbing. I consider myself as loving physical challenges although I don’t take on very extreme stuff like bungee jumping.”

Rinrin also hosted a number of different shows on other television stations, including cooking shows such as Trans 7’s Cooking and Paradise.

Her breakthrough on the Indonesian foodie show scene came in 2011 when she was chosen for the MasterChef Indonesia reality cooking competition program on RCTI.

As a judge, Rinrin was objective and firm. She was probably the only judge in Masterchef Indonesia history who could deliver criticism of the contestants without putting them down and humiliating them in front of an audience of millions.

Rinrin, who was also a judge on the junior version of the show, said she had a high standard to judge the worthiness of a chef.

“A good chef for me must have something more than just skills. A good chef must have good taste. A good chef needs to have the sensitivity and sense to differentiate between a lousy meal and a delicious one. Without taste, being a chef is practically useless.”

TWO OF A KIND: Rinrin with Australian fellow chef Tobie Puttock during the filming of Wonderful Indonesian Flavors. (Photos courtesy of AFC)
Out of the frying pan

She said people seeking to become a celebrity chef needed to realize that it was no easy path.

Behind the glitz and glamor that the public sees are the grueling long hours in the kitchen. Rinrin said it took blood, sweat and tears to get to where she is now.

“Real chefs don’t have a life. I don’t want to date a chef because their working hours start before breakfast [and continue] until dinner time. Chefs must be in the kitchen all the time. The profession is not glamorous at all. It is very stressful and, therefore, chefs have a shorter life span than regular people,” she said.

Rinrin said that only a few of those who were truly passionate in cooking could reach the top of the chef hierarchy.

“I experienced all the hardships in the kitchen when I started my career as a chef. Since I am very passionate about cooking, I kept on going. These trials and hardships are what made some chefs become celebrities because they have shown that they have walked the walk. They have not only the physical strength but also the mental power to work in this profession,” she said.

Despite becoming a well-known chef and having judged dozens of aspiring chefs on reality TV, she believes a true good chef would never stop learning even from those who had less experience.

“By being a judge, I truly learned that the quality of a meal truly depends on who cooks it. I have eaten thousands of foods that I don’t find amazing but when one of the contestants made it, it became something very, very special. I just never stop learning,” said Rinrin, who made her first meal when she was 7 years old.

In her latest foodie show, Wonderful Indonesian Flavors on the Asian Food Channel, she proves that she does not hesitate to try new things. The show focuses on Rinrin recreating complicated traditional Indonesian dishes in the simplest way possible so cooks from other countries could also try making them.

“Whenever I finished with my recreated traditional meal, I always ask the locals whether I nailed the taste right or not,” she said.

Rinrin’s own Mars Kitchen focuses on healthy food recipes. She said she wanted to show the public that healthy foods did not have to be bland or expensive.

“My place offers foods which range in price from Rp 25,000 [US$1.9] to Rp 65,000. Considering that they are all organic, such rates are very affordable,” she said.

“I do not take on a huge profit margin because I am passionate about introducing healthy foods to the public. People often see that organic-based foods are more expensive but we need to change their perspective. They need to realize that if they get sick, the costs will be far more expensive than trying to have a good healthy diet.”

Rinrin admitted she needed to be more disciplined in maintaining a healthy lifestyle that included a healthy diet.

“When it comes to cheat meals, I think I cheat almost all the time,” she said.

“I cannot resist the temptation of cheese and ice cream. I just returned from the Netherlands and there were so many cheeses there — and I think I tried around 18 varieties of them.”