Two Indonesian pastry chefs are ready to take the final step to compete in the prestigious 2021 World Pastry Cup in Lyon, France.

Indonesia, like most Asian countries, does not have a strong pastry culture like European countries. The culinary staples and ingredients here are mostly spicy foods mixed with various herbs. There are some pastry legacies from the era of Dutch colonization in the region but it is not highly popular among the masses.

In recent years, however, pastries have become increasingly popular among the urban middle class. There is a growing variety of European-style pastries of different cuts, shapes and colors in upscale malls and food boutiques.

With the increasing popularity, three Indonesian pastry chef teams — the Academy of Pastry and Culinary Arts (APCA), Grand Hyatt Hotel Indonesia and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Indonesia — recently competed in the Indonesian Pastry Cup, which also featured renowned Pastry Master Chef Jean-François Arnaud as the competition’s head judge.

The teams had to impress Arnaud, who said that a great pastry had to be visually appealing, clean and neat in different aspects — from colors, textures to shininess — and topped with some simple decorations.

Arnaud also demanded a perfect pastry’s inside should be clean and clear when it is cut. Finally, what makes a lasting experience is the taste of the pastry itself, with the combination of flavors and textures that one can discover upon the very first bite.

Eventually, the APCA team, represented by Chef Glenn NP Rotinsulu and Chef Christian Dewabrata, won the competition with their unique citrus flavored pastry design and their selection of desserts that included Chocolate Cake, Plated Dessert, Chocolate Display and Sugar Display.

“We from the APCA team were very fortunate to win against two very good teams of pastry chefs,” APCA cofounder Louis Tanuhadi said.

Louis added that being a full time competiting chef also gave the APCA team an edge over the other teams.

“The daily duty of APCA chefs is only teaching and practicing and nothing else. They [the other competitors] have very little time to practice in the midst of their busy work in hotels.”

Louis also said that the idea behind the APCA team’s selection of pastries was to create something simple but elegant, using ingredients that are easily available in Indonesia, such as fresh tropical fruits. The team also combined a combination of citrus fruits as its choice of flavor.

After the team set up the basic idea, Glenn and Christian then began designing the shape of the cake and the dessert. They also designed chocolate and sugar showpieces into one theme; oranges. The unique product taste and design is what made the team ultimately stand out compared to the products of the other two contestants.

With the victory, Glenn and Christian earned not only the bragging rights as the best pastry chefs in Indonesia but also a chance to compete against the best in Asia during the Asian Pastry Cup in Singapore in April 2020.

The winning team from the Asian Pastry Cup will then move forward to take part in the World Pastry Cup, which has run for 30 consecutive years, in Lyon.

Christian said that the preparation took two months, with world pastry champion chef Wei Loon Tan being his personal mentor. He expressed that he was looking forward to competing at the Asian regional level to gain new experiences, develop good relationships and exchange knowledge with contenders from other countries.

Louis said Glenn and Christian would need to step up their pastry-making game a lot at the Asian level because unlike other Asian countries, the pastry chefs in Indonesia had yet to receive a significant support from the government.

“The main problem for the Indonesian team when competing abroad is the lack of adequate equipment that can be used during the competition. Sometimes, I am amazed when I see how a team from Japan can receive the equipment they need sent via special container shipments facilitated by their government,” Louis said.

The lack of support and equipment, however, has made Indonesian pastry chefs a lot more versatile and resilient in handling pressure and this, according to Louis, can be the difference for Glenn and Christian to impress at the competition. (hdt)

— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

— Photos courtesy of PT Cetta Satkaara

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