The quality of French cuisine is respected the world over. Makes sense, even the word “cuisine” comes from the French. Yet last month, top chefs from a four star international hotel in Paris took lessons in Balinese cooking, to be ready for their restaurant opening. Their teacher is a Swiss-born chef now considered an international ambassador for Indonesian and particularly Balinese food. The whole story is a good example of how cultures can influence each other in positive ways.
It all begins at the Marriott’s latest world-class hotel, the Renaissance Arc de Triomphe, which is opening March 2009 with an Art Deco architectural theme. Research by the hotel’s project managers unearthed the information that much of Paris’ early Art Deco furniture, homewares and even wooden structures had been shipped across the world from where they were produced - in Indonesia.
So they decided to create an Indonesian restaurant within the hotel, to honour that connection.
It is a strong connection. The Art Deco style evolved from the 1925, Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (although the term itself wasn’t coined until 1967, as a short form of “Arts Décoratifs”).
Art Deco combined contemporary design, architecture, and a broad spectrum of decorative arts, drawing inspiration from ancient and primitive arts including those of Java and Bali, and was purified by ideas of the functionalists. Some experts believe Balinese art was strongly influenced by Art Deco well into the 1970s, while the city of Bandung is one of three in the world – the other two being Napier New Zealand and Miami, Florida - that can legitimately call themselves “Art Deco cities”.
In Napier’s case, the whole town was rebuilt from its foundations only six years after the Paris exhibition, following the town’s destruction in a huge earthquake and fires in 1931. In the re-building process, NZ and British architects were inspired by the new vigor of the style, adopting it for almost every structure. In Miami, a smart developer lured the new rich to a fabulous modern development, built between the two world wars on reclaimed marshland. In Bandung, Dutch artists, architects and manufacturers brought the concept to the city, creating beautiful Art Deco office buildings and incorporating the style in many private homes, as well as manufacturing products that were exported for sale throughout the world. Who knows how many of those first Paris exhibits were manufactured here in Indonesia.
In Bali, there is clear evidence that from the 1930s many local artists were influenced by Art Deco, combining their traditional, ornate influences with more clean and stark contemporary styles. One example is the beautiful Art Deco wood carving of an elderly Balinese woman, by I Tagelan, on display in Ubud’s Puri Lukisan Museum. In 2006, in an exhibition at the Nusantara Museum, Delft, the Dutch art historian Leidelmeijer traced the Art Deco influence on Balinese wood carving. He believes that that the Art Deco influence continued well into 1970s.
So back to food, as we traverse to and fro across the globe.
In 1990 a Swiss chef was brought to Bali as Executive Chef of the new Grand Hyatt Bali. He had already worked in Europe, Singapore and Australia, acquiring Australian citizenship along the way. When Heinz von Holzen arrived in Bali, it was just the next step in his career path. But within a year, Heinz knew “I’m here for life”, as he married his wife Puji Aniki Oka, and they produced their son, Fabian.
In 1997, he and his wife created Bali’s first authentic Balinese restaurant, the multi-award winning Bumbu Bali in Nusa Dua. At Bumbu Bali, the restaurant itself has been built following the principles used in designing a traditional Balinese compound, a perfect setting for selecting from a menu containing only Balinese recipes, prepared and served in the traditional way. Countless trips into villages, homes and temples, together with an endless drive by Heinz to research deeper into the food culture of Bali have also resulted in several highly acclaimed beautiful cookbooks.
Later, creative Bali tourism operator, artist IB Lolec from Pacific World, suggested they build a venue for international tour groups. The resulting “Pasar Malam” will seat up to 300 guests, but has all the bustle, charm and intrigue of a Balinese night market. Guests sample freshly brewed brem and arak and eat their dinner in a one of several small buildings – each an example of a typical Balinese structure, from the Bale Banjar to a traditional fighting cock pavilion.
At the request of an Australian friend, Heinz and his wife have even opened a Balinese restaurant in Cairns, staffed by three great Balinese chefs from their Bumbu Bali team.
Meanwhile in Bali, hundreds of lucky individuals and groups participate in their popular cooking program every year. As with other excellent cooking classes across the island, small groups of participants first go to the local beach and market to help purchase the fish and other produce for the day’s class.
The truly adventurous can take it a step further. In late January this year, Heinz began an all day session with 70 Club Med general managers from Asia at 6.30am. Dividing them into competing groups of ten, he gave them a shopping list (in Balinese language) and no other instructions, except that they must return within two hours with all the ingredients, including a live frog, to begin their cooking class. No transport, no translator, off they went. When they returned – with most of the ingredients, except the frogs - they received two hours instruction in how Balinese food is prepared, cooked and served. Then, again divided into fiercely competitive groups, they worked for two more hours to prepare a set of recipes and present them to a panel of independent judges.
Over the past decade Heinz has taken Balinese cooking all over the world, invited to give demonstrations and classes from Dubai and Singapore, to San Moritz and South Africa. Heinz loves these sessions, and says that anyone who loves to cook can soon learn the significant factors in Balinese cooking. The key is the balance between various local flavours, the correct techniques for preparing ingredients, the freshest of produce and spices, and great, time-tested recipes.
So this latest task - to teach the chefs at the Renaissance Arc de Triomphe – is a familiar pleasure. Still, it would have been fascinating to have been a secret observer in the kitchen of this fabulous new Paris hotel, and smell the spices of Bali and Indonesia.
Franz says the main Paris market, Rungis, which is also the largest market in Europe, sells almost as many chilis as we can find in Bali.
Emailing from Paris he says, “I have found it very easy to get all but three ingredients, kencur, kandle nuts and salam. Which means that I can prepare Balinese food here that is just as delicious as at home.
“Once again, everybody who tasted the food here was surprised about the incredible flavour of our island’s cuisine. The biggest disappointment in Paris is the quality of fish, which is a far cry from what one likes to get,” Franz says.
As the expression goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we’d have to visit Paris to gauge the success of this “Art Deco” inspired international cultural exchange.
Still they probably got most of it right. Presumably, he gave them more instruction for their food purchases than just a Balinese shopping list. On the other hand, finding the frogs at the local markets shouldn’t have been a problem.
