EP: 71 Season3 Launch & Checkin with Indonesian Pastry Chef Gunawan Wu

Season3 Launch & Checkin with Indonesian Pastry Chef Gunawan Wu

Introduction: We're doing something very special to kick off Season 3 of Voice4Chefs. Joining us is my friend all the way from Indonesia, the amazing pastry chef, entrepreneur, and international pastry judge, Gunawan Wu. Known for his humility and dedication to helping others, Gunawan is not just a talented chef but also a mentor and an inspiration to many.

Episode Highlights:

1.     Chef Check-Ins:

• We’re bringing back chefs who originally started with the show to see what they’ve been up to.
• This episode is recorded for audio and our Voice4chefs Youtube Channel.

2.     Re- Introducing Gunawan Wu:

• Gunawan Wu, from Indonesia, returns to Voice4Chefs.
• Gunawan shares his gratitude for the platform and its impact on young and struggling chefs.

3.     Culinary Journey:

• Gunawan's background as an international accredited chef judge and pastry instructor.
• His experience teaching masterclasses in Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
• Exciting news about his new restaurant venture in Indonesia, Gazoz.

4.     Past Experiences:

• Gunawan's time in Australia working with various companies, including Nestle and Lakanto.
• His role as a brand ambassador and the impact of COVID-19 on his career.

5.     Teaching and Mentoring:

• Gunawan’s experience teaching children and adapting his technical skills for younger students.
• The rewarding moments of seeing children successfully create complex desserts.

6.     Judging Competitions:

• Insights into judging international chef competitions, including Chef Hats and high school competitions.
• The joy of tasting innovative dishes from young chefs and networking within the culinary community.

7.     Special Recognitions:

• Gunawan’s participation in the Savoir Patissier of the Year competition.
• His journey from a young graduate to a recognized pastry chef, inspired by his mentor.

Conclusion: Join us in celebrating the incredible journey of Chef Gunawan Wu, from teaching and mentoring to opening his own restaurant. Tune in to gain valuable insights and be inspired by his story of dedication and passion for the culinary arts.

Connect to our guest: GUNAWAN (@awi_wu) (https://www.instagram.com/awi_wu/)Instagram

Season2

Transcript

Michael Dugan: 0:52

We're doing something very special. My friend all the way from Indonesia is an amazing pastry chef, a chef and a restaurant owner and an international pastry judge. What's so incredible about him is he's so humble and he helps so many people. He mentors people and he's just a really inspiring chef. And I thought about this. And I talked with him and I said, I'm going to do these chef check ins and I'm bringing back people that originally started with the show. And we're just going to check in with them and see what's going on, what they're up to, what they've been up to since the last time we talked. And we thought that we would do this on video for you. So you could really connect. This is Gunawan Wu, and he's my friend all the way from Indonesia. And I just want to welcome you back Gunawan. I'm so honored to have you here.

Gunawan Wu: 1:39

Hi Michael, thank you for having me in Voice for Chef. I think this is a really great platform where we can share our experience, our time. And hopefully it helps many young chefs or struggling chefs or any chefs out there. And hi guys, my name is Gunawanu. If you haven't seen my podcast with 4chefs before, I'm an international accredited chef judge. I judge cooking competitions and also I'm international pastry chef instructor, so I've been doing masterclass in Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Hopefully one day I can go to Seattle to do some masterclasses with Michael.

Michael Dugan: 2:20

That would be amazing.

Gunawan Wu: 2:21

And also I'm a newly entrepreneur now, so I'm starting my own restaurants in Indonesia called Gazoz. Now, I'm working on new project. I think we can talk more in this episode. Bye.

Michael Dugan: 2:33

It's not secretive anymore.

Gunawan Wu: 2:35

It's 70 percent almost done, Michael.

Michael Dugan: 2:38

Oh my gosh, I'm so proud of you. Let's just get to that. But let's talk about, since the last time we talked, you were in Australia.

Gunawan Wu: 2:46

Yes.

Michael Dugan: 2:46

And where were you working in Australia? Let's circle back to that first.

Gunawan Wu: 2:51

All right. I think I go around in Australia a lot. I stay in the same city, but I've been working with many companies.

Michael Dugan: 2:59

And it was Adelaide, right?

Gunawan Wu: 3:00

Yes.

Michael Dugan: 3:01

Okay.

Gunawan Wu: 3:02

I was a brand ambassador, like a chocolate ambassador for Nestle. Professionally, Oh my

Michael Dugan: 3:08

gosh, that's really cool.

Gunawan Wu: 3:09

And also ambassador for Lakanto. It's a sugar replacer. I've been working with these two amazing company. And unfortunately during that time, it's COVID time.

Michael Dugan: 3:21

Yeah,

Gunawan Wu: 3:21

so we can't travel much. I guess I can share my knowledge and skills through videos So i've been doing a lot of products and recipes for them in the videos and also in adelaide I've been teaching in a college and also a cooking school

Michael Dugan: 3:38

Yeah. And, but you were also teaching kids. I remember, tell me about that. Cause I see you light up my friend. When you think about teaching, I just see the side of you of just the shining, like light. And I want everyone to know that's listening and connected because it's a very special thing when you give from your heart and from your soul back. And when you're teaching, it's special. So I'd love for you to share about that.

Gunawan Wu: 4:07

All right. So first of all, I've been teaching professionally as a chef instructor in college. I barely doing with kids because I think The way my dessert was a little bit too professional for some, a little bit too technical, I would say.

Michael Dugan: 4:25

Right.

Gunawan Wu: 4:25

But it wasn't impossible. I think when I get the opportunity to teach these kids, I came up with the idea of all my, some of my recipes, some of my desserts. I tried it on the kids and give them simple recipe and do it. And they actually did it amazingly and I was surprised not just a chef can do this, but kids, when we teach them properly, they can actually follow instruction.

Michael Dugan: 4:51

Wow. Do you remember what you taught them? Can you share a little bit about that? I'm a child. I'm coming to learn from you. What am I learning?

Gunawan Wu: 5:00

All right. So depending on the age, obviously I've been teaching start from six years old towards 15 years old. So with the teenage, I will go for advanced technical pastries. Like I will do my forbidden tree. So there is a part with milk chocolate raspberry mousse, raspberry jelly, sponge cake, chocolate soil, chocolate tree, and also pashmak fairy floss. So it's a Persian fairy floss to make like a tree. And I was amazed that all these kids able to do like a chef. It's the same like when you come to a restaurant, this is a restaurant's plate of dessert, right?

Michael Dugan: 5:43

Right.

Gunawan Wu: 5:44

With the kids of six years old, I think it's a little bit different. First time I was shocked because it's just so different because I'm not used to it, right? Really hard to get their attention because they get distracted so easily.

Michael Dugan: 5:58

They're young. Yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 5:59

Yes. And with the, with the hot pan, you're gonna have to teach them how to, stir and saute.

Michael Dugan: 6:07

Wow.

Gunawan Wu: 6:08

Hot food. And then with knives.

Michael Dugan: 6:10

I was thinking that. How do you handle a child with a knife?

Gunawan Wu: 6:15

I need to look after 12 to 15 students at a time. I'm the only one there. I'm like a headless chook. So it's wait, you wait, you wait. All right. Hey, George, just wait. I will come to you. And I've been running all around to help everybody. And that was my first experience, right? The first time my initial thought was like, I'm exhausted. Going with Charles, a little bit different, especially with 12 to 15, six years old. But then after a few tries, I get to enjoy it because how lovely are they, you know what I mean? And no matter what's the result, they're so proud. And that's what we always forget as a chef. We always put too high expectation to ourself and we often disappoint ourself. And I Oh, these kids inspire me. They really love what they do. They're so proud of what we they're doing. It reminds me when I was a student,

Michael Dugan: 7:15

Oh, I love it. I remember you talked about that in the episode, and if you're not aware, we have a two part series. It's called Pushing the Pastry Envelope with Aussie Chef Gunawan. He's a rebel in the pastry industry, and, but he's got a humble heart. It's just his mind, he like pushes the envelope, and that's why I created that title. You should check it out if you haven't yet. You'll really get to know his background. Yeah, I understand what you mean about pivoting back, and when you work with kids. You have these different memories that come back to you. Yep. That's really cool. We've got teaching kids. We've got your time in Adelaide working in one or a couple different restaurants, but you were also judging international chef competitions. Yep. Were you doing, you were doing that in Adelaide too, right?

Gunawan Wu: 8:01

I did that in Adelaide almost every year is for,

Michael Dugan: 8:04

wow.

Gunawan Wu: 8:04

Chef hats competitions.

Michael Dugan: 8:06

Okay.

Gunawan Wu: 8:07

A lot of other small competitions like high school competitions and also apprentice of the year competition, like that.

Michael Dugan: 8:14

Mm

Gunawan Wu: 8:14

It's held every year by Australian Culinary Federation. So we get to judge three to four days straight for these three different competitions every year.

Michael Dugan: 8:24

Yeah, what's behind the scenes like that? Can you describe how many chefs or potential chefs are in the competition so our audience and listeners can get an idea?

Gunawan Wu: 8:33

We talk about before COVID, there were a lot of these young chefs or potential chefs. They are learning to be a chef at one time, I would say it goes up 12 to 16 participants at a time.

Michael Dugan: 8:49

Okay.

Gunawan Wu: 8:49

Look, I was in the best positions. I get to see a lot of new potential kids. Sometimes they came up with different ideas that you never thought of. It's become an inspiration for me. Wow. And what best is you get to taste it.

Michael Dugan: 9:04

That's what you were telling me. Yeah, that must be really incredible. Yeah. You get to try all these different foods and probably a great opportunity to network with up and coming chefs or chefs that you hadn't seen in a long time, maybe some other judges. And because you are definitely a networker, you really connect to people and I think that's a really amazing skill. Yes,

Gunawan Wu: 9:22

I guess during judging, it was a great opportunity for me to catch up with all the seniors I would say. I was quite young to be part of the judging community as well.

Michael Dugan: 9:34

Yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 9:35

I was very grateful that all these seniors always there for me. They always support me. They always guide me how to do this. Even though, I've been doing the workshop and all that, but they still try to guide me and all that whenever I ask questions, they're always there. And what best is that we get to get along as a friend, not just being in the in the competition, but outside of there, we sometimes going for dreams. We still. Talk as a chef community,

Michael Dugan: 10:06

wow, that's awesome. So the other thing I want to talk about too, and you sent me some recent information about a magazine article, but you were also in, was it Savoir magazine?

Gunawan Wu: 10:16

Savoir Patissier of the Year.

Michael Dugan: 10:19

Yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 10:20

That's more like a competition. So I went for Patissier of the Year. It's like a pastry chef of the year competition. Wow. I remember I just graduated from school. Not long after that.

Michael Dugan: 10:31

Yeah. Oh, wow. So you were young.

Gunawan Wu: 10:33

Yes. Very young.

Michael Dugan: 10:34

That was like 2016, right?

Gunawan Wu: 10:36

Yes. Funny story. I get end up to join that competition was my mentor my lecturer in texted me and he like, Hey, there's competition going on because he know that I love doing competition. I love. Challenge myself and you're like, you want to join this, but I'm not sure you're not being young. Sometimes you are not confident about yourself. You are I able to do that? And then he was like saying, if you join, I join, let's do it together. So I was thinking about I'm not going to be able to beat him. I'm not going to win, but I'm going there to learn something and have fun with him. So I apply for it. We went through interview and all that. I finally get true.

Michael Dugan: 11:16

Wow.

Gunawan Wu: 11:17

And I was like I get through it. So I call my mentor and I was like, Hey, Paul, did you get in? And He's like, what get in? The competition. And he was like, I never apply. I was like, what? I already get in.

Michael Dugan: 11:30

Oh my gosh. He didn't apply. Your mentor didn't apply.

Gunawan Wu: 11:34

What am I supposed to do? And he was like, don't worry. I will accompany you to Sydney. He's been helping me all along. I think he tried to make me realize my own potential.

Michael Dugan: 11:45

Okay.

Gunawan Wu: 11:46

So he encouraged me by, saying that he gonna join the competition with me, but he never left me alone. So since I got in every time when I need to doing trial, some experiment and all that, he always being there. Sometimes Le Cordon Bleu as well support me a lot. They gave me a space in their class. So my mentor, my lecturer teaching a class, and they always leave me a bench.

Michael Dugan: 12:14

Okay.

Gunawan Wu: 12:14

During the class so that I can experiment my things. And Le Cordon Bleu always What product do you need? You just tell the lecturer and we order it for you.

Michael Dugan: 12:23

Oh my gosh,

Gunawan Wu: 12:24

and they actually sponsored my flight tickets and hotel and everything. I'm very grateful for the schools because, I'm alumni. I'm not there. I'm not their clients anymore. Like I'm an ex client, but they still treat me like a family. Like you still look, quote, rumbler. So that's why I'm very proud to bring their names because as you can see, I get a lot of supports from them too.

Michael Dugan: 12:53

It's karma too, Gunawan, because you have you are a very special person. As I've told you before, just I interview a lot of chefs. I've been fortunate on the show to have just incredible people that really care, really give back to the community. They mentor, they do a lot of really great things. And you do that every time I talk to you, you're helping somebody. It's good to see it come back to you.

Gunawan Wu: 13:13

Thank you.

Michael Dugan: 13:14

As we move on. So you're in Adelaide and you're working in a couple of different restaurants and you're doing a bunch of different things. I remember when we interviewed you're in Indonesia, now you're in Indonesia. Tell us how you got from Adelaide to Indonesia.

Gunawan Wu: 13:31

All right. I think I need to go back towards the competition. I have a very interesting story about it. All right.

Michael Dugan: 13:40

Great.

Gunawan Wu: 13:41

I was working in a polenta bar. It's more like an Italian restaurant. It's beautiful restaurants. I love the foods and since it's a family owned restaurants, I couldn't do my spectacular Pastry, that's what they call it something different. They wanted rusty dessert, Italian dessert and all that. When I get into this competition I need to work doubles four days so that I can get extra off there to practice, right? I guess during that time, I wasn't realize I'm in a comfort zone. So you get tired easily. You are not motivated. You're like, why am I doing this? It's so tiring and I'm not being productive at all during that time. I just felt like maybe I just get through this competition and that's all, I'm not gonna make impact in my life. I just sick of this, sometimes you get into that point. You just so get used to your normal daily life and suddenly you need to change that to push yourself to next limit, but you're just complaining and Oh, it's so tiring. I just want to go home and all that. One day, one of my seniors at work, I would say insulted me. With his words, and I was very furious. I'm not happy at all. I'm, I was like, Hey, people can be out there in life. We like a wheel. We can be out there. Sometimes we can be down there, but one day I will be up there and looking down at you, but I will never look down at you, but I will be up there. And I was so angry with him, but I guess that's like a slap to wake me up from my comfort zone, without realizing it the next day I went for practicing for my competition. I was become more productive. I was like, dude, in one day I can do three different desserts and it was all awesome. And I believe that anger become a source of energy to my motivation. It's I'm going to show you, dude. You know what I mean? I'm going to show you. I'm very angry. So this is what I want to share to listener. It's okay to get angry, but don't throw it to anyone else, but use that as a energy. And as a motivation, it's a positive motivation. It's good to have the anger, but it will improve you without you realizing it. When I'm angry, I want to prove that to that guy. At first, I was working so hard without realizing I'm working hard,

Michael Dugan: 16:09

right?

Gunawan Wu: 16:10

Because we are in a anger state, but when, I get into, my result was good, and I got into the front page of the recipe book. I think it was amazing, right? And I won People's Choice Award for my part with the sugar dome. I bring back to work and show him, hey, I want to curse him at first. It changed. I actually said thank you instead of cursing him because it's like, if it wasn't because he insulted me, I would be in my comfort zone and I would give up or I would just let it be. I'm not going to make impact in my life. When I got my result, my anger went gone and I came to him and said, thank you. Wow.

Michael Dugan: 16:56

Wow.

Gunawan Wu: 16:58

And he was surprised. Why do I say thank you for? I was like, look, I'm in the magazine and thank you. That's it.

Michael Dugan: 17:03

Yeah, that to me is very unique, right? I am very similar in that way. I noticed that about you right away when we interviewed, when we talked, when we collaborated it's a people side, right? That's very rare. In chefs and I work in technology now, I used, I studied to be a chef for 10 years. I worked in the business, but it's a people side. That's very rare for people to think outside of themselves, right? What's their motivation? Why are they frustrated? Why are they angry with you? Maybe they're just totally stressed out. Maybe somebody threw a plate at them. You don't really know what it is, but if you can pull back and just say, you know what, I'm going to help this person by being more relaxed about it, not getting angry, not confronting them. It works. And it really works. And some of them get it. And some of them don't, sometimes people just, they just want to be angry, but you and I are cup is half full. There's no question about it. We're not cup is half empty, meaning that we look at life in a positive way. We talk about Adelaide, but again, how did you get to Indonesia? How did you're, you built this amazing restaurant in Indonesia. You got to tell this story, you got to share this with everybody.

Gunawan Wu: 18:14

In most of my articles in Australia, I always say that I was born and raised in Indonesia. It's always my hometown. It's always where I bought. I was born. It's always a home for me, even in Australia. I was thinking about Indonesia, it's a great country, good food, and families are here too. COVID changed everything as well. I was in a long distance relationship and it's really tough.

Michael Dugan: 18:37

Sure.

Gunawan Wu: 18:38

When Australian government start to open up, I think it's easier for me to went back to Indonesia rather than my girlfriend back then came to Australia. At first, I was planning to come back for three months to check up, How is it going with Indonesian trend with the hospitality industries and all that and planning about my future with my wife now, right? We plan to get married. When I came back to Batam, it's a small city very close by from Singapore. It's 45 minutes by ferry from Singapore.

Michael Dugan: 19:13

Oh.

Gunawan Wu: 19:14

And this island, you can see marina basins and all that. It's like swimming distance, like you can swim there. It's like It's so close.

Michael Dugan: 19:22

Oh my gosh. I've always wanted to go to Singapore. That's on my bucket list. If

Gunawan Wu: 19:27

you come to Singapore, you can just take ferry to Batam. That's how close it is. You can come in the morning and leave in the evening. Late afternoon or evening. It's only 45 minutes, right?

Michael Dugan: 19:39

Wow.

Gunawan Wu: 19:40

What surprised me is that it changed. I've been away from this city for 13 years, and I was blown away. It was like, wow, the F& B industry really striving. I guess because of the inflection of the tourists coming in every week. We get a lot of tourists from Malaysia and Singapore, and we got a big community of expats from everywhere in the world. Lebanese, American Australian, and everybody needs food. That's what the chef's for. Right. So I saw opportunity there. So my initial three months, it become two years now. So then it's struggle at first to, looking for places, business idea and all that struggle with different mindset, but I always believe in my way it's not being idly, but I saw opportunity what people don't see So in Indonesia, everybody's selling, like the noodles and all that, but I'm seeing like, there is I think a hundred more stores selling the same thing. Why don't I become the only one selling different things, right? Even though I'm not going to get the whole market, but I believe the niche will come. And, the other market will be like, Oh, I'm sick of this. You see how I see it? The businessman will say, Hey, this place is so packed with people. So let's start another business with the same model. But it's a customer. When I came, I have no choice. I only have that noodle. So I eat, but from the other perspective, people will say, Hey, that's a good business because people love eating noodles from the customer point of view. Like me, I eat this noodle because I have no choice. So I'm giving them Being the only different amongst the mainstream, then the locals start to be like, Hey, this is a different one. I want to try. Hey, they sell sourdough. Hey, they sell scrambled eggs. Hey, they sell pasta. Let's come and try. Can you believe that I expected without much customer for the first three months?

Michael Dugan: 21:54

I believe it. Absolutely.

Gunawan Wu: 21:56

But they proved me wrong. The first three months we were hit with the busiest customers like Almost every day we are fully booked like

Michael Dugan: 22:05

full. That's incredible. Tell us why, right? I'm a young entrepreneur like you and I'm listening. I want to know some tips, some idea about how do you bring people in?

Gunawan Wu: 22:17

I have already did my marketing before even I opened. I did my marketing since February. I opened in August. I did fine dining, collaborating with hotels. I went to Jakarta to do another fine dining. I went to Kuala Lumpur to do another fine dining. And I keep posting Gazoz. And people wasn't, people don't know what is Gazoz. What is that? But it looks cool.

Michael Dugan: 22:40

I remember because I've been watching you. I've been watching all the momentum from the beginning. And I was so excited for you. I was just so excited. It's really cool.

Gunawan Wu: 22:51

And people been waiting like when Gazoz open. I was like, hey, yeah, people start waiting. But again. When we build the interior, the building and all that, there is some problems, it takes longer than I expected. I was promised for two months, but it happens like eight to nine months from, but again, I have to keep trying to fuel this Gazo's that's why every month. I need to plan to go somewhere to do my fine dining and all that. My wife wasn't really happy at first. Three weeks before our wedding day, I went to Kuala Lumpur to do fine dining.

Michael Dugan: 23:34

Oh, okay.

Gunawan Wu: 23:35

Because I don't want people to forget about gazoz. Even we're not open yet, I want to fill it up. This exposure only last maybe two, three, four weeks. So you're gonna have to keep people, Hey, we're here, we're still alive. You know what I mean? I think it works. So when we open it, just

Michael Dugan: 23:53

boom.

Gunawan Wu: 23:54

I was like, wow,

Michael Dugan: 23:56

wow,

Gunawan Wu: 23:57

me in the kitchen. Can you believe as the executive chefs? I couldn't. Be in the kitchen. Can you believe that I'm in the kitchen? I was doing the pass and all that. My, my stuff from the front of house will knock the door and chef, someone wants to see you. Chef wants someone wants to see you.

Michael Dugan: 24:15

Right. Of course. Of course you're a celebrity. Yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 24:18

And I went up and say hello to everybody. I was so happy to see everybody, but I just couldn't step into the kitchen anymore every now and then I will go into the kitchen for a few hours to check, call the chair. No, this is not the way guys. No matter what you do before, I don't care. Can you do my standard? Can you do this? Because this is guys, us, right? I never say someone's method is right or wrong. If this is guys, us, this is guys, us way. So I keep training. I wouldn't say it's funny, but I think most proud moment is that I'm getting students like for students working in the kitchen, it runs my students. And me, right? Wow. And the first two weeks, it went flawless.

Michael Dugan: 25:10

Wow.

Gunawan Wu: 25:11

No problem. Came out the longest for 22 minutes, but that's maybe one or two. Most of the time, they put out by 15 minutes or less by students. And I was like, I'm so proud of them.

Michael Dugan: 25:24

That's really good.

Gunawan Wu: 25:27

But mind you though, we already hired them a month before we even opened and we've been training everybody before anything happened.

Michael Dugan: 25:35

That's the way to do it. You gotta have training because you have that one opportunity to make an impression. And if it's a bad impression, it goes the opposite direction, but it turned out to be a good impression. So you've been very successful. This is Gazos number one. What's happening next?

Gunawan Wu: 25:52

Drum roll. What inspired me for the second one?

Michael Dugan: 25:56

Had to do it.

Gunawan Wu: 25:57

Big success on the first one, right? But then I'm a rebel. I like to break the rules.

Michael Dugan: 26:02

I love it.

Gunawan Wu: 26:03

I like to be who I am. So when I started this concept, I'm not going to be mainstream. Some people might do a Western theme restaurants or cafe. They would still localize. They would still do Indonesian taste to suit every market. The concept is still have rice, chili sauce, and all that, but it's become a controversy controversial here where I'm not even eating any rice. I don't have rice in my menu, which is not common because people hear Oh, I'm not full when I'm not eating rice, something like that, it's the mindset because they're used to it. Everywhere they go, there will be rice,

Michael Dugan: 26:42

right? Yeah. That's it.

Gunawan Wu: 26:43

I get it. I want to start revolutionize something different. I'm just being me. Nope. But again, just being different people, just not used to it. So it takes time. But I was very grateful that many supporters, a lot of locals that been study outside, they miss this concept. They've been studying in Melbourne, they've been studying in Sydney and they're like, dude, I miss this kind of food. So I always see the same face every week and I think I'm in the right path, I did the right thing. People love this and every week I'll be full with tourists. I would say I become destination. People start to take in America, maybe you say Uber, but in here we have another. Platform called Gojek and Grab. So people just start Ubering coming in from nowhere. I was like, I'm, as you can see, I'm hidden. I'm hidden nowhere. I would say it's like a hidden gem.

Michael Dugan: 27:40

They have to make an effort to get there.

Gunawan Wu: 27:42

And I was surprised within the first month people start coming with Uber and taxi already. So it means people already know about it.

Michael Dugan: 27:51

That's awesome.

Gunawan Wu: 27:52

And in Google review we had 229 review and accumulate a 4. 9 star. Wow.

Michael Dugan: 28:00

That's impressive.

Gunawan Wu: 28:01

I think I'm very happy. And it talks a lot about the chefs, which is me, because I talk with them a lot. I came to give personal service.

Michael Dugan: 28:11

Now we have to go back to that because if you haven't listened to the episode that we're talking about, the thing that's unique is I remember this and it resonated with me. You worked in the front of the house and you studied to be a chef and you. You love the concept of hospitality and most people in the industry do, but you live it and because you live it, you connect. That's the reason it's. They want to see you because they want to connect with you. I want to connect with you. It was just this amazing thing that happened. And it's that's it part of it and your passion for food and what you can create when you combine all of it, it's successful. That's how I see it. And I think that people that listen, we'll feel that way too.

Gunawan Wu: 28:56

I think that's the best satisfaction that I could get from they love the concept, they love the food and they appreciate what you do,

Michael Dugan: 29:05

right? Yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 29:05

And that's what makes me want to do more. That's what makes me want to be better. than today, by seeing how happy they are with the food, how they appreciate my effort, how they appreciate my passion, and it's just wow, this is a fuel for my motivation, and that's what we live for as a chef, right? When you see someone clean your plate and they loved it, they lick your plate, and man, I have to do more for this guy. And what different approach I do here, maybe I can share to people all around the world, people might not agree with how I do it. Listen, I give a lot of complimentary.

Michael Dugan: 29:47

It's important to do that because people will come back for that reason. And they'll tell 10 or 20 people.

Gunawan Wu: 29:53

I think my stuff was like, this is the only place that I see the owner will come to talk to customers, we serve the customer and we'll give complimentary is like a lot of complimentary. And I always make a standard. If the food wasn't out by 15 minutes. You need to give them snacks. If the food is slow, you're gonna have to give them

Michael Dugan: 30:14

snacks. Oh, that's great.

Gunawan Wu: 30:15

When people munching, they forget about the time, right? I couldn't talk to them. If I could talk to one table, it would take half an hour to 45 minutes. How about the other table?

Michael Dugan: 30:25

Yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 30:26

When we talk to customers, they forget about the time. And then suddenly the food is out. I'm not gonna blame my kitchen. It's not about being slow or whatever, we just get hit, we just being busy. I tried to understand their position, so I came up with the idea, okay, when the food is not out by 15 minutes, it's gonna be a standard, ask for a potato chips from kitchen, complimentary on the house, enjoy the potato chips, and it works. People never complain the food is long.

Michael Dugan: 30:55

So there's two more things. And then we're going to wrap up the first is what's next. You've got another restaurant in the works and we can talk about that.

Gunawan Wu: 31:04

Remember the first month when I opened, people have been questioned about where's the rice, where's the chili sauce, going to give it to them, but not on my first one.

Michael Dugan: 31:15

Oh, okay. Okay.

Gunawan Wu: 31:19

If you lock my brain. You will love what I'm doing, right? So now, I hear you. You want rice? You want chili sauce? I make it for you on my new venture with a special menu. It's not gonna be a mainstream menu. I will make different kind of satay. Different kind of Indonesian food, but it's going to be my way of plating my flavors and yeah, it's going to be a little bit different. See, I

Michael Dugan: 31:47

know you are. That's the magic. That's the advice that you can impart to people that are listening is you've got to listen. You've got to connect. Many restaurants fail. 95 percent of restaurants fail. There was a number a long time ago. It's probably different now. It's probably worse because the pandemic. But the secret is to connect. The secret is to provide something that people don't expect. And they come back for that and they tell everybody about it. And that's really, when I went to school and I got my bachelor's, it was hotel restaurant administration. We had this amazing guy that we called the coach and the coach was in fast food, right? He was the president of Taco Bell or something like that. But we, his name was Don Smith and he's very famous in the U S. And he taught at the school that I went to, Washington State University. What was amazing is he found a way to get students to come in, not at eight o'clock in the morning, not at nine o'clock in the morning, at 6 a. m. Just to hear him speak. And he said, actually, it was 6 a. m. He would go running with the students, anyone that wanted to come, he would go running with them at 6 a. m. Now you're in college, you're out partying, you're going to get up at 6 a. m. Students did. And if you're in class at 7 15, he always had a surprise. I was in class at 7 15 AM. Every class was in the front row and he was amazing and inspirational. And that's what he taught was do something. That's going to blow them away, do something that they would never expect, and they will remember you forever. They will be loyal forever. And that's what you have created. My friend. There's no question in my mind, the way you talk, your philosophy, your training, your hospitality background, the way you blend front of the house and the back of the house is so rare. There are very few people that do that. That's what makes you unique. And that's why I think if you're anywhere near Gazos, you have to go there and experience it. So now you had somebody very special come visit you and work with you. And it was your mentor. Do you want to share a little bit about him?

Gunawan Wu: 33:44

All right. This is one of my mentors, I would say, because I've been mentored by many chefs out there many people. I think you might get confused with my first mentor that I talked about during my competition. That's my lecturer

Michael Dugan: 33:58

in

Gunawan Wu: 33:58

the Cordon Bleu. This is my Italian mentor. I think that's how we separate them. That's who I'm thinking

Michael Dugan: 34:03

of, yep.

Gunawan Wu: 34:04

This is my Italian mentor. His name is Mauro Gulli. I've been working with him in 2014. Yep. But I met him 2013. I was Volunteering, working for free and trying to find experience and all that. I met him during that time. He invited me to his restaurant and eat his food. 2014 I was employed in the same place where he works. So I was under him. For a few months, but it was very impactful as I was a very young student still learning I will not be working as fast as everyone else. I knew that i'm not used to some so then He kept telling me. Hey, you're working slower than the other lady or something me. I'm having ego I want always to be the best right? I want to improve myself. So what changed my life is actually The timer he actually put timer in front of me and I would beat myself every week So every time I do the same thing within certain time, let's say this week I was on 15 minutes next week I will beat it 14 or 13 minutes and it keep improving And I think that's moved him as well. It changed because not many people want to do that. People always give excuses like, Hey Mara, I can only do it like this. I can't push more. I'm just working. What he sees from me that I want to improve. I never seen such mentor where he asked question for me as well, because he knew I was an apprenticeship students. Then he asked me, Hey, what happens to my chocolate? My chocolate wasn't set properly and all that. I was like, Where do you keep it? Because during summer, we heat 44 degrees in Adelaide. He will keep his chocolate in the fridge. Fontaine's, I would say I was freaked out. He's no, you never keep chocolate in the fridge. Shit, I'm gonna lose my job because I just told him. Panic,

Michael Dugan: 35:52

yeah.

Gunawan Wu: 35:53

Maybe next week he's not going to call me back to work. But you know what? I still have my schedule. I still came on time and I worked with him and he came to me. I listened to you and my chocolate now it's good. Wow. Oh yeah. Good. And he came to me and say, Hey, I want to learn. I was just like you are my head chef and you want to learn chocolate from me? That makes us work very motivated I never take my break. I will work faster, so I have time to teach him how to make chocolates. When our boss passed by, I was like, you guys never eat? I was like, no, we're so excited to do this chocolate. And Mauro would be very excited to learn something new. And I'm just like, I was a student. I haven't even finished my schools yet. He wanted to learn from me. And I was like, wow, what a mentor. And that inspired me to learn whatever Italian cuisine that he's going to teach. And that's what made Gattuso today. My food was inspired by him too. A lot of the sauces and all that is being thought by him. And when the first time I opened Gazoz, I think the fourth day, he flew from Spain to Singapore and take ferry to Batam and he take taxi into Gazoz and, all my staff and my manager was like hey, there's someone come with taxi. We're so excited because we just opened. Who would come with pets? That's gonna be a tourist or something. But we just opened for 4 days and people already know about us. Then they're like, hey chef, chef, go and greet them. And I was like wait a second. That's Maro.

Michael Dugan: 37:31

That's so awesome.

Gunawan Wu: 37:33

And I just ran out and I just hugged him. He came and tried my food. And he said Yosugo is good and I was like, that's your, the one that you taught me is this is really good. And his wife was like saying, this is as good as Mauro's. I was like, wow, I'm glad that I passed. And the wife said, can you sell us a liter or two liters of this? Oh my

Michael Dugan: 37:55

gosh. No, that's so great.

Gunawan Wu: 37:57

So that Mauro doesn't have to do it, we just buy it from you here, because this is as good as his. I was like, oh my god, I was so happy.

Michael Dugan: 38:06

Yeah. How much time did he spend with you? Because didn't he spend a little bit of time at the restaurant?

Gunawan Wu: 38:11

The first time he only came for two

Michael Dugan: 38:14

days.

Gunawan Wu: 38:14

It was a very short trip and I wasn't be able to Hang around with him a lot because I had my fine dining event at night second month or third month He would come again and I asked him to teach my How to make ravioli, how to make a proper gnocchi and all that. I think it's just a new experience for the staff to see different mentor. It's like their mentors, they get it from the grandfather. It's if I'm their father, yeah, they get it right from the grandfather. And they're so excited. They're very happy. They get different experience while working with.

Michael Dugan: 38:55

That's so cool. One or two more questions and we'll wrap up. But if Carrie and I were to come visit, where would you take us around your area? If you, if it wasn't Singapore, where would you take us nearby? What would we do besides eat the amazing food in your restaurant?

Gunawan Wu: 39:11

They, I think they have few adventure, adventure park, paymo, Archeries, four wheel drive, go karts, few resorts few seafood. We are very famous with seafood in this city. Oh,

Michael Dugan: 39:23

wow.

Gunawan Wu: 39:25

And it's cheap, too, because we are Akibelago, it's an island. Our seafood is very cheap and delicious. Wow. There's a lot of local food that I would bring you and carry you to.

Michael Dugan: 39:38

Okay. Any last words? Any final message? Anything you want to share with the world?

Gunawan Wu: 39:45

Investing in a restaurant, we need to invest in our staff. That's what my personal thought by showing them and teaching them without worrying that they will leave, right? You actually will maintain your standard quality and consistency. If you are scared of them leaving and you're not gonna teach them anything, then you will work yourself to death. You just need to be standby there every day. You need to be there to check on everything. But if you're actually investing in yourself, you Fully support, train them as the best as you can. And I'm teaching internationally. People pay me for it, right? People pay me 200 bucks an hour to teach privately. The good things is working with me. I think the perk working with me, I'll train you for free and I still pay you. You get paid and learn something. Yes.

Michael Dugan: 40:49

Working at Gazo's. Yeah, for sure.

Gunawan Wu: 40:51

And a lot of people was like, you don't keep any secret. No, I put everything in the book. You can just read it. I have my standard recipe because I want the customer to enjoy my food. Without me, they still continuing my legacy, right? So I want everybody to be me in here, in Gazoz. In the kitchen, I want everybody to be me.

Michael Dugan: 41:14

That's fantastic.

Gunawan Wu: 41:16

But obviously I always encourage them to come up with something new because I want to be as a team. I want the menu show Gazoz. This is Gazoz team. So when I first training, you follow what I do. When you get hang around with it, I say, Hey, I want to know what potential, what's your potential, what you're good at. Come up with the menu. Let's improve it and I will sell it, it's not all about me, but it's all about guys. Okay.

Michael Dugan: 41:45

Gunawan, I can't thank you enough for doing this. We've been back and forth trying to figure out when this was going to happen. And I was really excited about it. And I know you were too, and it's been so much fun. And thanks for being a guest in the past. Thanks for being a guest today and helping me kick off our YouTube channel. So I'm just really honored. For you being part of Voice for Chefs, and I hope we continue to do this in the future. Thank you so much.

Gunawan Wu: 42:12

Thank you so much, Michael, for having me. I think it's really great opportunity for me to share what's my story. Hopefully it's become an inspiration. Yeah. Why I love to share this because I always get inspired by someone's story, and I want to share my stories too. Hopefully it will inspire people. Because my biggest goal is to get inspired by people who I inspire.