Bartending with a smile and flair
Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The warm lighting, moon orchids and lounge atmosphere of the Oriental Bar at the Hotel Mandarin Oriental Jakarta provides a cozy place to unwind after a day's work, accompanied by a live band crooning the tunes of Norah Jones.
The Oriental may not be the neon-lit, rowdy establishment of Cocktail, the 1988 film starring Tom Cruise, but it has bottle- juggling bartenders.
Bar Manager Agung Adhi Prabowo has recently brought home a trophy from the 2005 International Bar Association (IBA) flairtending competition, held from May 10 through May 13 at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre. The only Indonesian entry among 64 top bartenders from Asia, Australia and Europe, Agung came in second place.
"We are so, so proud of him," said Mandarin Resident Manager Markus Schneider, who was bubbling with excitement the week Agung returned from Hong Kong.
"But it's really 1st Runner-up," Agung said with his characteristic smile. "There's only one winner -- the No. 1 bartender."
Born and raised in Jakarta, Agung graduated in 1998 from state tourism senior high school Panca Sakti, where bartending is part of the hotel, restaurant and tourism services curriculum. He did not initially plan on becoming a professional bartender -- until he saw Cocktail. Inspired, he began practicing juggling and other bar tricks every day with a co-worker at the now-defunct Poni Cafe in Pondok Indah.
"Bartending is a way to have personal contact with guests, to get to know people. It's also about entertaining guests."
When Agung decided upon his career path, however, his parents disagreed: "My father said, your life will be in alcohol."
But determined to become a top-notch bartender, Agung became a member of the Jakarta Bartenders Club (JBC) in 2000, and used his spare time from a 5 nights on, one night off work week to take advanced certificate courses from 2001-2004 -- including a Ministry of Tourism bartender course and the Sopexa wine training course.
"But I didn't do it alone. I had the support of friends and fellow bartenders."
Following his dream paid off when he entered the 2001 Jakarta Bartender Competition held at Hotel Horison Bekasi and placed fourth. With this initial success, he also won his parents' support.
Since then, he has competed annually in successively higher competitions. He has arguably been Indonesia's No. 1 bartender since 2001, when he won the From Java to Bali with Love competition -- but he missed the 2003 Java-Bali meet in Malang.
Agung usually prepares two months ahead of a competition with a daily regimen, but that year, he received the invitation with only two weeks left to practice.
"So I practiced every day after work until morning, from about 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. I pushed myself too hard when I was tired, so...," he shrugged. One night, he was juggling three bottles when two crashed in mid-air, and a small shard of glass flew into his eye, scratching it.
"I had to get an operation on my eye and was hospitalized for four days."
He traveled to Malang anyway, "to watch everyone's performance".
"When I got there, my friends from Lombok, Bali, Java, Surabaya, they all went 'what happened to you, Agung?'" He laughs, "Then they joked, 'Well, this time we can really compete'" -- because Agung was not.
From his humble beginnings as bar boy in 1997, he worked up through junior bartender and to bartender, and was working at the Hotel Shangri-La's BATS nightclub when he was scouted in 2003 by Schneider. The Mandarin was reopening the hotel bar under a new concept -- the Oriental -- and Agung joined the team as Bar Master, the No. 2 bartender.
Last year, he was invited to his first IBA competition, even though Indonesia is not an association member.
"I was sent to Excelsior Hotel Hong Kong in 2004 to train the bar staff there, and they remembered me."
Sponsored by the JBC and the Bartender Fan Club Jakarta, an informal network of professional and aspiring bartenders, he went to Shanghai and placed fifth.
"But the big one is the world bartending competition in Las Vegas held by Skyy Vodka ... the Skyy Legends." Entry is, again, by invitation only.
And if he gets to Vegas, what then?
"Well, I want to open my own bar as a reward, and a bartending school."
Now the vice president of the JBC, Agung is passing on his skills and experience to a new generation of bartenders while working to establish a national association.
As for becoming a great flairtender, he advises, "Practice, practice, practice."
"And break as many bottles as you can," he smiled.
Agung's competition cocktail, "Bamboo", with vodka, crushed lychee and passionfruit, and lychee and strawberry Monin syrups, will be featured in June as a Cocktail of the Month at the Oriental Bar.