Open Kitchen: A new dining concept at major restaurants

Open Kitchen: A new dining concept at major restaurants

Rudijanto
Contributor
Jakarta

Good background music, suitable interior design, quality
furniture and tableware have long been important factors that
enhance a dining experience, but what about if the hectic
activity and full environment of a kitchen became part of the
dining experience as well?

Today's restaurants can hardly neglect other non-food aspects.
Activities in the kitchen, such as chopping, frying or roasting,
and the enticing aromas from kitchens have now become part of the
total dining experience.

That is what the Open Kitchen concept, a new growing trend
among modern restaurants, is all about. Look at Scusa, Italian
and Mediterranean restaurant at Jakarta's Intercontinental
MidPlaza that has its kitchen at right near the entrance.

Designed with futuristic interior and a good combination of
metal and warm terracotta colors, Scusa looks just like other
modern restaurants that provide a cozy atmosphere for dining
except for one thing - Open Kitchen concept.

This concept is radically new among restaurants since the
kitchen, traditionally a hidden place in most of restaurants,
suddenly becomes one of restaurant's interior design. Under this
new trend, the kitchen is no longer put behind the scene but
comes to the fore.

In Scusa, the live or background music, cozy environment and
good original Italian delicacies seem incomplete without another
live show, the performance of its Italian chef Luca Pazzera on
the kitchen stage.

Without a wall to hide behind, Pazzera are essentially on
display for all guests who wish to watch their "gracious kitchen
dance". It has become an important part of the overall
experience, together with the soft jazz background music or even
a live music performance to complete the dining experience.

Similarly, the kitchen is brought to life in the center of C's
Steak & Seafood restaurant at Jakarta's Grand Hyatt. The whole
process of cooking, all the ingredients and movements of Chef
Massimiliano Ziano and his team have truly become the center of
this restaurant.

Unlike at Scusa, where the open kitchen is off to the side,
C's Steak & Seafood brings has its kitchen exactly in the center
of the restaurant and, therefore it is completely visible from
any corner of the restaurant, and thus, emphasizes the
transparent interior design of the restaurant.

Just like Scusa's Luca Pazzera who is the lead actor on his
kitchen stage, C's Steak & Seafood's Italian chef Massimiliano
Ziano and his team are suddenly brought to the center stage,
often times the only live show in the restaurant.

Savoring delicious t-bone steak or steamed garoupa will never
be complete without viewing Ziano's and his team's kitchen stage
performance.

Another restaurant that follows this radical trend is MAMA(r)
German Restaurant in Bali. Located in the heart of Kuta on the
main shopping road, Legian Street, Mama hides none of its kitchen
activity from the guests.

Its German chef, Ralf Schmidt constitutes the inseparable part
of dining experience in the restaurant. Maintaining high
standards of quality and cleanliness, Schmidt has become part of
the live show along with daily live music in the restaurant.

The restaurant is famous for its unique specialties, a crispy
Pork Knuckle from the spit with home-made sausages prepared in
its Denpasar meat factory. Badly affected by the Bali bomb that
devastated Paddy's and Sari Club down the road on Legian Street,
Mama now stays open - around the clock.

The Open Kitchen certainly demands more on the part of the
chef. That's why Scusa's Luca Pazzera admits that in the first
couple of days he felt a little bit distracted by guests'
questions but after some time, he now relishes and sees it as a
"beautiful concept".

"The open kitchen creates interaction between the guests and
the chef because people can come to the kitchen and speak with
the chef. I feel happy with this concept and it does not demand
much more from me because I always work with a high standard of
cleanliness," says Pazzera.

C's Steak & Seafood's chef Massimiliano Ziano essentially
echoed Pazzera's feelings when he says that working in an open
kitchen helps him to be more connected to the guests. But one
important thing for Ziano is that it makes him understand all the
problems on the other side of the barricade, namely the service
people.

"I think the guests feel more comfortable when they can see
what's going on in the kitchen, as we are proud to show the
harmonic way to do our job of preparing food. Personally, working
in an open kitchen gives me extra confidence when it's time for
me to go to the table and speak with the guests," says the 29-
year old chef from Turin.

In a tropical country such as Indonesia, the Open Kitchen has
been a great challenge for Mama's chef Ralf Schmidt, especially
in maintaining cleanliness, dealing with tropical temperatures
and training the staff about maintaining a presentable
preparation process.

"It's a great challenge to operate an open kitchen here in
Indonesia...but I love big challenges and enjoy show-cooking,"
says the 38-year-old chef from Forst/Lautitz in eastern Germany.

MAMA's F&B Specialist John-Paul Eisermann adds that the Open
Kitchen is very important in an environment like an Asian country
to gain trust and acceptance of the mainly European guests. It is
to show what and how the chef and his team are doing.

"Our foreign guests say that if they go to restaurants with a
closed kitchen, they go to the restroom first and then decide
whether to eat there," says Eisermann.

But does this open kitchen concept put less emphasis on the
food itself? Not at all, since all chefs in international
restaurants have shown fantastic expertise in the art of cooking.

But not all restaurant managers agree with this concept as
most restaurants still prefer to emphasize the food quality they
serve for their guests. Jakarta's Thaichi restaurant that serves
Thai and Chinese cuisine at Crown Plaza hotel is such a
restaurant.

Thaichi's general manager Jim Tehusijarana still believes that
people come to a restaurant particularly for its food. For Jim,
the Open Kitchen is just an addition to the whole atmosphere but
it cannot replace the food quality itself.

With this emphasis on food, Jim offers his guests a Thai-
Chinese cuisine of which some has been adjusted to local tastes.
For instance, the originally spicier Thai Beef Salad is made less
spicy to adjust to Indonesian palates.

Though not following the open kitchen restaurant, Jakarta's
Japanese and Italian restaurant Trattoria Yoshiko tries to
accommodate this popular trend by bringing its pizza oven out
into the front part of this unique hybrid Japanese/Italian
restaurant.

"Our interior was designed several years ago and I cannot make
drastic changes with it," says Rio Kondo, the son of Madame
Yoshiko, founder of Puri Yoshiko Japanese restaurant that was
started in 1970.

The Open Kitchen concept certainly has become a new dining
experience in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta and Bali. With
other international restaurants such as Thaichi and Trattoria
Yoshiko that have their own unique concepts, the Open Kitchen is
expected to enrich dining options in Indonesia.