Celebrating Flavors

Celebrity chefs Jean-Georges and Cedric Vongerichten enter Indonesia with Vong Kitchen.

- Shintya Felicitas

Frenchman Jean-Georges Vongerichten, 61, is one of the world’s most successful celebrity chefs. He runs a chain of 36 restaurants across the world, including a two Michelin star restaurant in New York. In early April, he opened his first outlet in Indonesia, Vong Kitchen, a casual dining restaurant on the ground floor of the Alila Hotel SCBD, Jakarta. Joining him was his son Cedric Vongerichten, 36, also a chef and married to an Indonesian. Forbes Indonesia was among a small group of selected media that had a chance to interview the father-and-son duo in the restaurant, including a tour of the kitchen and a chance to sample his popular truffle pizza and a homemade chili sauce.

Forbes Indonesia (FI): How did you become one of the world’s most celebrated chefs?

Jean-Georges Vongerichten (JGV): When I was a child, my family had a coal distribution business with dozens of employees, and my mother cooked for them every day. My interest to become a chef had grown ever since. I started in France and Germany, and in 1980 I got an opportunity to work in Bangkok. After that, I went all over the world from Singapore to Portugal, Japan to London, until I settled in New York. I established my first restaurant JoJo in 1991 in New York. Now, we have 36 restaurants. In New York we own 10 of them, and the rest are licensed.

FI: How about you Cedric, how did you decide to follow in your father’s footsteps?