Year: 2019

Attending a culinary arts program will allow you to learn the skills and knowledge that are required of a chef in the kitchen, which includes not only knowing how to cook but also how to create new dishes, how to keep the kitchen safe, how to run the kitchen efficiently and more.

Studying the culinary arts can help improve your life in many ways, including allowing you to improve the lives of the people you cook for as well. The following are just a few of the reasons why you should study the culinary arts:

1. A variety of career opportunities

There are a broad range of opportunities within the culinary arts fields. Career paths range from members of the preparation staff to head chef. Culinary arts training can provide the skills you need to safely prepare food and present it promptly in a visually pleasing way. With further education, you can even specialize in a specific area of the culinary arts, such as pastries. To become a chef, you could work your way up as you gain more experience. With a culinary arts education, you have the ability to start in professional environments and advance your career further.

2. Hands-on training

A culinary arts program will help prepare you for food safety, professionalism, entrepreneurship, and ethical practices. At OTTIMMO International, you will also get knowledge about food sanitation, cost control, entrepreneurship, wine, coffee, and many others along with learning how to cook in a variety of distinct and creative ways.

3. Try new flavors

An education in culinary school can give you the opportunity to try new flavors and experiment with the creation of dishes. You will be educated in flavor pairings and profiles that will give you the foundation and the potential needed to create culinary masterpieces.

4. Healthy lifestyle

Good culinary arts programs will teach you about nutrition. Many chefs these days have emphasized the importance of creating delicious dishes that are actually healthy in order to promote nutrition to their customers. This is the reason why the restaurants that offer vegan or plant based menus are getting popular.

5. Have the chance to travel the world

One of the advantages of going to a good culinary arts school is the opportunity to travel the world. Traveling the world will provide some enlightening experiences that will help to shape your view of life as well as your thoughts about food. OTTIMMO International will give you a chance to do an internship abroad, like to Europe, Asia, USA and Australia.*

When food is put in front of us we eat first with our eyes. We imagine the tastes and the textures that we’re going to enjoy, how the flavours will balance each other out, we’re curious and hopefully excited about what we’re about to eat. Therefore the presentation of a dish is vital for creating the right impression on the dinner. The look of a dish should stimulate the appetite and create a sense of anticipation of how the meal will be enjoyed. Here some tips and tricks on plate presentation:

1. Choose Your Plates Carefully.

Beautiful crockery is essential as it acts as the backdrop for your food. Play with colours, patterns and textures. In general use pale plates for bold vibrant colours so that the contrast is highlighted. Darker plates can be used for lighter coloured foods. If you use patterned tableware, make sure that the overall look is muted enough so as not to distract your guests from their meal. Use large plates as you will have more room to present your food.

• Don’t Serve Huge Portion

The smaller your portions, the easier they will be to style. Also stick to 4-6 elements on each dish and don’t be overcrowding.

• Contrast Colours and Play with Symmetry

This will add energy and fun to your presentation. But remember not to repeat the same look too often, because of becoming monotonous.

• Position Your Ingredients With Care

Imagine that your plate is the face of a clock: the centrepiece of your dish (meat for example) should go at 6 o’clock. Place vegetables at 11 o’clock and perhaps starchy foods at 2 o’clock for slight asymmetry.

• The Right Tools

The right tools such as pastry cutters, brush, pipette and moulds will be very helpful in giving shape to your dishes and to build layers.

• Use Small Individual Sauce Boats

Really useful if you are serving a curry or a stew. This allows your guests to help themselves to as much or as little as they like, and it will be neater.

• Decoration

Use herbs, spices, edible flowers or citrus zest for decoration. By using edible flowers and micro herbs you can completely transform the look of your dish.*

Source: La Belle Assiette

OTTIMMO — As a fast-growing culinary campus, Ottimmo International was awarded as a flagship university from the Coordinator of the Higher Education Service Institute (L2Dikti), Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. This award was given on October 30, 2019 numbered 168 / L7 / SK / KL / AKU / 2019.

In the award, it was stated that Ottimmo was included in tertiary institutions with the title of ‘Utama’. With the title of ‘Utama’, the campus located in the elite residential area of ​​Citraland is included in the category of the best vocational campus in East Java.

As one of the best private campus benchmarks, of course the assessment category from L2Dikti is very strict. The assessment covers several fields, namely Institutional and Collaborative, Educators and Educational Personnel, Research and Community Service, and Learning and Student Affairs.

The predicate of flagship campus complements the achievements of Ottimmo International which previously received B accreditation in mid-2019 ago. Ottimmo International Director Zaldy Iskandar welcomed and was grateful for the achievement.

According to Zaldy, a chef who had studied in the United States and Switzerland, Ottimmo never stopped to innovate and improve in all aspects of education, starting with institutions, infrastructure, curriculum, and other aspects.

“This achievement is certainly very proud and I thank all the staff, students, and Ottimmo’s partners who strive to make Ottimmo better. We will continue to make improvements so that Ottimmo continues to be the best culinary campus, “explained Chef Zaldy.

As a culinary campus with a D3 + S1 program, Ottimmo has many advantages compared to other culinary schools. In addition to facilities and curriculum that refer to international standards, Ottimmo also continues to enrich student insights by bringing in experts from abroad, opening internship opportunities abroad, and increasing knowledge with special classes such as coffee, wine, fruit carving, and more.*

OTTIMMO — Ottimmo International has a commitment to become an open college for anyone. The best culinary academy in Indonesia students come from various backgrounds and areas.

Now Ottimmo is more open with the acceptance of students with special needs, in accordance with the mandate of Pendidikan Tinggi (Dikti). Starting in the academic year 2019-2020 there are already some students with special needs who are studying by taking Diploma 3.

In accordance with Government Law number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System, inclusive education for persons with special needs must be applied in university. This system adopts an international education system, that is, there is no difference for people with disabilities.

Ottimmo International Director Zaldy Iskandar said, Ottimmo is very open to anyone from anywhere, including students with special needs. The instructors at Ottimmo, both chefs and lecturers, and also the staffs, will do their best to provide assistance to them.

“The modern education system no longer distinguishes students with special needs. They are also entitled to vocational education, including Ottimmo International culinary academy. “However, before they enrol, we need to see whether the students with special needs are able to accept lecture material, especially in the kitchen,” explained Zaldy Iskandar.

Zaldy admitted, the challenge of accepting students with special needs was clearly not light, especially Ottimmo is a campus with more practical lecture material. But he was very optimistic that the chefs and teachers could provide assistance very well.

“During the last accreditation visitation by Dikti, it was also emphasized that Ottimmo be open to students with special needs. We are happy because starting in the academic year 2019-2020 there are already students with special needs who study at Ottimmo. Of course I hope they will succeed in the culinary field,” he said.*

OTTIMMO – For the first time, Ottimmo International joined the 2019 International Community Service Program (ICSP). In collaboration with Petra Christian University (UK) and the Al Wali Foundation from the Netherlands, ICSP 2019 was held in Dusun Parang, Parang Village, Kediri Regency.

In the event which was held from July 16, 2019 to August 5, 2019, Ottimmo International was involved in various activities there. These activities include Dental Care for kindergarten, elementary school students and public, Nutrition Class, Cooking Demonstration, Water Projects, Waste Projects, Improvement of Facilities in the village and others.

ICSP 2019 participants were 15 dentist students from the Netherlands, six students from UK Petra, and three from Ottimmo International. They lived in the homes of Dusun Parang residents during ICSP, so they could feel the real village atmosphere.

Ottimmo sent three representatives, Reyhan Dhira representing students, Yasin Karyono as student affairs representative, and Kukuh Setyawan from public relations. It is expected that for ICSP 2020 student involvement will increase later.

“For the first involvement in this ICSP, Ottimmo can only send one student. In the future, we hope that more students will be involved because this program is very important and gives students good experience in community service,” explained Yasin Karyono, Ottimmo International Student Affairs.

Special activities held by Ottimmo are the Nutrition Class and Cooking Demo. “We provide an understanding of nutrition and processed food by using ingredients that are easily found in Parang,” explained Heni Adianata, a lecturer at Ottimmo International.

Meanwhile, Al Wali Foundation representative Cigdem Demir said that his party was very happy with Ottimmo’s involvement in the 2019 ICSP. “The existence of Ottimmo as a culinary academy provides a new atmosphere for ICSP, especially with programs related to food and nutrition which are very important for rural communities,” said Cigdem.*

OTTIMMO — The Coffee Class held by Ottimmo this year is different from previous years. This time the students were taken directly to the coffee processing center, the Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (Puslitkoka) in Jember, East Java, on 29 and 30 September 2019.

For two days the 5th semester students were in Jember specifically to learn about coffee. On the first day, students get The History of Coffee given by Ir. Cahya Ismayadi MSc, reviewing all about coffee from history, plantation to processing.

On the second day, students headed to Puslitkoka which is about 30 minutes from the Aston Hotel, where they stayed. In the Puslitkoka area, in the first session the students did a Coffee Tasting which was to try the aroma and taste of various types of coffee, both Arabica and Robusta.

After that, the group headed for the coffee processing area, starting with the release of coffee beans, drying, and sorting the types of coffee according to the size of the seeds. At that location there is also the manufacture of coffee processing equipment and various products processed by Puslitkoka.

“We bring students here so that they understand how coffee is processed from the start to be served. So, they know that the processing of coffee goes through a rather long process, “explained Gilbert Hadiwirawan, assistant chef who accompanied students in Jember.

After learning the history of coffee and witnessing coffee processing, Ottimmo students get Coffee Brewing session. Specifically this session was given in the Ottimmo International campus, because the equipment in campus itself was very complete for Coffee Brewing.

In recent years, coffee is indeed very popular and a lot of cafes or coffee shops have sprung up. That is why learning about coffee is very important at Ottimmo, because however coffee cannot be separated from the culinary business today.

Coffee expert Cahya Ismayadi said, “Learning coffee is not enough just once or twice, but it takes a long time. This is because scientifically, coffee has a very broad scope, from planting, processing, and serving.”*

OTTIMMO—The students of Verona class had been given new challenge for their second semester. They need to finish four projects within April 2019. These projects were being held for the first time this year. In the previous years, there were only two projects for first grade students.

Titled “Small Project”, Ottimmo’s first year student will divided into 4 groups. Each of them need to handle different project through lottery. The four small projects are Canapé Party, Buffet, Ala Carte and Fine Dining, which been held on April 2nd, 8th, 23rd and 25th 2019.

Each project gives different challenges. As Canapé Party as an example, it can said that this project is considered as the easiest among others, but it doesn’t mean that the group which handling Canapé Party project can do it easily.

“In my opinion, there is nothing easy because it depends on our teamwork. We never done any project like this before. This project gave us many experience and knowledge about how to organize an event,” said Dennis, the student who were chooses as Head Chef for Buffet Project.

As for example, Buffet Project might not require plate presentation as Fine Dining Project, but Buffet Project would need keen calculation in order to serve foods for 100 guests. They also need better awareness about the taste while cooking in large quantity.

Ottimmo International Academy Director, Chef Zaldy Iskandar said that in the previous years, there were only two kinds of project; Thanksgiving Luncheon and Easter Luncheon. After several years through many evaluations, the concept of these projects has been changed.

“In the previous years, Thanksgiving and Easter Luncheon Projects were being held every November and March. It had been evaluated as not so effective because the students were still at their first semester, hence they haven’t equipped with adequate practical skills and experience,” Zaldy explained.

Therefore, the concept for projects had been changed into four, which been held within a month. Zaldy hopes that in the future, students gain new experience and knowledge in culinary, especially in doing events.(*)

OTTIMMO—Happy Birthday, Ottimmo! At April 29th 2019, Ottimmo International celebrate its 5th birthday. The campus which located in the elite residence of Citraland Surabaya was holding several events which involving all staffs and students.

The celebration of Ottimmo’s 5th birthday has been held within 2 days, at April 29th and 30th. On the first day, there were several events such as Blood Donation, Coffee Workshop and Cooking Demo. While on second day the events were Fun Walk, Arts Performance, Bazaar, and various competitions.

Ottimmo also got their special present for its 5th year birthday, B accreditation for culinary program from Badan Akreditasi Nasional Perguruan Tinggi (BAN-PT). Ottimmo keep broaden its connection overseas.

“We pray that Ottimmo keep growing and advanced to be the pioneer of modern culinary campus with international standard in Indonesia. “Of course we aware that this event got many flaws here and there,  but regardless we were doing our best,” said Head Committee of Ottimmo’s 5th Dies Natalis, Elsa Gabriela.

In this fifth birthday celebration, all the events were organized by CASO (Culinary Student Organization), which the previous years were handled by Ottimmo’s staffs. The purpose is to train CASO members to gain experience and skills to handle Dies Natalis each year in the future.

As the main event of Dies Natalis, April 30th 2019, there were winner announcement of High School Cooking Competition (HSCC) which been held in April 2019. Petra 3 Christian High School came as the champion of this year, St. Louis 1 Catholic High School as runner up and Petra 4 Christian High School as third winner.

“I am happy to see the effort and enthusiasm from Ottimmo International’s students and staffs. This means in its 5th year, Ottimmo become more solid and ready to overcome new challenges,” said Zaldy Iskandar, Ottimmo International Academy Director.

Zaldy added, Ottimmo’s birthday present were completed by the signing MoU between Ottimmo and Johnson and Wales University (JWU), USA. Senior Director of International Partnership JWU, Mehdi Moutahir had visited Ottimmo International Campus officially.(*)

OTTIMMO—A good news for Ottimmo International Campus approaching their 5th birthday. Ottimmo has achieved “B” accreditation from Badan Akreditasi Nasional Perguruan Tinggi (BAN-PT) through SK no. 375/SK/BAN-PT/Akred//Dipl-III/III/2019.

The “B” accreditation for Culinary Study Program is valid through March 12th 2019 until March 12th 2024. Ottimmo International Academy Director, Zaldy Iskandar happily stated that “B” accreditation is a positive development for Ottimmo.

“This is Ottimmo’s first accreditation after been established five years ago, and we got “B” accreditation as the result. This is a positive result and I am thankful to all staffs and students who always support the advance of Ottimmo,” said Zaldy Iskandar.

The director who was graduated from chef school in USA and Swiss also add, Ottimmo will become more serious to develop their campus quality since Ottimmo International now become the only Culinary Academy in Indonesia with “B” accreditation.

“Our target is obvious, we will strive to achieve “A” within next few years. Of course, it will need a lot of effort from the whole academy members. Ottimmo will never cease to develop and grow, in both lecturing and infrastructures,” said Zaldy.

The accreditation process has been conducted at February 14th -15th 2019. BAN-PT sent two assessors, Dra. Sachriani, M.Kes. and Dr. Elis Endang Nikmawati, M.Si. in order to verify the factual program of Culinary Arts in Ottimmo Campus, Citraland-Surabaya. After hearing the explanation from Ottimmo International Academy Director and Head of Study Program, the assessors also checking Ottimmo’s facilities and practical class process, in both Culinary Arts Kitchen and Baking and Pastry Arts Kitchen.(*)