Rekomendasi cooking school dan tempat membeli alat/peralatan memasak
Pantry Magic, A Chef’s Dream Shop
Where to buy all you need for your culinary masterpieces
Eating out is something of a national pastime in Indonesia, with such a wide variety of affordable restaurants and warung. But there may just be a change looming on the horizon. The plethora of international and local cooking shows gracing our television screens, most notably MasterChef Indonesia, testifies to the average person’s increasing interest in creating culinary masterpieces.
Cooking enthusiasts in Jakarta now have somewhere to go for top-quality cookware or those hard-to-find kitchen gadgets. Pantry Magic will have even the most seasoned cooks spellbound with its variety of pots, pans, bowls, knives, baking wares, roasters and whisks, just to name a few.
Rianto Hidajat, who co-owns Jakarta’s branch of Pantry Magic with his wife, knows firsthand the irresistible charm of the speciality cook-shop. They opened the Kemang shop in 2008, followed by a branch in Bali last year.
“My wife loves cooking. She went to Singapore and stumbled upon Pantry Magic. There were still franchise opportunities for Indonesia so we decided to go for it,” Rianto said.
With its bright, colorful decor, Kemang’s Pantry Magic is a place one can easily browse in for hours. With more than 2,000 items on its shelves, this really is a cooking enthusiast’s playground. Aside from every item a serious cook may desire and those hard-to-find products, the store also stocks a range of cookbooks in both English and Indonesian. The store also features a small demonstration kitchen, where customers can sample freshly brewed coffee from various regions.
“We collaborate with 15 to 20 brands but the store has two of its own brands – the Pantry Magic brand and the more upmarket Garde Manger,” Rianto said.
The goods produced under the Pantry Magic and Garde Manger labels are field-tested by professional chefs and have to meet stringent criteria of practicality and durability. And since the products arrive at the store directly from the factory they are usually 30 to 40 percent cheaper than their counterparts at department stores. All products sold at Pantry magic carry a lifetime guarantee for quality and performance.
Pantry Magic also stocks products from some of the most highly regarded brands in the world, including Kitchenaid, Dualit and Cuisinart, bound to make gastronomic delights accessible to even the kitchen novice.
With its flagship store in Hong Kong and other stores in countries including Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Auckland and Bangkok, Pantry Magic is the only regional chain of cookware shops. In 2009, the International Housewares Association awarded the Pantry Magic chain the Global Innovator Award (GIA) for being Asia’s leading housewares retailer.
Local Interest Soars
When Rianto and his wife first opened the shop in Kemang, expatriates were their main target market. That has changed gradually over time. “When we first opened we had about 80 percent expat customers and 20 percent Indonesians. Now its about 50/50,” he said.
Indonesian cooking shows, Rianto says, seem to be encouraging more Indonesians to spend time in the kitchen. “The perception of cooking as a career is changing in Indonesia. In the past you would find it unusual for someone here to go to a cooking school, but now parents are more supportive,” he said. “It is especially the young Indonesians who study abroad and have to cook for themselves there who come back with a new passion for cooking.”
Pantry Magic offers bimonthly cooking classes at the store. With cuisines ranging from French, Italian to Indonesian and Thai, this is where Jakarta’s cooking enthusiasts can perfect their skills.
“The chefs who run the classes come from various restaurants around Jakarta and we invite them to share their passion for cooking with others,” Rianto said. “We recently had the chef from Anatolia take the Middle Eastern cuisine class.”
Because Pantry Magic’s kitchen can only accommodate 10 people at a time, the classes are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. A class, which usually runs for two to three hours, costs between Rp 300,000 and Rp 500,000 depending on the chef and the menu. Anyone interested in joining a Pantry Magic cooking class can register in the store or though their website. Anita Surewicz
Pantry Magic
Jl. Kemang Raya No. 14B,
Tel: 021 718 573,
www.pantry-magic.com/jakarta
Opening hours
Monday to Saturday: 10 am - 7 pm , Sunday: 11 am - 6 pm
