ARNOLD POERNOMO

CHEF AND RESTAURATEUR

Being a chef is not a coincidence for Chef Arnold Poernomo; he was born into the culinary world.

His mother is a pastry chef, while his grandmother was a cook and restaurant owner. When he was 14 and living in Australia, he started working in the kitchen. Arnold first worked as a junior kitchen hand and then tried working other jobs such as a barista, waiter, and bartender before finally working as a cook. Astonishingly, he was never formally trained as a chef. Together with his brothers, Arnold opened KOI Dessert Bar in two locations around Sydney. He then branched out to Jakarta with the openings of Nest Grill and NOMZ; one of his businesses, Mangkokku, is run in collaboration with Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of President Joko Widodo. His rise to the ranks of celebrity chefs include an appearance as a guest judge on the second season of Masterchef Indonesia; he permanently became a jury on the next seasons up until today.