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PERSONALITY
Chef Adu’s Humble Beginnings
H
aving
a background as a dancer and being part of the Felda and Petronas
dance troupe, Chef Adu Amran Hassan happened to become a chef by chance.
Disillusioned with the world of dance, Adu quit dancing and started cooking
for himself. As he had never really cooked, Adu always had to rely on his
mother for her recipes.
He was, however, quite the performer when he did cook. He used to invite
his friends over and make an event out of it by changing the interior of his
house to make it look like a restaurant. His friends often asked why he didn’t cook for a living.
Withwords of encouragement fromhis friends, he enrolled in a culinary course at Stamford College.
He found that his inclination towards the arts helped in his cooking. “For me, cooking is also
a branch of the arts, there is a connection,” shared Adu. “The only difference is, when you are a
stage performer you stage it in front of an audience but when you are a chef or a cook you perform
behind the curtains,” he added.
First restaurant!
Adu’s first restaurant was called Champur-Champur in Langkawi, which he
operated for three years. As Langkawi becamemore developed, Adu decided
to sell his restaurant and come back to Kuala Lumpur.
He then dabbled in into all sorts of things for a year. At the end of 1997,
Adu got a job offer in London and he moved there without hesitation,
where he trained under a German chef. In 2000, Adu opened a restaurant
known as Champur-Champur in London. He managed that until 2012, at
which point he let it go and moved back to Malaysia.
Masterchef Malaysia
Adu’s popularity grew after he joinedMasterchef Malaysia, which he says
was a happenstance that was pure luck. One of the producers of MM sent
him a message asking him if he would be interested in appearing on a
single episode as a guest chef. The end result of that was that he was then
called in to audition for a place as a permanent chef on the programme.
Future plans
With the recent launch of the Twenty2 boutique, Adu is now into designing
clothes. “This boutique is a one stop shop as it caters to women’s, men’s
and also children’s wear,” said Adu. Aduh! by Adu is the tagline for the brand
which is made in Malaysia using materials sourced from around the world.
The fact that the clothes are made using such materials means that the range
has a lot of one off pieces. He says that he is very into artisan work and tries his
hardest not to use synthetic fabrics.
Also in the pipeline is his third cookery book. “I amwriting in two languages as
the first two books were in Bahasa Malaysia. I have a lot of non-Malaysian friends
and they want my book but they don’t understand it.”
This third book is going to be special to Adu as it will be a collection of recipes
from family members and friends. They all have played a part in the development
of this book. “I took pictures with them while they cooked with me. This book is
dedicated to the people who inspire me and it is also my way of saying thank you
and paying tribute to them,” said Adu.
Chef Adu is also the icon for Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College’s
(KLMUC) culinary faculty. He was also conferred an honorary degree in business
and entrepreneurship development by the college. “I amhonoured to have received
the degree as well as being chosen by the students to be the icon,” said Adu.
The future, indeed, is bright for this talented chef.