JAKARTADINING
A new era has begun! No more Betty Crocker types doing tv cooking shows but instead let us welcome Farah Quinn, A fabulous model-esque beauty who cooks with a twist
A la Chef Farah Quinn Text Erza S.T. Photos by: Ramadhan Location: OnFive at Grand Hyatt Jakarta
In
Indonesia, TV cooking shows are always dominated by Betty Crocker and Nigela Lawson types. This all changed when Farah Quinn got in front of the cameras last year. What are the changes? Well… for those who aren’t aware yet who Farah Quinn is, then just look at her pictures in this article and you will get the idea. Farah is one sexy lady but let there be no doubt about it, she can really cook. Farah still follows the age-old tradition of discovering new menus everyday to keep the family happy, however, she modifies the existing menus and makes them into her own style. See, her wisdom here is to create her own style of cooking and make it special with a very simple approach. A graduate of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Finance, she has had her love of cooking since she was very small. “I started to love cooking when I was a little girl. My grandmother and my mother are both fantastic cooks. I remember being so happy playing “masak-masakan”
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(pretend cooking) in the kitchen when I was growing up. My mother never stopped me playing with sugar, flour, eggs and other ingredients that I could find in her kitchen. As I was growing up, I used to bake and cook for myself and my family. When I was in high school, I moved to the US to continue my education there and I kept cooking for myself and my friends. I continued on to get my college degree in finance, but my heart wasn’t there. So I decided to follow my passion, which was cooking. I went to the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and got my degree in pastry arts. And I’ve been in the industry ever since.” To pursue her passion, Farah started working at a couple of restaurants in Pittsburgh in between her school time. She then moved to Phoenix, Arizona and worked at Biltmore Resort and Spa for six years, before deciding to open her own restaurant “Camus” with her husband, the famous mixologist Carson Quinn. Two years after the opening, they sold the restaurant because its value had increased
and “the offer was just simply too irresistible to refuse.” says Farah. Baby Armand came next into her life and she and Carson decided to come back to Indonesia for a break. “I was supposedly here only for a few weeks vacation, but I was offered a contract with TransTV to do a cooking show, so I grabbed it and decided to stay here. The TV station back then had an idea to do a cooking show and was looking for someone different. A family friend of mine, Helmy Yahya, suggested that they contact me. I got the email just when I was planning on visiting Indonesia for my routine “home sweet home” vacation. I think it was all about the right timing. All of the cooking shows here are hosted by male chefs so when I came along, it was something different. It was a bit of a shock for me, too, how well the show was received. It has been a fantastic experience for me.” I don’t think there has ever been a cooking show on Indonesian TV that has received such