Junior John Rorimpandey (born 20 July 1975) better known as Juna Rorimpandey or ''Chef Juna ''is a professional ''

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

''from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

he is widely known for being a judge in the cooking show ''

MasterChef Indonesia ''MasterChef Indonesia'' is an Indonesian competitive cooking reality show based on the original British series of the same name, open to amateur and home chefs. Produced by Endemol Shine Group, it debuted on 1 May 2011 on RCTI and has nine s ...

. ''He has resigned from his position of Executive Chef at Jack Rabbit Restaurant'', Jakarta'' at the end of July 2011 and is currently still a judge for''

.'' For 12 years he went abroad, as a chef specializing in

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan ( Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and ot ...

and

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the r ...

and in October 2016, Juna opened his first restaurant named "Correla" located on the lobby floor of the Rajawali building

Kuningan Kuningan ( su, ᮊᮥᮔᮤᮍᮔ᮪) is a town and district located in eastern West Java, Indonesia, between Cirebon and Tasikmalaya, about 200 km east of Jakarta. It is the administrative center of Kuningan Regency. The district is located ...

South Jakarta South Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Selatan; bew, Jakarte Beludik ), colloquially known as ''Jaksel'', is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not ...

Early life and career

When he was young, Juna was a delinquent. After graduating from high school, he went on to study in petroleum engineering at

Trisakti University Trisakti University (Usakti) is Indonesia's largest private university located in Jakarta, Indonesia. Trisakti University, is the only private university in Indonesia which was established by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. Founde ...

for 3.5 years, but didn't finish his studies because of disciplinary issues. He briefly got into drugs and after Failing to graduate from college in Indonesia, Juna moved to Brownsville,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in 1997, and sold his motorbike to pay for schooling there. In America, Juna entered flight school and successfully graduated to get a pilot's license. While he was studying to get his commercial license, his flight school went bankrupt so he moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

to continue his training. However, due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Juna's parents experienced economic difficulties, forcing Juna to find his own money for living expenses. Juna got into cooking after doing odd jobs to make money, he got a job as a waiter in a traditional Japanese restaurant. After a while, the sushi master at his restaurant offered Juna to be his student. Juna accepted the offer and was willing to be trained from scratch. Afterwards the restaurant owner promoted Juna to get Permanent Residency in the United States. In 2002, Juna took over as head chef at the restaurant because the sushi master who trained Juna moved to another restaurant. Then, in 2003, Juna moved to another sushi restaurant in Houston called Uptown Sushi and became Executive Chef there. After getting bored of Japanese cuisine he moved to a French restaurant,

The French Laundry The French Laundry is a three-Michelin star French and Californian cuisine restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. Sally Schmitt opened The French Laundry in 1978 and designed her menus around local, seasonal ingredien ...

which is known as a restaurant that applies high standards. He also had to learn again from scratch. There he was educated very harshly. After returning home to Indonesia he served as Executive Chef at Jack Rabbit Jakarta restaurant until 2011. He is also active as a judge on

Filmography

Film

TV Show

* ''

'' ( Season 1–10) (RCTI) * MasterChef MasterClass Ramadan (RCTI) * ''Arjuna'' (Global TV) * '' Hell's Kitchen Indonesia'' (SCTV) * ''

MasterChef Asia ''MasterChef Asia'' is a regional competitive cooking game show based on the original British show '' MasterChef''. The show is produced by Lifetime Asia. A total of 15 home cooks from various regions across Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Malay ...

'' (Lifetime) * ''

Chef's Table ''Chef's Table'' is an American documentary series created by David Gelb' which premiered on video streaming service Netflix on April 26, 2015. The series takes viewers inside both the lives and kitchens of a variety acclaimed and successful inte ...

'' (NET.) * '' Dahsyatnya MasterChef Indonesia'' (RCTI) * ''DCODE: The Progressive Project'' (NET.) * ''

OK Chef ''OK'' (spelling variations include ''okay'', ''O.K.'', ''ok'' and ''Ok'') is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. ''OK'' is frequently ...

'' (RCTI)

Commercial

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rorimpandey, Juna Indonesian chefs Living people 1975 births People from Manado