WITHOUT the trademark starchy-white uniform and the one-foot-high chef hat, Aleksandar Solujic could easily pass off as a regular, young European backpacking tourist – and a good looking one at that.
But clad in a partially-complete chef outfit (sadly, he didn’t wear the foot-high hat), his charisma was still obvious. At only 23, the young chef already has almost nine years of culinary experience.
“At 14, I started working in the kitchen. Then, I went on to pursue technical culinary studies for about four years,” he told thesundaypost at Ristorante Beccari, the Italian fine-dining outlet of Merdeka Palaca Hotel and Suites in Kuching.
Solujic – or Alek as he is affectionately known – is the hotel’s recently-appointed Chef de Pizza. He will be in charge of revamping the pizza menu, slated for this November.
He will also be heading the Pizza and Pasta Making Class for the hotel’s Canduta Fiesta Italiana Trio F Brunch Buffet every Saturday.
“It’s my first time here, and I love it. It’s what I expected it to be – the warm weather, friendly people as well as the multitude of gastronomic experiences and sights you have here — the seafood especially, they’re so fresh,” he said.
Seeing Alek’s love for fresh seafood, one may think he’s partly Italian or has been living in that country for quite some time. But his fondness of fresh seafood has been deeply embedded — he was born and raised in the coastal town of Budva in the heart of the Adriatic coast of Montenegro.
“It didn’t start with pizza. I began my cooking career, handling fish and sea produce like octopus, calamari and mussels back home where all these are readily available.
“Then I switched to Italian cooking where pizza-making was involved. I was often shuttling between the Italian kitchen and the pizza section. Then slowly, I began to master the art of pizza-making – about two-and-a-half years ago – in Dubai. It then became my passion since it’s closely related to my first interests — fish and seafood.”
Dubai has been a key turning point in Alek’s culinary career.
“Promotions were coming in, so were great job offers. I believe it had much to do with the recognition of Dubai as an emerging global hub for hospitality and tourism. And mind you, the volume was tremendously large,” he added.
Alek recalled one challenging task during his time in Dubai
that involved catering for
some 3,000 guests at a buffet dinner.
“This happened about a year ago during a grand dinner. I was 22. Everything went crazy in the backroom — just like a pressure cooker.
“But having a strong team that could work with each other and good coordination with the banquet team really helped to make things run smoothly.
“And it did run smoothly. It was the biggest challenge I ever faced and also one of my biggest achievements,” he said with pride.
Understandably, Alek believes being a chef is the most ‘beautiful profession’ and he encourages the youths of today to give it a go.
“It’s an interesting job. You get to meet so many creative minds which in turn, make you creative as well.
“One can go very far in this career as worldwide demands for good chefs are always there. But one has to have some experience and proper training to achieve the desired standard. Only then can one reap the benefits.”
Alek sees himself running his own restaurant someday.
“In five years, I like to own a fish restaurant, preferably along the coast,” he said, adding, with a mischievous grin, that “it might be here in Kuching. Who knows?”