From: ftvtravel.com:
“My profession happened by accident. I went to the US (Brownsville, Texas) in 1997 for a flight school. I got my private pilot license, but in the middle of taking my commercial license, the school went bankrupt. So, I went to Houston to continue training, but then in early 1998 Indonesia fell into the economic crisis. My mother told me that she couldn’t help me financially, so I had to survive working anything illegally (no working permit) so I could live.”
“After a couple of jobs, I eventually worked in a traditional Japanese restaurant as a waiter (they paid me cash). After two weeks the sushi master asked me if I wanted to be his student, so I said yes. I started from the bottom, trained so hard and worked my way up. The owner of the restaurant was so impressed with my work ethic and performance that he sponsored me to get my permanent residency. In 2002, I took over as the head chef of the restaurant after my master chef left for another restaurant. Then in 2003, I went to work for the number one upscale sushi/lounge restaurant in Houston, called “Uptown Sushi. I entered as second in command right away and after a couple of months, I became their executive chef. In early 2004 I was bored with raw preparations and Japanese cooking, so I went to work for a French / New American fine-dining restaurant, worked my way up from the bottom to top, then I went to a couple of other places and did the same thing, working two jobs eager to learn more. Finally in August 2007, I was asked to open Kenzo Sushi Bistro from the ground up being their executive chef.”